Mongolia
Mongolia is a country in northeast Asia, bordering China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The country's population estimate in 2002 was 2,694,432, and Mongolia's capital is Ulaanbaatar (sometimes spelled "Ulan Bator"). Ulaanbaatar is also home to a large portion of the thinly-populated country's citizens, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 800,000. Other prominent cities in Mongolia include Darkhan (meaning "smithy" or "blacksmith") which was a city created as a model town under Mongolia's communist rule, with a population of 95,500, and Choibalsan, with a population 47,000. At 1,564,116 square kilometres, Mongolia is the nineteenth largest country in the world, but also the least densely populated nation on earth, with an average of 1.7 persons per square kilometer. After Kazakhstan, Mongolia is the second largest land-locked country on earth.
Mongolia's historical significance is in the 12th century conquests of Genghis Khan (meaning "great khan" or great ruler), whose armies swept across what is now Russia and much of eastern Europe, stopping at Vienna, killing large numbers in their path. Genghis Khan's cruelty can be seen in his method of conquest: cities and populations that immediately submitted to his rule were spared, and allowed to live freely, paying tribute, while those who fought back against the Mongol armies were ruthlessly slaughtered. Arguably, Mongolia was that era's world power, and was feared by most of Europe.
What led to Mongolia's eclipse from the world stage was, ironically, a question of succession. Genghis Khan died unexpectedly, and his generals were summoned back to the (then) capital Kharkhorum (now a ghost town in Mongolia) to choose a new "khan," meaning king. For reasons not entirely clear, the Mongols never re-gained their dominant power, and Mongolia entered a centuries-long period of decline, becoming what was essentially a backwater dominated by Siberian nomadic rulers and Chinese dynastic officials.
In 1911, a native Mongolian uprising occurred, successfully overthrowing Chinese domination, and attempting to create a free Mongolian state. The naiscent Mongolian state was in turn overthrown by the world's second (after Russia) communist revolution in 1921, led by Sukhe Bator (1894-1923). The 1921 revolution installed a communist government which ruled from 1921 until the communist government was overthrown in 1990. In the years after 1990, Mongolia became a multi-party democracy, which -- in contrast to the almost previous 70 years -- actively sought ties with western countries, especially the US.
