Mongolia travel guide

It was Chinggis, though, whoreally kicked it all off for Mongolia, establishing the largest empire in history and one that extended from present-day Poland in the west, to the Korean peninsula in the east, and from Siberia in the north to Vietnam in the south. The empire covered a total area of over 33 million km².

Following Khan's death in 1227, the empire was subdivided, conquered and suffocated into submission for centuries and was ruled by China's Qing dynasty until 1911. That year saw the Qing dynasty fall and, but Mongolia found a friend in Russia in 1920. Thus began a long period of Russian support for the country and the emergence of a socialist Mongolia ruled by a Soviet-dominated communist regime for almost 70 years.

In March 1990, a democratic revolution that started with hunger strikes to overthrow the government led to the peaceful renouncement of communism. Mongolia adopted a multi-party system, a new constitution and transitioned to a market economy; over the past three decades, it has embraced political and economic reform and is now one of the world's fastest growing economies. This has not come without its drawbacks, however, and the withdrawal of Soviet support in the country has since triggered widespread poverty and unemployment, particularly during the 'lost decade' of the 1990s.

Today, around 45 percent of the population lives in the capital, Ulaan Baatar, while approximately 40 percent of the country's working population herd cattle in the extensive pasturelands, leading semi nomadic lifestyles. As with any rapidly industrialising nation, this centuries-old tradition is coming under pressure from climate change and urbanisation. Furthermore, Mongolia sits on vast quantities of untapped mineral wealth, and although foreign investment in a number of massive mining projects is expected to transform the country yet more over coming years, how much of that wealth will feed back in to supporting the rural people that really need it is yet to be seen.