While traveling through Mongolia in 2023, I made a surprising discovery and saw a village that was just in the process of formation. There were the first houses that were somehow strung together. It had something to do with supply and also with domestic tourism. I then looked very closely at towns and settlements in general. I don't just want to report about these villages but also about structures.
Let's start with some observations. When you travel through the landscape, you are particularly struck by the nomads' gers, which do not stand together in clusters, but are at some distance from each other, so that you just may imagine that these gers have something to do with each other. Maybe just that the people could help each other. Then there are also gers near the cities. I first noticed this when we flew from Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар) to Khovd (Ховд) and on the approach to Khovd I saw gers that were quite close to Khovd. These were the gers of people who were looking to make a fortune in the city but had not yet found a place in the city itself.
Let's start with some observations. When you travel through the landscape, you are particularly struck by the nomads' gers, which do not stand together in clusters, but are at some distance from each other, so that you just may imagine that these gers have something to do with each other. Maybe just that the people could help each other. Then there are also gers near the cities. I first noticed this when we flew from Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар) to Khovd (Ховд) and on the approach to Khovd I saw gers that were quite close to Khovd. These were the gers of people who were looking to make a fortune in the city but had not yet found a place in the city itself.
Let's move on to the villages. There are structured villages, there are gers, wooden houses, stone concrete. And one feature has always fascinated me: the wooden construction fences that you can see even in the small towns. Areas are demarcated by these fences. These small towns provide the first supply structures, such as shops or a small supermarket and a gas station. In a zum (Cум) center you will find more shops, schools, kindergartens, hospitals and administrative centers. There are already rental apartments in these small towns. In places where raw materials such as ore or coal are mined, towns are also being built and I have already reported on this. In 2022 I saw a very small settlement near a mine using a zoom lens [1]. In 2023 I was able to visit an already larger settlement at another coal mine, the Nuurst Xotgor mine (Нүүрст хотгор) [2].
Now let's talk a little about these Wild West villages, that's what I call them. I have also seen such villages in ad hoc ger agglomerations. Being able to move on was definitely planned, because the reasons for these agglomerations were festivals or seasonal tourism, the offers included airag (Айраг), meat, riding horses or camels. And then there were also those without gers or in which wood or wooden houses were the predominant feature. These are intended as permanent villages and, like here in Germany, they are the so-called ribbon-built villages (the German term Straßendorf – street village – looks more at the way in which these villages develop, along the road). You have a front of all the houses facing the road or in our case the piste, and you could usually see large areas where you could park in front of the houses. This means that things were sold there or services were provided.
Now let's talk a little about these Wild West villages, that's what I call them. I have also seen such villages in ad hoc ger agglomerations. Being able to move on was definitely planned, because the reasons for these agglomerations were festivals or seasonal tourism, the offers included airag (Айраг), meat, riding horses or camels. And then there were also those without gers or in which wood or wooden houses were the predominant feature. These are intended as permanent villages and, like here in Germany, they are the so-called ribbon-built villages (the German term Straßendorf – street village – looks more at the way in which these villages develop, along the road). You have a front of all the houses facing the road or in our case the piste, and you could usually see large areas where you could park in front of the houses. This means that things were sold there or services were provided.
My hypothesis is that parts of the Mongolian population who can no longer lead their lives in traditional structures will not allow themselves to be driven into the cities, but will instead try to build something new close to their homeland. Transhuming between summer and winter pastures might cover more than 100 kms.
What are the administrative structures in Mongolia? The two travel guides [3] that I used provide little information about it, a little more can be found in the German book. On page 31 it is reported that Mongolia is divided into 21 aimags, further into zums and bags. But that's not entirely complete, so I'll explain it in more detail here [4]:
First level: Capital / Niislel (Нийслэл) and 21 aimags (Аймаг) or provinces, originally the term means tribe, tribal group.
Second level: Düüreg (дүүрэг) or district for the capital, of which there are nine, and sum or zum (Cум) districts (original meaning arrow), of which there are 331.
