Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar or Ulan Bator is the capital and the largest city of Mongolia. A municipality, the city is not part of any aimag (province).

Located in north central Mongolia, the municipality lies at an elevation of about 1,310 metres in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the cultural, industrial and financial heart of the country, the centre of Mongolia's road network and connected by rail to both the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia and the Chinese railway system.

The city was founded in 1639 as a nomadic Buddhist monastic centre. In 1778, it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. Before that, it changed location twenty-eight times, with each location being chosen ceremonially. In the twentieth century, Ulaanbaatar grew into a major manufacturing centre.