100 Interesting Facts about Mongolia - Glory and Conquer

(Last Updated On: April 16, 2021)

There are a lot of interesting facts about Mongolia. This country has a glorious past and a momentous history of vigor, conquer, and productivity. In this article, I am going to share some of the interesting facts about Mongolia from the list of largest empires in the world.

Interesting facts about Mongolia

Let’s find below 100 interesting facts about Mongolia:

Mongolia holds the Guinness World Record for the most important wrestling competitors on the planet. This was for the Mongolian National Wrestling Match in 2011.

Mongol Khuumii or throat singing entails producing two simultaneous tones with the human voice, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

The three hottest sports activities are horse racing, archery, and Mongolian wrestling.

There is an idea that Mongolian horsemen first invented ice cream. They would take animal intestines on lengthy journeys. The mixture of freezing and being jolted around on the horse produced an ice-cream like substance. This then made its solution to China, Marco Polo, then Italy!

Genghis Khan was born in A.D. 1162 in Deluun Boldog, close to the mountain Burkhan Khaldun, not removed from the present capital Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia geography facts. Named Temüjin, he emerged at the age of 20 to grow to be the chief of the Borjigin Mongol clan. After 20 years of inner warfare, he united a lot of the Mongol clans, and in 1206, he was named Genghis Khan, which means “King of the Oceans” or “Universal King.”

Damdin Sükhbaatar, the “Father of Mongolia’s Revolution” for independence from China and whose title means “Axe Hero,” died at the age of 30. Early experiences from his physicians mentioned he died of poisoning, however, later official biographies acknowledged that he had died from tuberculosis.

The hottest Mongolian sport is bökh (sturdiness), or wrestling, and an important event is held on Mongolia’s Independence Day. The first-place winner earns the correct to name himself arslan (lion), the runner-up to an Arslan is a dzan (elephant), and the third-place finisher is a nachin (eagle). Should the Arslan win the event twice in a row, he may have earned the title avrag (titan) —the apex of Mongol wrestling, roughly equal to Grand Champion rank in Japanese sumo wrestling.

In Mongolia, wrestling is a convention that goes back a whole lot of years, maybe additional than recorded historical past. Chinese who visited Mongolia within the seventh century A.D. reported watching wrestling matches, and the chronicle of the Franciscan friar Carpini, who was within the Mongol capital of Karakoram within the 13th century, additionally mentions the game.

A grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai (or Khubilai) Khan, conquered China, ending the Song Dynasty, and have become emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. Kublai Khan established his winter capital at Beijing, which was recognized then as Dadu (Great Capital). His regime left two main monuments in Beijing, which is nonetheless standing: Yonghegong (Lama temple) and the large white stupa (mound-shaped Buddhist construction) in Beihai Park. Kublai Khan additionally constructed a summer season capital in what’s now Inner Mongolia named Xanadu (Shangdu), however, there may be nothing left of it as we speak.

On November 26, 1924, the Mongolian People’s Republic grew to become the world’s second Communist nation, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Mongolia is without doubt one of the highest nations on the planet with a mean elevation of 5,184 feet (1,580 m).

Larch is the tallest tree in Mongolia, with the very best one recorded reaching 148 feet (45 m), which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Erdene Zuu Monastery, the oldest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, was built in 1586 in Kharkhorin. Today, it’s positioned adjoining to the traditional metropolis of Karakorum or Harhorin.

Many Mongolians nonetheless stay in a conventional ger, which is a sort of tent. Also referred to as “yurts,” these portable dwellings have been historically utilized by nomads within the steppes of Central Asia as their houses.

Many people in Mongolia nonetheless stay in a yurt

Among the European vacationers to cross the continents to China was the Venetian explorer Marco Polo (c. 1254–1324) who spent 17 years in China within the court docket of the Yuan Dynasty. He recorded his experiences in Il Milione (The Million), printed in English as The Travels of Marco Polo.

The final wild horses on the planet stay in Mongolia

Mongolian native horses are known as takhi, the Mongol phrase for “spirit,” and have 66 chromosomes, or two greater than the common horse. They are the final actually wild horses left on the planet.

In Mongolia, a handbag is a silk scarf, normally white, blue, gold, and orange, offered as an indication of respect to a high-ranking customer or spiritual chief or as a providing in a Lamaist temple.

The ethnic make-up of the people is 94.9% Mongol (predominantly Khalkha), 5% Turkic (of which Kazak is the most important group), and 0.1% different (together with Chinese and Russian).

Religion: 53% Buddhist Lamaist, 3% Islam, 2.2% Christian, 2.9 % Shamanist, 0.4% different, 38.6% none (2010 est.)