Third level: Committee or Khoroo (Xороо) in the capital, of which there are 152, and team, rrigade or bag (Баг) of which there are 1568. But these are not important for my investigation or for the traveler.
The aimags and zums are more important because they usually have the name of the main town and the necessary infrastructure can be found there, better in the aimags than in the zums. In the zums the supermarket also has a wide range of products, but in the larger cities the range is no worse than in Europe. For example, if you camp at Üüreg Nuur, then you are 140 km away from the aimag center.
Of course, the government has plans and there are legal regulations for their implementation. These programs can even be viewed in English [5].
The road network seems to me to be an important factor. There is already a network of paved roads, which increase the closer you get to Ulaanbaatar. And this applies to other centers, too, there are more tarred roads near the centers. The government is expanding the road system, but the fact is that many towns can only be reached via piste / dirt road. These slopes tend to be wide, sometimes having nine or more tracks. They become impassable when, for example, it has rained and someone then lays a new track because otherwise they would get stuck in the mud. This goes so far that I saw, for example, at Achit Nuur, how the herders in the swampy area try to protect the pastures of their animals by digging ditches so that not everyone creates a new track and of course excess water is drained. However, due to the inadequate road network, there are opportunities for low-threshold supply structures in the countryside.
What are the administrative structures in Mongolia? The two travel guides [3] that I used provide little information about it, a little more can be found in the German book. On page 31 it is reported that Mongolia is divided into 21 aimags, further into zums and bags. But that's not entirely complete, so I'll explain it in more detail here [4]:
First level: Capital / Niislel (Нийслэл) and 21 aimags (Аймаг) or provinces, originally the term means tribe, tribal group.
Second level: Düüreg (дүүрэг) or district for the capital, of which there are nine, and sum or zum (Cум) districts (original meaning arrow), of which there are 331.
Third level: Committee or Khoroo (Xороо) in the capital, of which there are 152, and team, rrigade or bag (Баг) of which there are 1568. But these are not important for my investigation or for the traveler.
The aimags and zums are more important because they usually have the name of the main town and the necessary infrastructure can be found there, better in the aimags than in the zums. In the zums the supermarket also has a wide range of products, but in the larger cities the range is no worse than in Europe. For example, if you camp at Üüreg Nuur, then you are 140 km away from the aimag center.
Of course, the government has plans and there are legal regulations for their implementation. These programs can even be viewed in English [5].
The road network seems to me to be an important factor. There is already a network of paved roads, which increase the closer you get to Ulaanbaatar. And this applies to other centers, too, there are more tarred roads near the centers. The government is expanding the road system, but the fact is that many towns can only be reached via piste / dirt road. These slopes tend to be wide, sometimes having nine or more tracks. They become impassable when, for example, it has rained and someone then lays a new track because otherwise they would get stuck in the mud. This goes so far that I saw, for example, at Achit Nuur, how the herders in the swampy area try to protect the pastures of their animals by digging ditches so that not everyone creates a new track and of course excess water is drained. However, due to the inadequate road network, there are opportunities for low-threshold supply structures in the countryside.
Rural exodus is another problem and it has its origins in overgrazing. There are very unproductive areas that are prone to desertification or these feed the herds for a while, but then suddenly that area of land is lost. There are rich pastures, for example in the Orkhon Valley (Орхоны хөндий), but if you traditionally don't have pastures there, you can't just graze in gthe region. In the Orkhon Valley there are 4 inhabitants per square kilometer and that is already a very populated area for Mongolia.
Another factor for rural exodus is the zud or dzud (Зуд) [6]. This is a problem that affects all Central Asian countries. It describes a condition in which the cattle can no longer find food in winter because the snow is too high or because the snow has thawed and become liquid and the pastures are then frozen over again; you can read it very nicely in the Wikipedia article and the different forms of zud are also presented there. The herders lost their livestock particularly devastating in the winter of 2009/2010. Some families, 9,000 families in fact, had lost all their livestock. 33,000 families had lost half of their livestock. At that time, 80 percent of the country was covered by 20 to 60 centimeters of snow. At night the temperature fell to minus 48 degrees Celsius in the Uvs aimag (Увс аймаг); which I also visited.
