Uliastai ( Mongolian : Улиастай ; ᠤᠯᠢᠶᠠᠰᠤᠲᠠᠢ ), also spelled Uliyasutai or Oulia-Sontai , and sometimes known as Javkhlant , is a city in Mongolia located in the western part of the country and 1,115 kilometres (693 mi) from the capital Ulaanbaatar . Uliastai is the capital of Zavkhan Province and was the 10th most populous city in the country with a population of 24,276 (2000 census). However, recent estimates have the city's population at 16,240 (2006 est.) making it the 16th most populous city in Mongolia.
12-588: Uliastai is located in a river valley where the Chigestai and Bogdiin Gol rivers meet, and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It is one of the most remote aimag capitals in Mongolia. Uliastai city has sum (district) status and forms an enclave within the surrounding Aldarkhaan sum . Alongside Khovd , Uliastai is one of the oldest settlements in Mongolia, and has long been an important center of caravan trade even into
24-404: A cold semi-arid climate ( Köppen : BSk ) with long, dry, very cold winters and short, warm summers. Districts of Mongolia A district ( Mongolian : сум , ᠰᠤᠮᠤ , sum , pronounced [sʰo̙m] ; lit. "arrow"), is a second level administrative subdivision of Mongolia . The 21 provinces of Mongolia are divided into 330 sum . On average, each district administers
36-521: A sum ( ᠰᠤᠮᠤ ), sometimes called a sumu ( Chinese : 苏木 ; pinyin : sūmù ), is an administrative division . The sum division is equivalent to a township but is unique to Inner Mongolia. It is therefore larger than a gaqa ( ᠭᠠᠴᠠᠭᠠ гацаа ) and smaller than a banner (the Inner Mongolia equivalent of the county -level division). Examples include Shiwei, Inner Mongolia and Honggor Sum, Siziwang Banner . Sums whose population
48-423: A permanent human settlement. Officially, and occasionally on maps, many district seats (sum centers) bear a name different from that of the district. However, in practice the district seat (sum center) is most often referred to under the name of the district, to the point of the official name of the district seat (sum center) being unknown even to the locals. 16 sum Sum (administrative division) A sum
60-416: A territory of 4,200 km (1,600 sq mi) with about 5,000 inhabitants, primarily nomadic herders. Its total revenue is 120 million Tögrög , 90% of which comes from national subsidies. Each district is again subdivided into bags (brigades; sometimes spelled baghs ). Most bags are of an entirely virtual nature. Their purpose is to sort the families of nomads in the district into groups, without
72-719: Is an administrative division used in China , Mongolia , and Russia . Countries such as China and Mongolia have employed the sum as administrative division, which was used during the Qing dynasty . This system was acted in the 1980s after the Chinese Communist Party gained power in conjunction with their growing internal and external problems. The decentralisation of government included restructuring of organisational methods, reduction of roles in rural government and creation of sums. A sum ( Mongolian : сум , ᠰᠤᠮᠤ , [sʰo̙m] )
84-665: Is the second level administrative division below the aimags (provinces), roughly comparable to a county in the United States . There are 331 sums in Mongolia. Each sum is again divided into bags , bag being commonly translated as "brigade." In Russia , a sumon is an administrative division of the Tuva Republic , and somon is that of the Buryat Republic . Both describe the Russian term selsoviet . In Inner Mongolia ,
96-765: The Khalkh Mongols to the east and the Oirad Mongols west of the Khangai mountains . At its peak, the fortress held up to 3500 soldiers and was surrounded by a Chinese trading quarter, or "Maimaicheng". In March 1755, a Qing dynasty army departed from Uliastai as the vanguard in the Qianlong Emperor 's final push against the Dzungar Khanate to the south west. During the Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1911
108-508: The National University of Mongolia . Originally established in 1974, it was granted the status of a full member of the NUM in 2010. Museums Monasteries Javkhlant Tolgoi Next to Togs Boyant Javklhant temple, a hilltop pavilion surrounded by statues of elk, ibex, and argali sheep. It's a quick hike from the center of town, and offers a good panorama of the city. Uliastai experiences
120-726: The 20th century. It was connected by camel caravan routes with Urga (now Ulaanbaatar ) in the east, Khovd in the west, Barkol and other points in Xinjiang in the southwest, and Hohhot in the southeast. The city was founded as a military garrison by the Manchus in 1733 during the Qing rule of Mongolia. Uliastai was the de facto capital of Outer Mongolia , as the Qing Amban , the Governor General, located its office in Uliastai to keep eye on
132-668: The Military Governor of Uliastai, his staff, and military guards, fled the Uliastai fortress under the protection of Cossack troops. Traces of Manchu rule can still be seen in Uliastai: the stone remnants of the governors fortress near the Bogdiin river are a short walk from town, the shackles and torture devices used by the Manchu are on display in the History Museum, and a hatag-laden stone near
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#1732851976049144-504: The central roundabout is carved with Chinese characters. The old Uliastai Airport has two unpaved runways and is close to the city, but no longer receives flights. In 2002, the Donoi Airport (or "New Uliastai Airport") was built 25 km west of the city near Aldarkhaan soum, and now serves Uliastai with regular flights to and from Ulaanbaatar. Uliastai is host to the Zavkhan branch of
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