Nomadic pastoralism
True nomads follow an irregular pattern of movement, in contrast with transhumance, where seasonal pastures are fixed.
The herded livestock include cattle, water buffalo, yaks, llamas, sheep, goats, reindeer, horses, donkeys or camels, or mixtures of species.
Increasing numbers of stock may lead to overgrazing of the area and desertification if lands are not allowed to fully recover between one grazing period and the next.
Different causes have been identified which include overgrazing, mining, agricultural reclamation, pests and rodents, soil properties, tectonic activity, and climate change.
[5][6] Andrew Sherratt demonstrates that "early farming populations used livestock mainly for meat, and that other applications were explored as agriculturalists adapted to new conditions, especially in the semi‐arid zone.
[14][15] By the medieval period in Central Asia, nomadic communities exhibited isotopically diverse diets, suggesting a multitude of subsistence strategies.
Full pastoralism required the Secondary products revolution when animals began to be used for wool, milk, riding and traction as well as meat.
Some peoples are fully nomadic while others live in sheltered winter camps and lead their herds into the steppe in summer.
High civilization is based on agriculture where tax-paying peasants support landed aristocrats, kings, cities, literacy and scholars.
Especially in north China[20] and Iran, they would sometimes conquer agricultural societies, but these dynasties were usually short-lived and broke up when the nomads became 'civilized' and lost their warlike virtues.
[22] Pastoral nomads and semi-nomadic pastoralists form a significant but declining minority in such countries as Saudi Arabia (probably less than 3%), Iran (4%), and Afghanistan (at most 10%).
[23] The Eurasian steppe has been largely populated by pastoralist nomads since the late prehistoric times, with a succession of peoples known by the names given to them by surrounding literate sedentary societies, including the Bronze Age Proto-Indo-Europeans, and later Proto-Indo-Iranians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Cimmerians, Massagetae, Alans, Pechenegs, Cumans, Kipchaks, Karluks, Saka, Yuezhi, Wusun, Jie, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Khitan, Pannonian Avars, Huns, Mongols, Dzungars and various Turkics.
This brings the total of the (semi)nomadic herder population to over 16 million, in general living in remote, scattered and resource-poor communities.
[25] In the Middle Hills and Himalaya of Nepal, people living above about 2,000 m practise transhumance and nomadic pastoralism because settled agriculture becomes less productive due to steep slopes, cooler temperatures and limited irrigation possibilities.
[26] The Mesta was an association of sheep owners, (Spanish nobility and religious orders) that had an important economic and political role in medieval Castile.
[29] There have been initiatives seeking to promote cross-border trade and also document it, in order to both stimulate regional growth and food security, but also to allow the effective vaccination of livestock.