Another factor for rural exodus is certainly desertification, which has increased significantly in recent decades and will increase on average as rainfall continues to decline [7]. This drives people away from the countryside and when they arrive in the cities there is no work. Unemployment in the suburbs of Ulaanbaatar is up to 60%.
Another factor for rural exodus is the zud or dzud (Зуд) [6]. This is a problem that affects all Central Asian countries. It describes a condition in which the cattle can no longer find food in winter because the snow is too high or because the snow has thawed and become liquid and the pastures are then frozen over again; you can read it very nicely in the Wikipedia article and the different forms of zud are also presented there. The herders lost their livestock particularly devastating in the winter of 2009/2010. Some families, 9,000 families in fact, had lost all their livestock. 33,000 families had lost half of their livestock. At that time, 80 percent of the country was covered by 20 to 60 centimeters of snow. At night the temperature fell to minus 48 degrees Celsius in the Uvs aimag (Увс аймаг); which I also visited.
Another factor for rural exodus is certainly desertification, which has increased significantly in recent decades and will increase on average as rainfall continues to decline [7]. This drives people away from the countryside and when they arrive in the cities there is no work. Unemployment in the suburbs of Ulaanbaatar is up to 60%.
In the northwest of Mongolia - at first I didn't really realize what an interesting feature I was seeing - we passed a village that consisted of only a few houses, and only on one side of the road. Like in the Wild West, houses were built very close to each other. There was space for cars or horses in the front. And it was probably about offering some kind of service there, such as selling something, because this was in the area where there was also something happening with tourism. These areas are not yet widespread, at least not outside of the well-known areas traveled by tour companies. That's why I suspect that domestic tourism probably plays a role here, which make people to come up with the idea of setting up a kiosk or small store there. Perhaps the beginning of such villages is a research station or the hut of a gamekeeper, who builds a house next to it and opposite you can see a toilet hut; I just have one house and gamekeeper in mind. And then other might join. I'll now try to explain this with my own experiences. I imagine it's similar to an empty parking lot in front of the supermarket, at least here in Germany, if I park somewhere away from the other cars, it doesn't take long until there are more cars next to it, even though there would be enough space otherwise. So one doesn't look for an extra space where no one else is standing, but one looks for the proximity of another car. I imagine the same thing would happen at the creation of such villages. You look for the proximity of another house. So it's not the type of settlement in which everyone has a piece of land and puts their farm on it, but it's this system of ribbon-built villages. This Wild West system, in which houses are placed next to each other, attracts the attention of long-distance drivers who pass there more often. I imagine it would be very difficult to drive trucks on these long stretches of road. Breaks are necessary and such a rest area may well be the core of village development.
I'm looking forward to further developments. How will the different levels of government react? Are legal requirements to be created? Or will Mongolia retain its charm of vastness and outpost for a while longer.
I'm looking forward to further developments. How will the different levels of government react? Are legal requirements to be created? Or will Mongolia retain its charm of vastness and outpost for a while longer.
Links and Annotations:
[1] Mongolia - Coal Mining https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/09/mongolia-coal-mining.html
[2] Mongolia – Coal Mining at Nuurst Xotgor in between Achit Nuur and Üüreg Nuur https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/01/mongolia-coal-mining-at-nuurst-xotgor.html
[3a] Michael Walther and Peter Woeste: Mongolia. DuMont travel manual. Dumont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2019. ISBN: 3770181417.
[3b] Michael Kohn: Mongolia. Lonely Planet Publications Ltd, 2008. ISBN: 101741045789.
[4] Mongolia is an island, нийслэл https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB_%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%81%D1%8B%D0%BD_%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B3,_%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BB%D1%8D%D0%BB
[5] https://www.urbanagendaplatform.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/MNG_NUA%20implementation%20report%202016-2022_Eng.pdf
[6] Zud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zud
[7] This does not exclude heavy rainfall with flooding. The water destroys and flows away without being used, so that the soil dries out again later. This happens very quickly in the dry air and solidifies the soil, which becomes increasingly difficult to absorb water.
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