Search Results - Aimags of Mongolia

The 21 aimags (Mongolian ?????, sometimes translated to province^[1]) are the top-level administrative divisions of Mongolia. Each aimag is subdivided into several sums. The capital Ulaanbaatar is administrated separately.^[2] The name aimag is derived from the Mongolian and Turkic languages word for "tribe".^{[citation needed]}

During the Qing Dynasty, the territory of Outer Mongolia was divided (from east to west) into the Setsen Khan, Tüsheet Khan, Sain Noyon Khan, and Zasagt Khan aimags plus the Khovd area. The northern border to Russia was guarded by a watch post area. After Mongolia's second declaration of independence in 1921, the aimags were renamed in 1923, to Khaan Khentii Uulyn Aimag, Bogd Khan Uulyn Aimag, Tsetserleg Mandal Uulyn Aimag, and Khan Taishir Uulyn Aimag, respectively. The Khovd area and the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu's great shabi (personal fiefdom) turned into aimags of their own, Chandmani Uulyn Aimag and Delger Ikh Uulyn Aimag, respectively (the latter was later merged with Tsetserleg Mandal Uulyn Aimag). But otherwise the administrative structure was largely left unchanged until the 1930s.

An administrative reorganisation was initiated in 1931, which resulted in the Aimags Khovd, Dörvöd (later renamed Uvs), Altai (later renamed Govi-Altai), Khövsgöl, Zavkhan, Arkhangai, Övörkhangai, Ömnögovi, Tariachin (later split into parts of Bulgan and Selenge), Töv, Dornogovi, Khentii and Dornod (later renamed to Choibalsan). The Bayankhongor, Bayan-Ölgii, Bulgan, Dundgovi, Sükhbaatar, and Selenge aimags were created in the 1930s and 1940s.