| Ulan Bator has had numerous names in its history. From 16391706, it was known as Örgöö , and from 17061911 as Ikh Khüree, Da Khüree or simply Khüree . Its Chinese name was Kulun . Upon independence in 1911, with both the secular government and the Bogd Khan's palace present, the city's name changed to Niislel Khüree .
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. 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.
Geography
Ulan Bator is located at about 1350 meters (4430 feet) 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.
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