Who is Mongolia?

This is a very cool link. It goes to a wikipedia page that ranks countries by population density. I know, I know, it's wikipedia, but the source for the data is linked right in the table (and the Mongolia numbers are accurate, so . . . ).

The most densely populated country? Macau (though it's part of China in the same way Hong Kong is). The United Kingdom is 15th. The U.S? 180th, with about 84 people per square mile. 

Mongolia is 238 of 242, with about 4 1/2 people for every square mile of land. To say it's mostly rural is putting it pretty mildly, I think.

Here's a pretty (empty) map:

So who lives in this mostly rural, isolated place? Almost 3 million people live in the country, and more than a million of them live in the capital city of Ulaan Baatar.  That is 40% of the overall population! In fact, nearly 70% of the population lives in urban areas. The other 30% are nomadic, herding sheep, cows, goats, and horses.

This is the population pyramid of Mongolia (from the World Factbook again):

The average age of a Mongolian person is 27.1 and it's growth rate is 1.37%, 89th in the world. So it's young, and growing.

I was also surprised by the education rates: more than 97% of the population can read and write, and the average person receives 15 years of schooling.

Mongolia has high unemployment and their way of life is changing a lot, which is challenging. Finally, here's a video about the pressures facing traditional Mongolian nomadic life.



Up next, a closer look at nomadic life and migration.

Where is Mongolia?

There are a lot of answers to that question, believe it or not, and it depends on the context.

• Mongolia is in northern Asia.
• Mongolia is surrounded by China (on the south, east and west) and Russia (on the north). 
• Mongolia is between the latitudes 41-52 degrees N and longitudes 87-120 degrees E. This puts it at around the same latitude as Calgary, Alberta, for example. 
• Mongolia is mostly in the UTC+8 time zone; the far west is in UTC+7. This means when it's 9:00 pm here in Cheyenne, it's 11:00 am the next day in most of Mongolia.
• Mongolia is on the eastern edge of the the Great Steppe--a huge semiarid prairie that stretches from Mongolia to Ukraine. The steppe is punctuated by mountains in the west, and the Gobi desert in the south.  The steppe is also the secret to the Mongol Empire's success, but that will be a story for another time. 

Mongolia in the context of the Earth

Mongolia in the context of Asia (that blue wedge between the giant purple Russia and the giant yellow China)

Mongolia in 1989 You can see the Altay Mountains in the West and the Gobi Desert in the South.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links:
See the World Factbook for some basic information about Mongolia. Also, check out History of the Steppe for more information about the Eurasian Steppe


Coming up (probably) tomorrow: demographics! Who lives in Mongolia, where do they live and what do they do?

So. Why Mongolia?

I have this thing about Mongolia. I'm not even sure why. I just want to go there so badly, and am completely captivated. This is handy when you aren't sure what to write about in Geography courses or are asked to learn about a country for an intro to business course.

So, Mongolia. Did anyone see the Mongolia episode of Long Way Round?  The scenery was breathtaking and so desolate, but I think the real start to my obsession with the country was through reading a blog in 2009, about a couple who decided to bicycle across Europe and Asia for two years. The pictures and stories about Mongolia were just amazing. This is the first page of their Mongolia blog. Now, every time I get to pick a country to study or write about, this is the place. Someday I will get there.

I took Physical Geography last fall and I wrote my final paper on Mongolia (and really enjoyed writing it, too). Mongolia is famous for Genghis Khan and Mongol Hordes that went conquering in the 12th century and also for its nomadic culture, and even today almost a third of the country is still nomadic. It has an interesting relationship (read: tension) with its mega-neighbors Russia and China, and in the 1990s peacefully transitioned from a socialist government to a democratic one. There's so much to discover about this vibrant land, and how better to do it than through Human Geography? 

Links:

Long Way Round,  a documentary that followed Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as they rode motorcycles from London to New York, including through Mongolia.

The Biking Barkleys, a couple who spent their 2-year honeymoon biking from Kazakhstan to the Czech Republic via Asia.  

The Geography of Mongolia and its Cultural Effects,  my final paper for Physical Geography, Fall 2013.