proper noun

• A large and sparsely populated country in eastern Asia that includes the Gobi Desert, bordered by Siberia in Russia on the north and by China on the south; population 3,000,000 (estimated 2015); capital, Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator); language, Mongolian (official).

The center of the medieval Mongol empire, Mongolia subsequently became a Chinese province and achieved de facto independence in 1911. In 1924, it became a communist state patterned on the Soviet model; a new democratic constitution was introduced in 1992. It was formerly known as Outer Mongolia to distinguish it from Inner Mongolia, which is an autonomous region of China