evidence: Mongolia, or Outer Mongolia, Country, north-central Asia, between Russia and China. Area: 603,953 sq mi (1,564,241 sq km). Population: (2024 est.) 3,530,000. Capital: Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator). Some four-fifths of the population are Mongols; minorities consist of Kazakhs, Russians, and Chinese. Languages: Khalkha Mongolian, Turkic languages, Russian, Chinese. Religions: traditional beliefs, Buddhism, Islam. Currency: tugrik (Tug). Mongolia has an average elevation of about 5,200 ft (1,580 m) above sea level. Three mountain ranges stretch across the north and west: the Altai, the Hangayn (Khangai), and the Hentiyn (Khentei). The south and east are occupied by the Gobi Desert. Livestock raising, especially sheepherding, accounts for nearly three-fourths of the total value of agricultural production; wheat is the major crop. Mongolia’s rich mineral resources include coal, iron ore, and copper. Mongolia is a unitary multiparty republic with one legislative house; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. In Neolithic times it was inhabited by small groups of hunters and nomads. During the 3rd century bce it became the centre of the Xiongnu tribal league. Turkic-speaking peoples held sway in the 4th–10th centuries ce. [...] Mongol, member of a Central Asian ethnographic group of closely related tribal peoples who live mainly on the Mongolian Plateau and share a common language and nomadic tradition. Their homeland is now divided into the independent country of Mongolia (Outer Mongolia) and the Inner Mongolia