Glossary-- Mongolia

arad

Mongolian term for people; the workers; the common people.

aymag

Provincial-level or second-level unit of administration in Mongolia since 1921. Aymags are divided into somon (q.v.). Traditionally, an aymag was a tribe.

Communist International

also called the Comintern or the Third International. It was founded in Moscow in 1919 to coordinate the world communist movement. Officially disbanded in 1943, the Comintern was revived as the Cominform (Communist Information Bureau) from 1947 to 1956.

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon)

Also abbreviated CEMA and CMEA, the organization was established in 1949 to promote economic cooperation among socialist bloc countries and is headquartered in Moscow. Its members as of 1989 included the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland, Mongolia, Romania, and Vietnam. Mongolia, the first non-European member, joined Comecon in 1962 and has traditionally been a supplier of raw materials to the Soviet Union.

fiscal year (FY)

January 1 through December 31.

Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence

Mutual respect for one another's territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual nonaggression; mutual noninterference in one another's internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence.

ger

Mongol term for the round, felt-covered tent known by its Russian (from the Turkic) name of yurt.

glasnost

Russian term meaning outreach, openness.

Golden Horde

From Mongol, altan ordo, or Tatar (q.v.), altun ordu, literally golden palace or camp, from the color of the tent used by Batu Khan (died 1255) in his conquest of Russia. Term used to refer to the Mongol suzerains of Russia (1240-1480), also known as the Khanate of Kipchak.

gobi

Mongol term for arid pastureland, and source of the name Gobi.

gross domestic product (GDP)

The total value of goods and service produced by the domestic economy during a given period, usually one year. Obtained by adding the value contributed by each sector of the economy in the form of profits, compensation to employees, and depreciation (consumption of capital). Most GDP usage in this book was based on GDP at factor cost. Real GDP is the value of GDP when inflation has been taken into account.

gross national product (GDP)

Obtained by adding GDP (q.v.) and the income received from abroad by residents less payments remitted abroad to nonresidents. GNP valued at market prices was used in this book. Real GNP is the value of GNP when inflation has been taken into account.

horde

A horde (ordo in Mongol) was a force of several tumen (q.v.), roughly equivalent to a modern army corps. See also Golden Horde.

hurals

Assemblies of people's deputies. Hural is a vernacular term for kuriltai (q.v.).

Inner Mongolia

The southern part of traditional Mongolia; during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), comprised the provinces of Suiyuan, Qahar, and Rehol; the present-day Nei Monggol Autonomous Region of China (Outer Mongolia, q.v.).

Kazakh

Turkic-speaking, traditionally Muslim ethnic group of pastoralists, living in the Soviet Union, northwestern China, and western Mongolia.

Khalkha

Mongol subethnic group inhabiting the central and eastern portion of Mongolia and forming the majority of the population. Variant form: Halha.

khan

A king, prince, or chief; common title for sovereigns in Inner Asia. Sometimes used interchangeably with kaghan.

kuriltai

A council of Mongol chieftains or khans having origins among the assembly of the Kitan; a great assembly and a type of electoral procedure developed among tribal leaders in the first century A.D. A classical Mongol term having the same meaning as hural (q.v.).

Lamaism

Tibetan Buddhism, became the state religion of Mongolia in 1586.

Living Buddha or Incarnate Buddha

Western term for Tibetan Buddhist leaders who are considered incarnations and reincarnations of buddhas actively working for human salvation. Mongolia's Jebtsundamba Khutuktu was one of the many Living Buddhas.

Manchuria

The present-day northeast Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning; homeland of the Manchus, founders of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Known as Manchukuo during the period of Japanese control (1931-45).

negdel

Mongol term for a herding collective. Comprises agricultural stations and herding camps in the somon (q.v.) and is subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. Contrast with state farm, which produces crops.

nomenklatura

Russian-language term for the elite administrative positions filled by direct appointment by the communist party, and hence for the elite administrative class as a whole.

Outer Mongolia

The name applied to the northern part of traditional Mongolia during the period of Manchu control (1691-1911) and commonly in Western literature thereafter.

perestroika

Russian-language term meaning reform, or, restructuring of political system.

somon

Third-level administrative unit, subdivision of an aymag. The term, the root of which means arrow, derives from a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) hereditary military unit of about 100 families.

Tannu Tuva

Uriankhai region of northwestern Outer Mongolia (q.v.); in December 1921, as a result of Soviet insistence, it became the Tannu Tuva People's Republic, the independence of which was later recognized by Mongolia in the Mongolian-Soviet Treaty of Friendship of 1926. In 1944 it was annexed by the Soviet Union as the Tuvinian Oblast of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, and in 1961 it became the Tuvinskaya Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Tuvins (q.v.).

Tatar

Name of unknown origin, which first appeared in the eighth century. In the thirteenth century it became the European appellation for the Mongols, although the Mongols themselves had been fighting against the Tatars. From the fourteenth century, the name was applied to Turks living in the European parts of Russia, mainly in the khanates of Kazan and of the Crimea.

tugrik

The unit of currency; in March 1989, value of 1 tugrik=US$2.985. The tugrik is made up of 100 mongo; there are one, two, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and fifty mongo denomination coins and a one tugrik coin. Currency consists of 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 tugrik notes.

tumen

Traditional Mongol military unit, roughly equivalent to a modern division, comprising 10,000 troops and their families.

Tuvins

Ethnic group of Turkic-speaking pastoralists from the Tannu Tuva region of the Soviet Union, which was administered as part of Mongolia under the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Also known as Uriankhai.

Uighurs

Inner Asian ethnic group of oasis-dwelling, Turkic-speaking, traditionally Muslim agriculturalists resident largely in northwest China's Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region.

Urga

see Yihe Huree.

Uzbeks

Central Asian ethnic group of Turkic-speaking, Muslim agriculturalists, resident primarily in the Soviet Union.

yasaq

A legal code developed after Chinggis Khan's death but attributed to him; regulations; the code of Mongol law.

Yihe Huree

Literally, "great monastery" or "great camp," founded in the seventeenth century as the residence of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu (Living Buddha, [q.v.]) and capital of Mongolia in 1911, when it was renamed Niyslel--capital--Huree. Commonly referred to in Western literature as Urga. In 1924 when the state was secularized, the name was changed to Ulaanbaatar, which means Red Hero.

NOTE: The information regarding Mongolia on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Mongolia Glossary information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Mongolia Glossary should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.