Bayankhongor Province: History
Bayankhongor aimag was formed in 1941 with the establishment of the Bayankhongor Citizen's Assembly. There were originally 16 Bayankhongor Area Soums and about 41,000 people in the aimag. The aimag was originally named Govi-Bumbugur; however, it was soon changed to Bayankhongor.
In April 1976, Bayankhongor was awarded the Outstanding Red Award for livestock, meat, and wool production. The aimag received substantial investment from the former USSR, including infrastructure and education. However, the USSR also systematically repressed the religion and cultural heritage of the aimag, purging famous monasteries such as the Geegin Monastery and killing thousands of monks.
The zud, winter snow disasters, of the early 2000s devastated Bayankhongor's livestock and economy. The zud also precipitated social changes in the aimag since fewer people now rely on herding as a major source of income and more people have moved to the aimag capital in search of work. Out of the total aimag population estimated at 80,000, somewhere between 25 and 35,000 people live in the provincial capital.