Word of the Day
ULAN (YOO-lahn)
Ulan Bator: The capital and largest city of Mongolia.
Common clue: _____ Bator
Crossword puzzle frequency: 3 times a year
Frequency in English language: 44739 / 86800
News: Wrestling and faith in Mongolia
Video: Road Crossing, Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar or Ulan Bator is the capital of Mongolia. In 1998 its population was estimated at 650,000. It is situated north and slightly east of the center of Mongolia, on the Tuul River, a subtributary of the Selenga, in a valley at the foot of the mountain Bogdo Uul.
Founded in 1649 as a Buddhist monastery town named Urga, it prospered in the 1860s as a commercial center on the tea route between Russia and China. Mongolia first proclaimed its autonomy in 1911, and when the city became the capital of the new Mongolian People's Republic in 1924, its name was changed to Ulaanbaatar ("red hero" in the Mongolian language), in honor of Mongolia's national hero Suhbaatar, who liberated Mongolia from Ungern von Sternberg's troops, Chinese rule, and called in the Soviet Red Army. His statue still adorns Ulaanbaatar's central square.
Suhbaatar,
the Mongolian Lenin
Ulaanbaatar has an international airport, Buyant Ukhaa Airport and is connected by highway to all the major towns in Mongolia and by rail to the Trans-Siberian railway and Chinese railroad systems. The city has the only university in the country, Mongolian State University. But there are number of colleges both private and public. A historical library contains a wealth of ancient Mongolian, Chinese, and Tibetan manuscripts.
In 2008, Ulaanbaatar was the scene of riots after the opposition Mongolian Democratic Party protested its defeat by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party in parliamentary elections. Protesters set the MPRP's headquarters on fire, and five people were killed.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ulaanbaatar".
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