Page 131 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1432 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Schama, S. (2000). History of Britain. New York: Hyperion. 5000 BCE.The viability of such a nomadic specialization
Walter, J. (1999). Understanding popular violence in the English revolu- increased with the later domestication of cattle and more
tion: The Colchester plunderers. Cambridge, UK, and New York:
Cambridge University Press. particularly with the domestication of baggage animals
Warleigh, A. (2003). Democracy and the European Union:Theory, prac- such as donkeys, horses, and camels. Only with the
tice and reform. London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
domestication of baggage animals or new technologies
such as cattle-drawn carts and wagons beginning in the
Bronze Age (c. 4000–3000 BCE to the Iron Age) were
nomads able to effectively utilize truly mobile dwellings
Pastoral Nomadic such as black goat-haired tents (yurts).

Recent ethnographic (relating to the study of cultures)
Societies work has largely discredited the notion of the “pure
nomad” who subsists entirely on pastoral products, free
astoral nomadic societies view the husbandry of of entanglements with the sedentary world. Historically
Pgrazing animals as an ideal way of making a living pastoral nomads have always been tied economically
and view the regular movement of all or part of their soci- and politically to their sedentary neighbors. Without
eties to be a normal part of life. Although this way of life such ties they could not easily survive.
produces a low population density, and the total number
of nomads has always been relatively small,the impact of Why Pastoralism?
nomads on world history has been profound.Duringtwo Pastoral nomadism is commonly found where climatic
thousand years (500 BCE–1500 CE) the horse-riding conditions produce seasonal pastures that cannot sup-
nomads of the Eurasian steppes (usually level and treeless port sustained agriculture. Because people cannot eat
tracts of land in southeastern Europe orAsia),such as the grass, exploiting grazing animals that can eat grass effec-
Scythians, Xiongnu, Huns,Turks, and Mongols, created tively taps an otherwise unusable energy source.Although
powerful kingdoms that presented significant challenges historians generally use the terms nomads and pastoralists
to their sedentary neighbors in China, central Asia, Iran, interchangeably, the terms are analytically distinct. The
Turkey, and Europe. The camel-raising desert Bedouins former term refers to movement and the latter to a type of
became key political actors in the Middle East and north- subsistence. Not all pastoralists are nomadic (dairy farm-
ern Africa after the rise of Islam during the mid-seventh ers and cattle ranchers), nor are all nomads pastoralists
century.In sub-SaharanAfrica cattle-raising nomads such (hunter-gatherers or itinerant groups such as Gypsies).
astheMasaiandZuluscametodominatemuchofthecon- Using portable tents or huts to facilitate migration,
tinent’s grasslands by the end of the nineteenth century. pastoral nomads rotate their animals through extensive
but seasonal pastures. Migration cycles vary in time and
Origins length depending on local conditions. Nomads make
Early theorists saw pastoral nomadism as evolving out of relatively few moves when pastures and water supplies
hunting and into sedentary agriculture. Archaeological are dependable, many more moves when they are not.
evidence has largely upended this view because the first Although the degree of predictability in migration routes
domestication of both plants (wheat and barley) and varies from group to group, pastoral nomads do not “wan-
grazing animals (sheep and goats) apparently took place der”; they know where they are going and why.
in parallel more than nine thousand years ago in the
Near East.Thus, rather than being a precursor of seden- Organization and
tary life, pastoral nomadism more likely developed as an Distribution
economic specialization out of a mixed Neolithic (8000– Pastoral nomadic societies are organized around mobile
5500 BCE) economy based on sedentary villages after households rather than individuals, and everyone (men,