-Ferdinand Ossendowski in his 1922 work: Beasts, Men and Gods, on his (dramatized) travels through Russian Siberia, Mongolia and China.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the far northeast of the Eurasian landmass, caught between the autocratic titans of China and Russia sits an anomalous island of democracy: Mongolia. Since the fall of communism, Mongolia has resisted the influence of its only two neighbors and held fast to its democracy, which is the highest rated out of any former Eastern Bloc country outside of Europe.[1]<\/sup> In July, a century after Ossendowski, I too came to Mongolia in search of mystery, hoping to answer how Mongolia has managed to maintain its democracy and its freedom, despite being enveloped by the two countries who today are the chief antagonists of democracy and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As my flight soared high above the homeland of Chinggis Khaan, I was in awe of the vastness and desolation of the Mongolian Steppe. Except for the rolling plains and occasional pairs of tents every several dozen kilometers, the view outside my window was of a kind of peaceful desolation, a seemingly untouched yet empty wilderness that hardly anywhere back home can put to shame. Only 3.5 million people are spread across Mongolia\u2019s 1.5 million square kilometers, making Mongolia the least densely populated country on the planet. Those 1.5 million square kilometers, about three times larger than Metropolitan France, are home to an incredible array of ecological and geographic diversity. Southern Mongolia is home to the Gobi, the largest cold desert in the world. The west is dominated by the majestic Altai mountains and large freshwater lakes. The center of the country commands the Khangai mountain range, which gradually flattens to the east into rolling hills and open steppes. Finally, northern Mongolia is dominated by forest steppes, and acts as an ecological transition zone into the Siberia taiga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historically, the entire region has been dominated by nomadic pastoralism. Even today those 3.5 million humans are outnumbered by nearly 5 million horses.[2]<\/sup> Mongols throughout the country primarily herd horses, cows, goats and sheep. In the Gobi, the two-humped Bactrian camel is also herded. These animals are the \u2018five jewels\u2019 of Mongolia and represent the lion’s share of the herding economy. In modern Mongolia herding is still a major — albeit shrinking — sector of the economy. Today most Mongols live in cities, more than half in the capital Ulaanbaatar alone. The largest economic sector in modern Mongolia is mining. It made up 25% of GDP in 2022 while agriculture, which is almost entirely herding, only commanded 13%.[3]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n After a 24 hour journey, I finally landed at Chinggis Khaan International Airport the morning of July 6, some 50 kilometers outside Ulaanbaatar. I was greeted at the airport by my host, one of my best friends and fellow Miamian, Gary Dashdorj. As we left the vicinity of the airport, Ulaanbaatar suddenly came into view, like a mirage in some silk road desert, as we rounded the mountain separating the city and the airport. The city is home to 1.7 million people, more than 17 times the next largest city in Mongolia. This was my first time visiting Asia and visiting a middle income country, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect. The pictures and videos I had seen of Mongolia and my historical background, (thanks to Dr. Prior\u2019s class: The Mongols and Their World, I highly recommend it) could only prepare me so much for this unique country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During my first week I explored the city with the help of Gary and some of his friends. Ulaanbaatar is built around S\u00fckhbaatar square, named for Mongolian revolutionary Damdin S\u00fckhbaatar. The center of the square features an impressive equestrian statue of him. On the north side of the square is the Government Palace where the parliament meets. At the entrance to the parliament is a giant statue of Chinggis Khaan. Eight centuries after the foundation of the Mongol Empire, Chinggis Khaan is still venerated as the father of the country. Near the parliament building, at the top level of a museum named for the Great Khaan is a 7.5 meter gold plated statue of him upon a gold plated throne, newly installed in March. Many, perhaps most, Mongols have portraits of Chinggis Khaan in their homes, and he graces all the largest bank notes. The largest equestrian statue in the world, about an hour\u2019s drive from the center of Ulaanbaatar, depicts Chinggis Khaan. In other nations authoritarian leaders have used their image in similar ways in an attempt to deify themselves, and hypnotize their people. For Mongolia, Chinggis Khaan is instead a symbol of the people, an ancestral leader, a unifying figure whose legacy unifies the country and evokes pride rather than submission.