Mongolia facts

In Southern Siberia. The wild form of the Bactrian camel live in remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts, migrating from the desert to rivers in Siberia during winter.

Ulaanbaatar. Owing to its high elevation (about 1,350 metres above sea level), relatively high latitude, location hundreds of kilometres from any coast, and the effects of the Siberian anticyclone, Ulaanbaatar is the coldest national capital in the world. It has an average annual temperature of −0.4 °C, as cold as Nuuk, Greenland, but Greenland is not independent.

Ulan Bator. The city was founded in 1639 as a nomadic Buddhist monastic centre. It changed location twenty-eight times, with each location being chosen ceremonially – before settling permanently at its present location in 1778.

Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a division of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde, which ruled Rus', Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies of Poland and Hungary. After the deaths of Genghis Khan's sons, he became the most respected prince called agha (elder brother) in the Mongol Empire.

Mongolian. This traditional vertical script comes from the Mongol Empire and lasted until 1946 in Mongolia, when Cyrillic was introduced. It is still used in Inner Mongolia and other parts of China.

Mongolia is divided into 21 provinces (aimags) and subdivided into 329 districts (sums). The capital Ulaanbaatar is administrated separately as a capital city (municipality) with provincial status.

Tögrög. The word tögrög refers to "circle", or a "circular object", but now is rarely used outside of referring to the currency, with the exception of the phrase tögrög sar, meaning "full moon".

China. Inner Mongolia is the third-largest subdivision of China spanning almost 300 million acres or 12% of China's land area.