Page 134 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

pastoral nomadic societies 1435

Camels in the Libyan
Desert

The following text makes clear why the camel is so
Middle East combine camel and sheep raising but have important to the desert-dwelling Bedouin of Libya
a much more restricted migration cycle because sheep in North Africa.
need to be watered regularly.
The nomadic movements of the two small herd
The camel is a late domesticate (c. 1500 BCE); the no-
species, sheep and goats, are predicated upon the
mads who specialized in raising camels emerged in an
ability of these animals to extract all the water
environment in which the urban civilizations in Meso-
they need from their food whenever fresh, green
potamia and Egypt had already been in existence for two
graze is abundant. Like the small herd animals,
millennia. Camel-raising Bedouins became politically im-
camels can go without drinking in times of good
portant only after the introduction of the north Arabian
winter and spring pastures, but camels carry the
camel saddle between 500 and 100 BCE. This saddle
tendency toward mobility one step further.
allowed camel-mounted warriors to fight more effective-
In summer the small herd animals must be
ly and gave them control of the lucrative incense trade
watered about twice a week, and their move-
routes that ran through Arabia. Such camel-mounted war-
ments accordingly are limited to the area they
riors became the core of the early Islamic armies who
can reach in a day’s travel to and from their water
conquered the Near East and north Africa during the sev-
supply. Camels can water as infrequently as twice
enth and eighth centuries.
a month, which in theory allows them to graze
The rise of camel-raising societies was also facilitated
areas up to 150 kilometers from the watering
by the growing demand for camels to be used for trans-
point. One hundred fifty kilometers represents
port. Camels so effectively replaced wheeled vehicles as
the outside limits of the camel’s endurance, and
the more economical way to move goods that wheeled
while this figure does not represent the normal
vehicles completely disappeared from the region until the
situation, it does indicate the vast resources at the
arrival of cars and trucks during the twentieth century.
disposal of the species in dealing with drought in
exceptionally bad years. More commonly, camels
water every seventh to ninth day and the dis-
Sub-Saharan Savanna: Cattle
tances grazed are correspondingly reduced.
Cattle are most highly valued in the savanna areas of sub-
Still, the camel’s speed, plus the infrequency
Saharan Africa, but sheep and goats also play a major
with which it needs water, means that camels re-
role in subsistence, as does seasonal agriculture. In soci-
tain a high degree of mobility year-round. Unlike
eties in that area ownership of cattle is the key determi-
the other species, camels are not dependent upon
nant of a man’s wealth and status. Ritual events all
the fortuitous occurrence of both water and sum-
demand cattle exchanges or sacrifices. Using huts instead
mer graze in one place.
of portable tents, nomads there use only donkeys for
transport. Because neighboring sedentary people also Source: Behnke, R. H., Jr. (1980). The herders of Cyrenaica: Ecology, economy and
kinship among the Bedouin of eastern Libya (pp. 28–29). Urbana: University of
value cattle, determining just which societies should be Illinois Press.
considered true pastoral nomads can be problematic, but
in general they have at least a five to one ratio of cattle
to people. much of the highland grassland areas in Kenya and Tan-
The most prominent pastoral nomadic societies live in zania.The Nuer expanded in a similar manner during the
east Africa and include the Nuer, Turkana, and Masai. mid-nineteenth century in southern Sudan, displacing or
The Masai are renowned for a diet that consists primarily incorporating neighboring groups. Broader interactions
of meat, milk, and blood. They expanded rapidly south with the outside world did not occur until the latter part
during the eighteenth century and came to dominate of the nineteenth century when these groups fought to