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ulaanbaatar bustles with shopping malls and traffic. Reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of ancient Mongolia, in addition to the standard Mongolian Cyrillic, English, Korean and Japanese signage was everywhere, some signs even had no Mongolian at all. In many places you can even see the old Mongolian script, which is written top to bottom and is a very distant cousin of Arabic script.[5]<\/sup> This skirmish between scripts and languages exemplifies the clash between modern Mongolia, the Soviet legacy, and its ancient past. In the city center whatever direction I looked I could see new skyscrapers and malls being erected. It reminded me of the development seen in neighboring China, and I had little doubt that this construction was funded in large part by Chinese investment. These are the hallmarks of the tremendous growth that has propelled Mongolia from low to upper middle income in only 20 years.[6]<\/sup> Ulaanbaatar experiences some of the worst traffic congestion in the world thanks to the fact that it was, during the Soviet era, a city planned for only half a million people and few cars. Today the old Soviet infrastructure lacks the room for the nearly 2 million people and over half a million cars.[7]<\/sup> Ulaanbaatar\u2019s shopping malls are frequented by everyone and sell everything. They range from highly upscale, stocked with western luxury brands, to bazaars selling everyday merchandise imported from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet the growth of Ulaanbaatar and Mongolia at large has been felt far from evenly. Surrounding the core of the city is a sprawling residential zone known as the ger district. Today most residents of the ger district live in houses, but historically it consisted entirely of gers, the Mongolian word for a yurt. Even today hundreds of thousands still live in gers. The district contains the majority of the population of Ulaanbaatar and has dramatically expanded over the last 30 years as population growth in the city has exceeded construction of housing supply. Access to basic infrastructure such as plumbing and electricity are persistent problems in the ger district. During the harsh winters, coal is almost universally burned for heat within the gers, which are very poor at trapping warmth. The smog this generates is protected from winds by the valley, and settles in the city until the spring; for this reason Ulaanbaatar is one of the most polluted cities in the world.[7]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n The most truly Mongolian experience of my trip was during the Mongol summer festival, Naadam. Held annually from July 11-13, Naadam celebrates the three principal sports of Mongolia: archery, Mongolian wrestling, and horse racing. During Naadam the entire country pauses to celebrate. Many people with means retreat from Ulaanbaatar and return to their ancestral provinces. My hosts and I went to their family ranch just outside the city. Also with us was Gary\u2019s friend Tuguldur. The ranch is only a couple dozen kilometers away from Ulaanbaatar and sits along the track where the national horse race is held. The views from the ranch were incredible. Other than the road itself, a few buildings on the road, some other ranches and the electric towers that connect Ulaanbaatar to the Russia grid, there was absolutely nothing. During the day I watched herders corral sheep and goats from motorcycles and prii (plural for Prius, yes Mongols herd animals in a Prius) set against the gentle hills and mountains surrounding us. Twice a day everyone would watch the riders of the national race gallop by. We visited Gary\u2019s relatives and his mom\u2019s colleagues at their own gers to celebrate Naadam communally. During our visits I wore a deel, a piece of traditional Mongol attire. Listening to Mongol longsong performed live during one of these visits will stay with me for the rest of my life. I ate goat liver, stomach, intestines, heart, lungs and tongue, all Naadam delicacies. Also served during Naadam is a kind of meat pancake called khuushuur; a dry, hearty cheese called aaruul; and airag, fermented mares milk. At night we slept in a ger, while the full moon outside shone like a midnight sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something that really fascinated me about the steppe was the presence of animal bones everywhere outside the ranch\u2019s fence. As far as I can ascertain, this is caused by mass die-offs of herded livestock that happen once every ten years or so. It really highlighted the harshness and solemnity of the great Mongolian Steppe. Gary and Tuguldur told me that in Mongol culture taking the bones is bad luck, because you bring whatever killed the animal with you.