Mongolia’s pure assets include oil, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, wolfram, fluorspar, gold, silver, iron.

Mongolia’s agriculture contains wheat, barley, vegetables, forage crops, sheep goats, cattle, camels, and horses.

Although Genghis Khan was illiterate himself, he launched writing to Mongolia within the early 13th century by borrowing the script of the Uyghurs, who had taken it from the Sogdians, historic Persians of the Achaemenid Empire.

The Mongolian conventional costume is known as the deel, which is analogous to a caftan or previous European-style folded tunic.

Mongolia is the world’s second-largest producer of Cashmere goat’s wool, behind solely China, with 20% of the world market.

Yaks are giant bovids native to Central Asia and the Himalayas. Mongolians make cheese of yak’s milk known as Byaslag. Mongolians have crossbred cattle with yaks to supply an infertile male (dzo) and fertile females (dzomo). Mongolia has the second-highest yak inhabitants, after China.

Mongolia stands a mean of 5,800 feet above sea level, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Mongolia is the second-largest landlocked nation on the planet. This is one of the short facts about Mongolia

The largest sporting occasion of the yr in Mongolia is the Naadam competition, held in the course of the National Day celebrations every July. The most vital occasions on the competition are known as eriin gurvan naadam (“the three games of men”): archery, wrestling, and horse racing.

Mongolia is the 18th largest nation on the planet. This is one of the 10 facts about Mongolia.

The Mongolian Stock Exchange is the smallest within the capitalist world and is housed in a refurbished children’s cinema.

In Mongolia, there are 13 instances more horses than people, and sheep outnumber people 35 to 1.

The present president of Mongolia, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, attended each of the University of Colorado–Boulder and Harvard University.

Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa was the first Mongolian to journey into the area as a member of the eighth Intercosmos program on March 1, 1978. He spent 7 days, 20 hours, and 42 minutes in the area aboard the Salyut 6 area station

The first lodge in Mongolia was the Ulaanbaatar Hotel. This opened in 1961. It was additionally the first public constructing to have cold and warm operating water.

Mongolian is a member of the Ural-Altaic household of languages, which incorporates Finnish, Turkish, Kazakh, Uzbek, and Korean amongst others. This is one of the Mongolia facts in 2021.

Mongolia was admitted into the United Nations in 1961. The United States of America, together with 100 different nations, didn’t acknowledge it formally as a rustic in 1987.

Genghis Khan enacted a code referred to as the Yassa (“order” or “decree”), which enacted spiritual tolerance, exempted clergy of all faiths from taxation, forbade washing and urinating in operating water, and prescribed the demise penalty for spying, desertion, theft, and adultery.

On December 21, 2005, George W. Bush grew to become the first sitting U.S. president to go to Mongolia. This is one of the Mongolia facts.

Mongolia’s nationwide dish is a steamed dumpling full of meat (normally beef or mutton) known as Buzz.

In the Persian metropolis of Merv, an historic heart of studying thought to be the Pearl of Asia, Genghis Khan dedicated one of many best-nonmechanized mass killings in history, second solely to the massacres of Armenians by Turks in 1915.

Almost half of Mongolia’s total inhabitants live within the capital metropolis, Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan was voted considered one of Time journal’s “25 Most Important Political Icons of All Time” in 2011.

In 1922, American Roy Chapman Andrews grew to become the first human to unearth dinosaur bones from the Cretaceous interval in Mongolia’s Gobi desert. Some say Chapman was the inspiration behind the favored movie character Indiana Jones.

The title Mongol was first recorded throughout China’s T’ang Dynasty (A.D. 618–907). The Uyghurs, who now stay within the Chinese province of Xinjiang, allied themselves with the T’ang and invaded Mongolia in 744. The Uyghurs managed most of Mongolia till 840.

Despite its landlocked standing, Mongolia has many salt lakes. Mongolian lakes and rivers comprise greater than fifty distinctive fish species.

Mongolia is the seventh-largest nation in Asia and the 19th largest on the planet by space and the third most sparsely populated. The panorama is basically steppe, desert, and semidesert, and 75% of the land is used for livestock grazing.

Mongolian people herd 5 sorts of livestock, together with horse, camel, sheep, goat, and cow (yak is taken into account as a cow). The variety of livestock has reached 71,000,000 million, which is about 22 instances as large because of the inhabitants of Mongolia.

Mongolia is the world’s least populated nation.

Mongolia grew to become the 10th nation to ship its citizen to the outer area when Gürragchaa Jügderdemid, who was awarded because the hero of each Mongolia and Russia, flew to the outer area with Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov on Soyuz 39 on 22 March 1981.

