Ulan Bator

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Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar (Mongolian: Улаанбаатар, Classical Mongolian: ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠤᠷ [Ulaɣan Baɣatur]), is the capital of Mongolia.

Ulan Bator has had numerous names in its history. From 1639–1706, it was known as Örgöö (Mongolian: Өргөө, residence), and from 1706–1911 as Ikh Khüree, Da Khüree or simply Khüree (Mongolian: Их = "great", Хүрээ = "camp"). Its Chinese name was Kulun (traditional Chinese: 庫倫; simplified Chinese: 库伦; pinyin: Kùlún). Upon independence in 1911, with both the secular government and the Bogd Khan's palace present, the city's name changed to Niislel Khüree (Mongolian: Нийслэл = "capital").

When the city became the capital of the new Mongolian People's Republic in 1924, its name was changed to Ulaanbaatar ("red hero"), in honor of Mongolia's national hero Damdin Sükhbaatar, whose warriors liberated Mongolia from Ungern von Sternberg's troops and Chinese occupation shoulder-to-shoulder with the Soviet Red Army. His statue still adorns Ulan Bator's central square.

In Europe and North America, Ulan Bator was generally known as Urga (after the Russian form for Örgöö) or sometimes Kuren before 1924, and Ulan Bator afterwards, after the Russian: Улан-Батор. The Russian spelling is different from the Mongolian because it was defined phonetically, and the Cyrillic script was only introduced in Mongolia seventeen years later.

[edit] Geography

Ulan Bator is located at about 1350 meters (4430 ft) above sea level, slightly east of the center of Mongolia on the Tuul River, a subtributary of the Selenge, in a valley at the foot of the mountain Bogd Khan Uul.

Due to its high elevation, relatively high latitude, and location hundreds of kilometres from any coast, Ulan Bator is the coldest national capital in the world, with a monsoon-influenced subarctic climate (Koppen climate classification Dwc) with brief, warm summers and long, very cold and dry winters. It has an average annual temperature of -1.3 °C (29.7 °F). The city lies in the zone of sporadic permafrost, which means that building is difficult in sheltered aspects that preclude thawing in the summer, but easier on more exposed ones where soils fully thaw. Suburban residents live in traditional gers that do not protrude into the soil.^[2]

[edit] History

Founded in 1639, Ulan Bator, then Örgöö (Urga), was originally located at the lake Shireet Tsagaan nuur, around 400 km from the present Ulan Bator in Övörkhangai Province, and was mainly intended to be the seat of the first Jebtsundamba, Zanabazar.

It was moved often to various places along the Selenge, Orkhon and Tuul rivers until reaching its present location in the late 18th century, on the high road from Beijing to Kyakhta, about 700 miles (1,100 km) northwest of Beijing and 165 miles (266 km) south of the trading town of Kyakhta on the Russian frontier. It was the holy city of the Mongols and the residence of the "Living Buddha," metropolitan of the Khalkha tribes, who ranked third in degree of veneration among the dignitaries of the lamaist clergy. This "resplendently divine lama" resided in a palace on the southern side of the town. The town prospered in the 1860s as a commercial center on the tea route between Russia and China (early 20th century trade was valued at over 1,000,000 dollars a year) and was the seat of the Qing Amban (highest imperial official) in Mongolia, who controlled all temporal matters and was specially charged with the control of the frontier trade town of Kyakhta and its trade with Russia.

In 1904, on the occasion of the British expedition to Tibet, the Dalai Lama withdrew from his Tibetan capital Lhasa and went to Ikh Khüree (as it was named at the time), where he remained until 1908. During his residence there, the Dalai Lama would have no communication with the incumbent Bogd Khan who was described as a "drunken profligate".^[3]

After Mongolia first proclaimed its independence, upon the collapse of the Manchu Empire in 1911, the city became the capital of the new Mongolian People's Republic in 1924 under its new name Ulaanbaatar.

[edit] Administration and Subdivisions

Main article: Düüreg

Ulan Bator is divided into nine districts (Düüregs): Baganuur, Bagakhangai, Bayangol, Bayanzurkh, Chingeltei, Khan Uul, Nalaikh, Songino Khairkhan, and Sühbaatar. Each district is subdivided into Khoroos.

