FACTBOX-Five facts about Asia's landlocked giant, Mongolia

(For related story see MONGOLIA/ or [ID:nPEK292861])

June 30 (Reuters) - Mongolians are awaiting the results of a dead heat vote on Monday, a day after polls closed for the fledgling democracy's fifth general election since 1990.

Main parties, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and opposition Democratic Party, both say they want to ease inflation by reducing reliance on Russia and China for fuel and food. They aim to reclaim nonproductive land to grow wheat and vegetables and explore domestic natural gas resources.

Here are five facts on the sparsely populated country bordered by Russia to the north, and by China on other frontiers.

* In 1206, warrior Genghis Khan (1162-1227) united warring Central Asian tribes into a short-lived empire that eventually encompassed the territory of modern China and extended west as far as Poland and Hungary. Mongolia celebrated the 800th anniversary of its founding by the legendary warrior in 2006.

* Mongolia came under the rule of China's Qing dynasty in 1691. It broke away in 1921, winning independence but under strict Soviet control. After seven decades of communist rule, ruled as a Soviet satellite under the MPRP, Mongolia held its first free multiparty elections in 1990.

* Praised as a model Central Asian democracy since embracing post-1990 market reforms, in 2003 it sent 120 soldiers to support U.S. troops in Iraq, where it still has 100 troops. In November 2005, George W. Bush became the first U.S. president to visit.

* Copper and gold mining has been a major export earner since 2000. Previously, significant foreign exchange earnings came from cashmere wool. Both main political parties say they are in favour of a ratifying a deal that would allow a massive copper and gold mining project at Oyu Tolgoi, involving Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto to begin production.

* Made up of mountains, deserts like the famed Gobi, and grassland steppes, landlocked Mongolia is high, cold and dry. Its almost 3 million people live in an area roughly the size of western Europe. It has one of the planet's lowest population densities at 1.7 people per sq km.