Based on 2011 estimates, of the entire inhabitants, 97.4% are literate (96.8% male and 97.9% feminine). There was a time when schooling in Mongolia was managed by Buddhist monasteries and solely monks had entry to it.

A mom with 5 or more children is well known as an “Honoured Mother”. This is one of the Mongolia facts.

Throat singers in Mongolia use the method to sing by means of their throat and nostril at the identical time, producing two completely different sounds concurrently. This is widespread while driving a horse.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital metropolis, is formally the world’s coldest capital, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Even in winter, Mongolians wish to eat ice-cream. This is bought in paper containers within the winter. No want for a fridge in such chilly temperatures..!

After Genghis Khan died in August 1227, his body was returned to Mongolia and buried in an unmarked grave, in accordance with his request. At the time of his demise, his empire stretched from Beijing to the Caspian Sea.

Mongol khöömii, or throat singing or overtone singing, entails producing two simultaneous tones with the human voice.

The Gobi desert, part of which lies in Mongolia, is the most important desert in Asia and is the fifth largest on the planet.

Kublai Khan established the first Pony Express-style postal companies in Mongolia about 1,000 years in the past when correspondence was carried by a horse, and pressing messages—to which a feather was connected—have been carried a whole lot of miles a day on horseback nonstop. The Mongolian horse post grew to become a particular state service named örtöö (“checkpoint”), which remained in operation till 1949. The route had mounted relay stations, located some 18–25 miles (30–40) km aside. One of the various duties of the Mongolian mail courier was to hold out excursions of obligation with carts and animals on the örtöö, or provide a substitute, and carry mail or vacationers to the subsequent station.

On September 17, 2011, 6,002 wrestlers participated in the Mongolian National Wrestling Match. It was the most important wrestling competitors on the planet, in accordance with the Guinness World Records.

Mongolian Ger in winter.

The Gobi desert is Asia’s largest desert. It is like no different on the planet. This is one of the fun fact about Mongolia.

Nine white banners, that are used as an emblem of the everlasting prosperity of the Mongolian state and the people for the reason that basis of the Mongol Empire, are saved and guarded within the Government Palace of Mongolia and solely taken out throughout Naadam Festival and carried as a marker of the start of Naadam.

Under Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty Islam unfolds to Interior China. Marco Polo additionally information that the province of Yunnan beneath the Mongols was Muslim and had a Muslim governor, Sayyid al-Ajall. His descendants nonetheless quantity themselves as we speak in China, and the tomb of Sayyid-al Ajall in Yunnan is a crucial monument of Islamic artwork in China.

The capital Ulaanbaatar means ‘red hero’. This is one of the 5 facts about Mongolia.

A number of neighboring nations of Mongolia, together with the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation. Mongolia is the second-largest landlocked nation on the planet after Kazakhstan.

The official language is Mongolian (90%). Other languages spoken embody Turkic and Russian.

Mongolia has a parliamentary system of presidency. The present president of Mongolia, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, attended each the University of Colorado at Boulder and Harvard University within the U.S.

The first Mongolian postage stamps appeared in August 1924.

The Mongolian Lunar New Year begins in January or February with the brand new moon Tsagaan Sar (“white moon”).

Mongolia has the oldest National Park on the planet. Lying simply South of Ulaanbaatar the Bogd Khan National Park dates its origin to 1778 — it predates Yellowstone by over 100 years.

Thirty-six p.c of the Mongolian inhabitants is beneath age 18.

The major faith of Mongolia is Lamaism or the Yellow sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It originated in Tibet across the seventh century A.D. Mongolian ruler Altan Khan launched Lamaism to the Mongolian lots within the 16th century and he additionally first assigned the title of Dalai Lama to Tibet’s spiritual chief.

There is an idea that Mongolian horseman might have invented ice cream after they took cream in containers created from animal intestines as provisions on lengthy journeys throughout the Gobi desert in winter. As they galloped, the cream was vigorously shaken, whereas the sub-zero temperature brought on it to freeze. The enlargement of the Mongol Empire spread ice cream by means of China, from the place Marco Polo seemingly introduced the concept to Italy when he returned from his travels in 1295.

The nation the world is aware of as Mongolia is definitely historic Outer Mongolia; Inner Mongolia continues to be an autonomous area of China.

Mongolia’s capital is Ulaanbaatar, or Ulan Bator, which comes from the Mongolian Ulayanbayatur, which implies “Red Hero.” The metropolis shouldn’t be a part of any Mongolian aimag, or province, and its inhabitants as of 2008 were over 1 million. The metropolis was based in 1639 as a movable monastery and altered places 28 instances earlier than it was settled completely at its current location on the Tuul and Selbe rivers in 1778.

