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  • In November 2015, a Mongolian union leader set himself on fire during a press conference,

  • in order to protest the sale of coal mines to China. The union leader said that the Mongolian

  • government no longer supports workers and their families”. In fact, Mongolia’s close

  • relationship with China has some worried about effects on employment, by choosing Chinese

  • over Mongolian workers. As a unique country with an extraordinarily powerful historical

  • background, we wanted to know, just how powerful is Mongolia?

  • Well, Mongolia is one of the largest countries in the world, ranking 19th, or a little smaller

  • than the US state of Alaska. It is also the second largest landlocked country, after its

  • neighbor, Kazakhstan. However, despite it’s massive size, the population is less than

  • 3 million. That’s about five residents for every square mile, giving it the second lowest

  • population density of any major country on earth. By comparison, neighboring China sees

  • about 365 people per square mile, and in Singapore it is more than 18,000. This low density can

  • be largely explained by Mongolia’s vast deserts, mountains, and other land unsuitable

  • for agriculture and development. Nearly half of its entire population lives in the country’s

  • capital, Ulaanbaatar, and many of the rest are still nomadic.

  • Part of the reason for Mongolia’s expansive size is that for a century and a half, it

  • was a fearsome empire, originally founded by the infamous Genghis Khan. By the year

  • 1270, it had become the largest contiguous empire in history, covering nearly 13 million

  • square miles. That’s more than a fifth of the entire world’s landmass. Eventually,

  • however, the empire fractured and collapsed due to infighting among Khan’s descendants.

  • Around the 17th century, the remaining country of Mongolia was absorbed by the predecessor

  • to modern day China, the Qing dynasty . When they declared independence from China in the

  • early 20th century, a portion remained as one of China’s autonomous regions, and today

  • China hosts MORE Ethnic Mongols than in actual Mongolia. On the other side of the country,

  • Russia established Mongolia as a satellite state soon after their independence. It took

  • until around the fall of the Soviet Union to achieve some form of democracy. Today more

  • than half of the country identifies as Buddhist, though in the early 20th century, as much

  • as a third of the male population was comprised of Buddhist monks.

  • Despite its varied history, Mongolia is struggling economically. Its GDP is about $12 billion

  • dollars, and in 2005, a fifth of the country lived on less than a $1.25 a day. Their primary

  • export industry is mining, as minerals comprise about 80% of their exports. Their military

  • is also rather unsubstantial. Their armed forces contain barely 150,000 active personnel,

  • and the Mongolian government only allocates about 70 million dollars towards defense.

  • That’s a mere half a percent of their GDP. They did, however contribute a small group

  • of troops to the US’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, prompting President George W. Bush to become

  • the first ever sitting president to visit the country.

  • Despite its small military, Mongolia has little to worry about, as they have diplomatic relations

  • with nearly every country on earth. Plus, theyre smack-dab in between China and Russia,

  • two of the world’s largest superpowers. Unless they decided to war with each other,

  • there is little threat hanging over Mongolia.

  • So with a sparse population, weak economy, tiny military, and the bulk of their ethnic

  • population living elsewhere, it’s pretty safe to say that the once mighty Mongolian

  • Empire is not quite as powerful these days.

  • Mongolia’s neighbor to the south, on the other hand, has a very large influence, politically

  • and economically. Watch our video to find out about how powerful China really is.

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In November 2015, a Mongolian union leader set himself on fire during a press conference,

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