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?