Mongolia’s nationwide drink, fermented mare’s milk, known as airag—or kumiss, in different elements of Central Asia. This is one of the Mongolian facts.

Due to its excessive elevation, excessive latitude, landlocked location, and the consequences of the Siberian anticyclone, Ulaanbaatar is the coldest nationwide capital on the planet, the place the common temperature is -1 degree celcius.

Gobi Desert is the sixth-largest desert in the world. It additionally holds the document of being the coldest desert on the planet. Gobi Desert is without doubt one of the prime causes to go to Mongolia as a result of its consists of lovely Sand dunes, mysterious canyons, and spectacular mountains.

Gobi Desert is called a house of the most important dinosaur fossils on the planet because of the findings of numerous dinosaur fossils.

Genghis Khan couldn’t learn or write, however, he commissioned the first Mongolian writing system – the Mongolian script. Since the Soviet interval, Mongolians have used the Cyrillic script. In Mongolian, the verb comes last.

Lake Khovsgol in Northern Mongolia accommodates about 1 p.c of the world freshwater and 70 p.c of Mongolia’s contemporary water. The lake is known as “The Blue Pearl” by Mongolia. With a space of 1,012 sq. miles (2,620 sq. km), it’s Mongolia’s largest freshwater lake Mongolia.

Mongolia is essentially the most sparsely populated nation on the planet, with solely 4.Three people per sq. mile.

Mongolia has a complete space of 603, 909 miles2 (1,564,116 km2). It is barely smaller than Alaska and is the second-largest land-locked nation after Kazakhstan. This is one of the fun facts about Mongolia.

From 1866, the phrase “Mongoloid,” which accurately means “of or like Mongols,” was used as a time period for people born with the distinctive options of Down’s syndrome. Today, it’s seen solely as a racial designation.

Before it was named Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital was known as Urga, which is the Russian spelling of the Mongolian phrase örgöö, which is the title for the flap of felt that may be drawn over the smoke gap on the prime of ger or yurt. Used honorifically, Örgöö denotes not solely the flap however the entire tent of an vital particular person.

There are 13 instances more horses in Mongolia than people. This is one of the fun facts about Mongolia.

It was solely in 2002 that Taiwan formally acknowledged Mongolia as an autonomous nation and eliminated it from maps of China. Mongolia nonetheless endorses a “One-China Policy” and formally considers Taiwan to be part of China.

Snow leopards are native to Mongolia, and one-third of the world’s inhabitants live there. A snow leopard can’t roar or purr.

Most of Mongolia sits on the timezone of GMT +Eight hour. Only the western Three provinces (out of 21) have a one-hour prior timezone, which is GMT+7 hour. Be certain to recollect this truth in the event you plan to journey to Western Mongolia.

The Ministry of Science, Technology, Education, and Culture (MSTEC) is the central administrating body that formulates nationwide schooling coverage and units the usual for every stage of formal schooling starting with nursery schooling by means of college increased schooling.

The phrase ‘Mongol’ means courageous, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Most Mongolians historically stay in a Ger (that means dwelling). Many Mongolians who stay within the cities nonetheless personal or have entry to a ger utilizing them as summer season houses, in June, July, and August.

One of the largest holidays of the yr is the Naadam Festival. This can be the largest sports activities occasion.

The Great Wall of China was truly inbuilt in Inner Mongolia within the sixth century A.D, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Mongolia is known as “Land of the Blue Sky” as a result of it has over 260 sunny days a yr. This is one of the Mongolia facts for kids.

Mongolia is alleged to be derived from the phrase Mongol, which is alleged to be from the phrase mong, which means “brave.”

In 1962, William Coperthwaite launched a contemporary model of the yurt to the United States, after studying an article in National Geographic journal with photos of Mongolian Gers.

Tamga is a conventional Mongolian stamp or seal, initially made from stone or metallic within the instances of the Mongol Empire. A letter despatched by Güyük Khan to Pope Innocent IV in 1246 bears the stamp of the imperial seal within the Mongol script. After the 1921 Revolution, the federal government designed its personal seals on the premise of the Soyombo (the nationwide image). The phrase tamga can be utilized by Mongolian herders for livestock manufacturers to establish possession. This is one of the Mongolia culture facts.

The Mongols have been most likely answerable for bringing gunpowder and firearms to Europe when Genghis Khan organized a unit of Chinese catapult specialists. These males shaped a part of the first Mongol military to invade Transoxania in 1219.

