Passing into Mongolia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Landlocked

A landlocked country can be defined as a nation that either has no coastline or solely coastlines on closed seas. In total, there are 48 landlocked countries with the majority being located in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Interestingly, the two largest landlocked countries in the world, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, are located just 37 kilometers apart as can be seen in the illustration.

Answer: Gobi Desert

The Gobi Desert is the largest desert in Asia and one of the five largest deserts in the world. Most of the Gobi Desert lies in northern China but several important areas including Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park lie in Mongolia.

Answer: It was one of the least densely populated nations.

Official estimates in 2015 placed the population of Mongolia at nearly 3 million inhabitants. Since the area of Mongolia is more than 1.5 million square kilometers its population density was less than two people per square kilometer. In contrast, the nation of Bangladesh had a population density of more than 1,100 people per square kilometer.

Answer: Zud

With Mongolia being landlocked farming is an extremely important industry and a zud can cause problems with food shortages throughout the country. An estimated 11 million livestock died between the winters of 2000 and 2002 when Mongolia experienced zuds in three consecutive years.

Answer: Tavan Bogd

While most of the Tavan Bogd massif lies within Mongolia, its northernmost parts are in Russia and its westernmost parts are in China. The highest peak of Tavan Bogd is Khüiten Peak which rises to a height of 4,374 meters. The four other peaks of Tavan Bogd all rise over 4,000 meters and are named Nairamdal, Bürged, Malchin, and Olgii.

Answer: Buddhism

After Buddhism, no other organized religion was represented by more than 3% of the population of Mongolia. More than 38% of the population was identified as non-religious. In addition to Mongolia, other countries that were more than 50% Buddhist in 2010 included Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Laos.

Answer: Dalanzadgad

The province of Ömnögovi is the largest of Mongolia's 21 provinces and it contains several popular sites including the Flaming Cliffs and Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park. In 2010, Mongolia's largest city was Ulaanbaatar with 1.09 million people. Mongolia's next largest cities, Erdenet and Darkhan, were the only other cities with populations over 70,000. Southern Mongolia is extremely sparsely populated with its most populous city, Dalanzadgad, having a population of just 18,000 in 2010.

Answer: Ulaanbaatar

The National Naadam held in the National Sports Stadium in Ulaanbaatar is the most widely attended event annually in Mongolia and in 2010 it was added on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. The sports involved in Naadam are known as 'the three games of men' and the festival commemorates the 1921 Mongolian Revolution when the country declared its independence from China.

Answer: Genghis Khan

In addition to his skills as a military leader, Genghis Khan facilitated trade and communication across the vast Mongol Empire until his death in 1227. Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan, expanded the Mongol Empire from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea with one-fifth of the world's inhabited land area under his rule.

Answer: Soyombo

In addition to the Yin-yang in the center the Soyombo from top to bottom features fire, the sun and moon, an arrowhead, rectangles of stability, and the walls of a fort. The Soyombo first appeared on the flag of Mongolia in 1911 and adaptations of it have also appeared on the flag of several Russian republics including Buryatia.