The capital is governed by a city council (the Citizen's Representatives Hural) with forty members, elected every four years. The city council appoints the mayor. The current mayor is Tsogt Batbayar, who is also the governor of Central Province, i.e. Töv Aimag, which surrounds the municipality of Ulaanbaatar.

[edit] Transportation

Interurban and international: Ulan Bator is served by the Chinggis Khaan International Airport (formerly Buyant Ukhaa Airport) and is connected by road (mostly unpaved and unmarked) to most of the major towns in Mongolia. There are rail connections to the Trans-Siberian railway via Naushki and to the Chinese railroad system via Jining.

Intra-urban: The national and municipal governments regulate a wide system of private transit providers which operate numerous bus lines around the city. Many of these buses are antiquated Czech vehicles, though Japan and Korea have recently donated and sold modern busses to the city. A secondary transit system of microbusses (passenger vans) operates alongside these bus lines and competes directly. In the last few years the city licensed an increasing number of marked taxicabs. However, most drivers in the city offer unregulated and informal taxicab service to anyone who signals them.

[edit] Colleges and universities

Ulan Bator has five major universities: the National University of Mongolia, Science and Technological University of Mongolia, University of Health and Medical Science, Pedagogical University, and University of Art and Culture. There are also private and public colleges. A historical library contains a wealth of ancient Mongolian, Chinese, and Tibetan manuscripts.

[edit] Description

The city consists of a central district built in Soviet 1940s and 1950s-style architecture, surrounded by and mingled with residential concrete towerblocks and large yurt quarters. In recent years, a lot of the towerblock's ground floors have been modified and upgraded to small shops, and many new buildings have been erected, some of them illegally. Among the few pre-1920 buildings is the Choijin Lama Monastery. The main sites are:

• Natural History Museum. Features many dinosaur fossils found in Mongolia.
• National Museum of Mongolian History
• Gandantegchinlen Khiid Monastery, with a 25-meter-high statue of Migjid Janraisig
• The Bogd Khan's Winter Palace
• Ulaanbaatar Opera House
• The Zaisan Memorial, a memorial to Russian soldiers killed in World War II, which sits on a hill south of the city. The Zaisan Memorial includes a Russian tank paid for by the Mongolian people and a circular memorial painting which depicts scenes of friendship between the peoples of Russia and Mongolia. Visitors who make the long climb to the top are rewarded with a panoramic view of the whole city down in the valley.
• Sükhbaatar Square, in the government district. In the center of Sükhbaatar Square, there is a statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar on horseback. On the north side of Sükhbaatar Square is the Mongolian Parliament building, featuring a large statue of Chinggis Khan at the top of the front steps.
• National Sports Stadium. The Naadam festival is held here every July.
• Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, a nature preserve with many tourist facilities, approximately 70 km from Ulan Bator.

[edit] Sister Cities

• Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Tianjin, People's Republic of China
• Image:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taipei, Taiwan
• Image:Flag of South Korea.svg Seoul, South Korea
• Image:Flag of the United States.svg Denver, Colorado, USA
• Image:Flag of Australia.svg Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
• Image:Flag of Japan.svg Miyakonojo, Miyazaki, Japan
• Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Leeds, United Kingdom (according to a 2005 Calendar broadcast).

[edit] Embassies

Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Laos, Poland, Romania, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States all have embassies in Ulaanbaatar.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

[edit] See also

Architecture of Mongolia

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

1. ^ Mongol Messenger www.mongolmessenger.mn
2. ^ geography.about.com coldcapital.html
3. ^ The Chinese Empire, ed. M. Broomhall, London, 1907, p. 357
4. ^ http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Mongolia#1958
5. ^ http://www.themoscowtimes.com/travel/facts/emb_abroad.html
6. ^ http://www.mfa.government.bg/index.php?tid=49#art384
7. ^ http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1087554253488
8. ^ http://www.msz.gov.pl/Polish,Missions,Abroad,2143.html

[edit] External links

• City of Ulan Bator official site (English)
• City council of Ulaanbaatar official site (Mongolian)
• Mayor of Ulaanbaatar official site (Mongolian)
• Digital map of Ulan Bator ger districts including (English)
• "Urga or Da Khuree" from A. M. Pozdneyev's Mongolia and the Mongols
• Photos of Ulanbaataar with comments
• Ulan Bator travel guide from Wikitravel

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