retired to
their original steppe homelands and later came under Chinese rule.
Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with Soviet backing. A
Communist regime was installed in 1924. During the early 1990s, the
ex-Communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) gradually
yielded its monopoly on power to the Democratic Union Coalition
(DUC), which defeated the MPRP in a national election in 1996. Since
then, parliamentary elections returned the MPRP overwhelmingly to
power in 2000 and produced a coalition government in 2004.

Geography Mongolia

Location:
Northern Asia, between China and Russia

Geographic coordinates:
46 00 N, 105 00 E

Map references:
Asia

Area:
total: 1,564,116 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Alaska

Land boundaries:
total: 8,220 km
border countries: China 4,677 km, Russia 3,543 km

Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)

Climate:
desert; continental (large daily and seasonal temperature ranges)

Terrain:
vast semidesert and desert plains, grassy steppe, mountains in west
and southwest; Gobi Desert in south-central

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Hoh Nuur 518 m
highest point: Nayramadlin Orgil (Huyten Orgil) 4,374 m

Natural resources:
oil, coal, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel,
zinc, fluorspar, gold, silver, iron

Land use:
arable land: 0.77%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 99.23% (2001)

Irrigated land:
840 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
dust storms, grassland and forest fires, drought, and "zud," which
is harsh winter conditions

Environment - current issues:
limited natural fresh water resources in some areas; the policies
of former Communist regimes promoted rapid urbanization and
industrial growth that had negative effects on the environment; the
burning of soft coal in power plants and the lack of enforcement of
environmental laws severely polluted the air in Ulaanbaatar;
deforestation, overgrazing, and the converting of virgin land to
agricultural production increased soil erosion from wind and rain;
desertification and mining activities had a deleterious effect on
the environment

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone La