The Maasai of Africa live in much the same way. The camel-breeding Rwala Bedouin of Arabia do not engage in agriculture, but they depend on grain and other products from their neighbors in exchange for camels. In Southwest Asia and North and East Africa, pastoral nomadism and settled agriculture have always been interdependent. On the fringes of grasslands families who lose some of their animals engage in agriculture from time to time, but usually as a last resort. The Urianghai of the Altai Mountains in Siberia, for example, breed reindeer, but they also depend on hunting for food. Some of these groups depend on hunting as well as herding. Besides the Sami of Lapland, there are pastoral nomads in Central Asia, Siberia, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa. The Sami, usually misnamed Lapps, are the seminomadic people of Lapland who take their herds of reindeer to the mountains in the summer and to the lowland woods in winter. The Turks, Mongols, and many other invaders of Europe during the Middle Ages were pastoral nomads, as were the Arabian armies who carried the banners of Islam throughout most of the Mediterranean world in the 7th and 8th centuries.Īlthough nomadism of all kinds is in decline, the pastoral type persists in several parts of the world. These groups raise livestock, and they move about within their established territory to find good pastures for their animals. Pastoral nomads are producers of food, and the size of their tribal or ethnic units increases accordingly. Therefore the size of the tribe remains fairly constant over long periods of time. Since they produce no food, they cannot provide for an expanding population. Hunters and gatherers may be said to subsist: they usually acquire enough of the necessities to survive and no more. After a period of time the tribe establishes rights over a territory. They must know the territory in which they range: the location of the water supply, the types of plants, and the kinds and habits of game animals. These nomads do not wander aimlessly, however. The stay in one place may be a few days, or it may be several weeks or half a year. Some of the San (Bushmen) of Southern Africa also are hunters and gatherers.Īfter the animals within walking distance of a camp have been hunted successfully or frightened away and the plant food depleted, the tribe moves on.
This was the way of life for many Indian tribes of North America before Europeans arrived. When the food supply is exhausted, they move on to another source. Such people cannot normally stay in one place indefinitely.
Hunters and GatherersĪ tribe or group of tribes who do not produce food must survive on what nature provides in the way of plants and animals. To these may be added the modern migrant farm workers ( see migrant labor). There have traditionally been three types: hunters and gatherers pastoral nomads, or herders of animals and craftsmen-handymen-traders. The word nomad comes from the Greek nomados, which means “wandering around in search of pasture.” Today the term refers to all wandering peoples who move in cyclical or seasonal patterns during the year.