The Khentii Mountains ( mn, Хэнтийн нуруу) are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in the Töv and

Khentii Province Khentii ( mn, Хэнтий) is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia, located in the east of the country. Its capital is Chinggis City. The aimag is named after the Khentii Mountains. It is best known as the birthplace and likely final ...

s in North Eastern

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Geography

The mountain chain overlaps the

Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area The Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area is a government administered Strictly Protected Area in the Khentii aimag (province) in Eastern Mongolia. Strictly Protected Areas are regions of land designated by the Mongolian government as wildlife pre ...

and includes Mongolia's

sacred mountain Sacred mountains are central to certain religions, and are usually the subjects of many legends. For many, the most symbolic aspect of a mountain is the peak because it is believed that it is closest to heaven or other religious realms. Many rel ...

Burkhan Khaldun The Burkhan Khaldun (Cyrillic: Бурхан Халдун) is one of the Khentii Mountains in the Khentii Province of northeastern Mongolia. The mountain or its locality is believed to be the birthplace of Genghis Khan as well as his tomb. It ...

, which is associated with the origin of Genghis Khan. The range forms the watershed between the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

(via Lake Baikal) and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

basins. Rivers originating in the range include the

Onon Onon may refer to: * Onon (river), river in Mongolia and Russia * Onon, Khentii, town in the Khentii Province of Mongolia * Onon (crater), crater on Mars named after the river {{disambig ...

Kherlen Kherlen River (also known as Kern or Kerülen; ; ) is a 1,254 km river in Mongolia and China. Course The river originates in the south slopes of the Khentii mountains, near the Burkhan Khaldun mountain in the Khan Khentii Strictly Protecte ...

, Menza and

Tuul , , "to wade through" , nickname = Queen Tuul , image = Tuul River Mongolia.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Tuul flowing through the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park , map = Toula (rivi ...

. A northern extension of the Khentii Mountains forms a range of the same name which is part of the

Khentei-Daur Highlands The Khentei-Daur Highlands ( rus, Хэнтэй-Даурское нагорье), also known as Khentei-Chikoy Highlands ''(Хэнтэ́й-Чико́йское наго́рье)'' are a mountainous area in the Transbaikal Krai, Far Eastern Federa ...

in the Transbaikalia Krai of Russia.

History

The legendary Mongol Genghis Khan is thought to have chosen a resting place in the Khentii Mountains, called the Great Taboo, or

Ikh Khorig The Ikh Khorig, or Great Taboo, is a area in the Khentii Aimag (province) of Mongolia, believed by some to be the location of Genghis Khan's grave. It has been carefully guarded for most of its history, and it is only since the late 1980s that t ...

, by the Mongols. The area is thought to be where Khan may be entombed.

References

Mountain ranges of Mongolia {{Mongolia-geo-stub