ded into several powerful Mongol states, but these
broke apart in the 14th century. The Mongols eventually 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, D