Olgii (Өлгий)has been a predominately Kazakh settlement since before the creation of an independent Mongolia in 1911. It was the center of the local Kazakh community with the largest mosque in the region. However, this mosque was destroyed during religious purges in the 1930s. In 1939, Olgii was made the seat of government of the newly created Bayan-Olgii Aimag (Баян-Өлгий, “Fertile Cradle” in Mongolian). Since this time, From WikiCommons From WikiCommons schools, apartments, factories, a hospital, and a theatre have been built in Olgii. Despite all this construction, Olgii was much less developed than the rest of the country when Communism fell in 1991, with no paved roads or railroads connecting to neighboring cities or to neighboring China and Russia. This was mainly due to the lack of mining and difficult terrain in Bayan-Olgii. After the fall of communism and the break-up of the USSR, about 25% of the population moved to the newly created Kazakhstan, though many later came back allowing the population to largely recover. A small building boom in recent years has resulted in significant increase in apartments, shops, restaurants, and hotels (about half of the town center has been built since 2005). SAM_1672 The city of 30,000 people is the center of trade and industry for Bayan-Olgii. There is a large wool factory and many smaller animal related factories to process products from the 2 million animals in the Aimag. Tourism and local handicrafts have become increasingly important in the past few years. The unique Kazakh embroideries made by several local companies and cooperatives are now sold in at least 6 countries and employ over 100 local women.

Mongolian woman.

A one hundred year old Kazakh nomad lying in his Yurt in the Alti Mountains. Western Mongolia, 2015