Wikijunior:Asia/Mongolia

Mongolia is a country located in Central Asia.

Before the 12th century, several tribes live in Mongolia. They were Nomadic, meaning they often move from one place to another. By the late 12th century, a chieftain named Temüjin united the tribes of Mongolia. He declared a Mongol Empire and became known as Genghis Khan. He began conquering places beyond the grasslands of Mongolia. After he died, his sons and grandsons expanded the empire. The Mongol Empire, at its peak, stretched over most parts of Asia including China and some parts of Europe.

Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan ruled over China and founded the Yuan dynasty. However by the 16th century, the dynasty collapsed and the Mongols in China went back to their homeland. The Qing dynasty of China later conquered Mongolia. Mongolia later declared independence from China on December 29, 1911. However it was not until 1921 when the Mongolians finally achieved independence with the help of the Soviet Union (now Russia). Mongolia depended much from the Soviet Union and was a communist state until 1990.

Where is the Mongolia?
Mongolia is located in Central Asia. It is a landlocked country, meaning that it has no coastline. Mongolia shares border with only two countries; Russia which is found north of the country and China which is found in the south.

How many people live in Mongolia?
Despite the country being a large country, Mongolia is sparsely populated with only has around 3,042,511 people living in it in 2015.

About half of the population of Mongolia lives in the capital of Ulaanbaatar which has 1,372,000 people in 2013.

What are the most common languages in Mongolia?
The Official language of Mongolia is Mongolian which is spoken by about 90 percent of Mongolia's people. Russian is the most spoken foreign language.

Today, Mongolian uses the Cyrillic alphabet which is also used in Russian. The language had its own alphabet which is sometimes used.

What is the most common religion in Mongolia?
Buddhism is the most common religion in Mongolia. Tibetan Buddhism is the most common type of Buddhism with over half of Mongolia's people following the religion. The other half, about 39 percent follows no religion at all. Previously Shamanism was the most common religion in Mongolia a long time ago. However some of its traditions are still being followed today by many Mongolians.

What is the sport of Mongolia?
Every summer in Mongolia, a sports festival called Naadam is held where Mongolians compete in three Mongolian traditional sports namely archery, horse racing and wrestling.

Mongolian wrestling is the most popular sport in Mongolia. Wrestlers from Mongolia won the most medals for Mongolia in the Olympics. Horse riding is an important part of Mongolian culture. There is a legend where Mongolian military hero, Damdin Sükhbaatar scattered coins on the ground and then picked them up while riding a horse. In Naadam, horse riding is done in the open and not in short race tracks.

What are some important sights?

 * The Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue is a steel statue of famous Mongolian conqueror, Genghis Khan, riding a horse. It is near the Tuul River, about 60 kilometers east of Ulaanbatar. It is pointing east to Genghis Khan's birthplace. It is on top of the Genghis Khan Statue Complex, which houses a museum.