Altai Tavan Bogd National Park is located on the Western most point of Mongolia in Bayan-Ulgii Province. This vast mountainous park borders China and Russia with views of Kazakhstan from the highest peak in Mongolia. The snow-capped Kuiten Uul mountain,4374 m (14,201 ft), is the highest of the five peaks of Tavan Bogd Mountains (literally '5 Saints') that gives the park its name. It covers an area of 630,000 hectarce and is home to three large freshwater lakes and 34 glaciers, plus several waterfalls. The largest, Pontuninii Glacier, covers 23 sq km. Tavan Bogd Mountains are considered sacred to local Kazakhs, Tuvans, and Mongolians. The park stretches from Russia along the Chinese border, following the Altai Mountain Range that divides China, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, for over 200 km. Ancient tribes have left many artifacts, using the region for religious ceremonies. Today, tens of thousands of petroglyphs in the park are part of a World Heritage Site. In addition there are numerous Turkic Stone Men and stone burial mounds.

 

History

     The Altai Mountains have been inhabited for around 12,000 years. The oldest images in the park are from 11,000 to 6,000 BC with hunting large mammals and ancient cultures. Thousands of years of petroglyphs show the transition from hunter-gatherer to pastoralism and later to the current semi-nomadic that developed over the last 3,000 to 4,000 years. Around 4,000 years ago, the use of horses and domestication of animals led to the rise of the Blue Turks (whose language is the root of Kazakh and Turkish). These successful warriors left upright carved stone statues known as Turkic Stone Men spread over the Altai Mountains.

Later in 700 BC, a group of horse-riding warrior nomads known as the Scythians starting from the Altai Mountains to conquer a region stretching to the Black Sea. They faded after being defeated by Alexander the Great in modern day Turkmenistan in 329BC, but not before leaving many stone burial mounds in the Altai. These mounds, or Khirigsuur, were designed to preserve bodies in frozen ground with horses, weapons, armor, and food for the afterlife. On such mound was discovered to contain a Scythian warrior in full battle regalia in a 2005 research expedition. In 100 AD, the Huns migrated through the region from the steppes of Mongolia to wreck havoc on Europe around 400 AD. Around this same time, Reindeer herding tribes from Siberia, called Tuvans, began expanding south into the mountains.

The mountains and much of the surrounding region including the early Silk Road to the south fell under control of Turkic-Uighur Khannate (kingdom) after 600 AD until Genghis Khan conquered it along with most of Asia from 1260. The Uighurs and Turks were incorporated into the army of the Khan. After Genghis death, the empire was divided between his sons, with the Altai forming the border between the Golden Horde (Russia), Chagatai Khan (Central Asia), and Yuan Dynasty (China). The region changed hands several times due to infighting and dividing territories the Mongol Empire declined. The region fell under control of the Yuan Dynasty until they declined in 1370. The region was then ruled by independent Oirat Mongol tribes until conquered by the Qing Dynasty in 18th Century.

Between 1840s and 1940s, many Kazakhs moved into the Altai mountains to escape persecution and domination by Russians and later Soviets and Chinese Communists. Mongolia became satellite state of Russia after a long bloody civil war from 1911 to 1924. For the next 70 years, Tavan Bogd was an isolated border zone closed to all but a few ignored Kazakh herders and army patrols.