William of Rubruck, a Franciscan friar who traveled to the court docket of Möngke Khan between 1253 and 1255, printed an account of his journey. Although it didn’t flow into extensively in Europe, Roger Bacon, a fellow Franciscan, took an eager curiosity in Rubruck’s account.

The Gobi Desert can be thought to be the world’s largest dinosaur fossil reserve, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Mongolia is also known as “the land of the blue sky” because it has over 260 days of clear, blue sky.

The endangered 2-hump camel, the Bactrian camel, is native to Mongolia.

There is a camel competition to have fun with these well-known camels and protect the species. This camel competition first started in 1997, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Native to Mongolia can be the snow-leopard. This is one of the cool facts about Mongolia.

One-third of the world’s snow leopard inhabitants live in Mongolia.

Mongolian people’s visitor tradition could be very sturdy. They will typically greet their friends with a bowl of ‘airag’. This is fermented horse milk. It is taken into account disrespectful to refuse a cup of this.

The solely substantial Mongolian work current from the Genghis Khan period is the partly legendary Secret History of the Mongols, which survived solely in a model translated into Chinese.

Approximately 25-40% of Mongolians nonetheless stay nomadic life, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Harold Lamb’s 1927 book Genghis Khan: Emperor of All Men stays the bestselling biography of the Mongolian warlord.

At least 17 million people living as we speak descended from Genghis Khan

An astounding variety of people in Central Asia are estimated to be the descendants of Genghis Khan. Geneticists have begun to hint a variant of the Y chromosome transmitted solely by means of the male line within the DNA of an enormous variety of Central Asian males—estimated at 17 million—who seem to share a standard progenitor, courting back to the 13th century.

Mongolia grew to become part of the UN in 1961, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Mongolia was not acknowledged as a rustic by many nations (together with the US) till 1987.
Genghis Khan himself was illiterate, nonetheless, he launched the first writing system in Mongolia within the early 13th century. He borrowed this script from the script of the Uyghurs. This script is written vertically from left to proper.

Mongolia adopted the Latin alphabet within the 1930s. It was then changed with the Cyrillic alphabet in 1941, with two further letters (ö and ü sounds) in any other case not present in Russian.

Mongolian native horses are the final actually wild horses left on the planet. They have 66 chromosomes, one or two greater than the common horse.

The present Mongolian nationwide flag, adopted in 1992, is of three equal vertical bands of crimson, blue, and crimson. On the crimson band close to the hoist is the yellow Soyombo, the image of the Bogd Khan monarchy which was adopted because of the nation’s nationwide image.

Mongolia is dwelling to the world’s oldest nationwide park.

The Gobi Desert, the most important in Asia and the fifth largest on the planet, is in Mongolia. The Gobi was as soon as a sea and now full of marine fossils.

The second-largest vacation in Mongolia is New Year, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Przewalski’s horse, or takhi in Mongolian, was named for Polish geographer/explorer Nikolai Przewalski, who was tasked by the Russian tsar to discover Mongolia in 1818–1819. In 1881, the brand new species was formally described as Equus przewalskii, after the colonel. After an interval of extinction since 1968, in September 2004, 12 takhi hybrid stallions, two yearlings, and 7 mares have been flown from a reserve in Lozère, France, to Khovd, Mongolia, after which to a 6,000-hectare reserve known as Khomiin Tal on the border of Khare’s-Nuur National Park, in an effort to return the world’s final wild horse to its homeland.

The two-humped Bactrian camel is native to Mongolia. The annual Thousand Camel Festival has been hosted by a non-public group working to guard and protect the Bactrian inhabitants in Mongolia, which has been steadily declining over the previous 12 years.

In Mongolia, sheep outnumber people 35 to 1, which is one of the interesting facts about Mongolia.

Presidential and Parliamentary elections are held every four years, however, they’re held individually. Mongolia is a democratic nation with a parliamentary system.

Music is a crucial side of Mongolian tradition and is used to specific feelings for nature, the land, the horses, and for family members.

Ulaanbaatar (inhabitants 949,000) is the capital of Mongolia and its largest metropolis. As a nomadic metropolis, the capital used to maneuver thrice a yr! The title means “Red Hero.” A 131-foot statue of Genghis Khan sits on the steppe about an hour’s drive from Ulaanbaatar.

John Wayne performed Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan within the 1956 Dick Powell-directed movie The Conqueror. The film was a field workplace flop and continues to be panned as we speak.

Mongolia as a rustic is “outer Mongolia”. Inner Mongolia continues to be a part of China as an autonomous area.