The continents of Europe and Asia share the largest plain in the world, a vast steppe, or grassland, that stretches five thousand miles from Hungary in the west to Manchuria in the east. From at least 4000 B. C., tribes of nomadic herders have struggled...

Mongolia has two histories, one before the Mongols emerged as a distinct people, and one after. Before the Mongols, the area of today's Mongolia was host to a variety of cultures, some directly ancestral to the Mongols, some not. They included...

Although humans have inhabited Mongolia since the Stone Age, Mongolia only became politically important after iron weapons entered the area in the 3rd century BCE. In general, Mongolia at this point had a similar history to the rest of the steppe that...

MAR[acute{I}]A E. FERN[acute{A}]NDEZ-GIM[acute{E}]NEZ ABSTRACT. Recent shifts in Mongolia's politics and economy have changed pastoral land-use patterns and charged debate over how pasturelands are allocated and regulated in a market economy. Absent has been any detailed understanding of the historical geography of pastoral...

GETTING THERE: From Washington to Ulan Bator, you can fly United or Northwest, then Korean Air or MIAT Mongolian Air via Seoul; fares start at about $1,300 round trip for summer travel. Air China flies via Beijing for about the same amount, but due...