<\/p>\n\n\n After Naadam one of the last things we did before the end of my trip was climb Tsetsee G\u00fcn, the highest peak of Bogd Khaan mountain located to the south of Ulaanbaatar. Bogd Khaan is arguably the oldest national park in the world, first protected by the Qing dynasty in 1778.[8]<\/sup> The mountain forest we hiked through reminded me of hikes back home in Appalachia. It was still very different in its own way, parts of it were barren and covered in hulking boulders and I saw lots of animals that don\u2019t live in the United States. The mountain had an eerie mystique, perhaps this feeling came from the shrine at the peak. The shrine was an ovoo, which consists of rocks piled on top of each other stuffed with sticks, prayer flags, and ritual scarves. Ovoos are common to see all over Mongolia and are usually atop mountains like Bogd Khaan. The one at Bogd Khaan was especially large, and the rock formation itself was also used like a kind of \u201cnatural\u201d ovoo. Ovoos are used in both Tibetan Buddhist and shamanistic practices in Mongolia known as Tengerism. This particular ovoo was dedicated to the chief God of Tengerism, Tenger (\u0442\u044d\u043d\u0433\u044d\u0440), which means \u201csky\u201d in Mongolian. This same God has been worshipped since prehistory and was worshipped by Chinggis Khaan himself. Even though I am a Christian, it felt incredible to bear witness to a practice that is probably older than my own faith.<\/p>\n\n\n There is so much else I could say about Mongolia and too few words to say it with. This simple blog post does not do my visit justice. This country will always hold a special place in my heart. In the following blog posts I will dissect Mongolia\u2019s history and begin to answer the question of how modern Mongolia has resisted the influence of its neighbors to maintain democracy and liberty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] \u201cData Page: Democracy index\u201d, part of the following publication: Bastian Herre, Lucas Rod\u00e9s-Guirao, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2013) – \u201cDemocracy\u201d. Data adapted from Economist Intelligence Unit, Gapminder, Various sources. Retrieved from https:\/\/archive.ourworldindata.org\/20250731-180103\/grapher\/democracy-index-eiu.html [online resource] (archived on July 31, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] National Statistics Office of Mongolia. (n.d.). Number of livestock, by type, by region, bag, soum, aimags and the capital city, by year [Data set]. National Statistics Office of Mongolia. https:\/\/data.1212.mn\/pxweb\/en\/NSO\/NSO__Industry%2C%20service__Livestock\/DT_NSO_1001_021V1.px\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3] Economy – Invest Mongolia | Investment and Trade Agency of Mongolia. (2022). https:\/\/investmongolia.gov.mn\/economy\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n [4] Khankhuu, J. (2025, March 2). The Golden Statue of Chinggis Khaan enshrined<\/em>. MONTSAME News Agency. https:\/\/montsame.mn\/en\/read\/363179<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5] Olson, D.R., Diringer, D. (2025, August 1). alphabet. Encyclopedia Britannica. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/alphabet-writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6] World Bank. (n.d.). The World by Income and Region. World Bank. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https:\/\/datatopics.worldbank.org\/world-development-indicators\/the-world-by-income-and-region.html<\/p>\n\n\n\n [7] Boldbaatar, G., Gombodorj, G., Donorov, D., Andriambololonaharisoamalala, R., Indra, M., & Purevtseren, M. (2024, August 15). Land Suitability Analysis in monocentric post-socialist city: Case of ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. PloS one. https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC11326617\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n [8] UNESCO. (n.d.). Bogd Khan Uul Biosphere Reserve. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https:\/\/www.unesco.org\/en\/mab\/boghd-khan-uul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Max Fuhrig The cradle of peoples, histories and legends; the native land of bloody conquerors, who have left here their capitals covered by the sand of the Gobi, their mysterious rings and their ancient nomad laws; the states of … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/havighurst\/files\/2025\/08\/Max1.jpg\")
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