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This section contains books about nomads. The main economic activity of the nomads was extensive cattle breeding. In search of new pastures, nomadic tribes regularly moved to new places. Nomads are distinguished by a special material culture and worldview of steppe societies.

Scythians

The Scythians are one of the most powerful nomadic peoples of antiquity. There are many versions of the origin of this union of tribes, many ancient historians seriously connected the origin of the Scythians with the Greek gods. The Scythians themselves considered the children and grandchildren of Zeus to be their ancestors. During their reign, golden tools of labor fell to earth from heaven: a yoke, a plow, an ax and a bowl. The one of the men who managed to take objects in his hands and not get burned became the founder of a new kingdom.

Rise of the kingdom

The heyday of the Scythian kingdom falls on the 5th-4th centuries. BC. At first it was just a union of several tribes, but soon the hierarchy began to resemble an early state formation, which had its own capital and signs of the emergence of social classes. During its heyday, the Scythian kingdom occupied a vast territory. Starting from the Danube Delta, all the steppes and forest-steppes down to the lower reaches of the Don belonged to this people. During the reign of the most famous Scythian king Atey, the capital of the state was located in the Lower Dnieper region, more precisely in the Kamensky Settlement. This is the largest settlement, which was both a city and a nomadic camp. Earthen barricades and other fortifications could shelter tens of thousands of slave artisans and shepherds from enemies. Where necessary, shelter was also provided to livestock.
Scythian culture is very closely intertwined with Greek. Representatives of this people liked to decorate weapons with images of real and mythical animals. Their own traditions of inventive and applied arts were very rich, however, the ruling kings and representatives of the nobility massively ordered weapons, jewelry and utensils from the masters of Panticapaeum and Olbia. Great attention was also paid to the study of the Greek language and writing. The architectural style of Scythian Naples and its fortifications is permeated through and through with the Greek spirit. This is felt even when it comes to the labyrinths of huts and dugouts where the poor Scythians lived.

Religion

The religious views of the Scythians were limited to the worship of the elements. The goddess of fire - Vesta was given leadership in pronouncing oaths, ceremonies of communion and anointing the leaders of the people. Clay figurines depicting this goddess have survived to this day. Archaeologists designate the place of finds of such artifacts as the territory between the Ural Mountains and the Dnieper River. There were such finds in the Crimea. The Scythians depicted Vesta with a baby in her arms, because for them she personified motherhood. There are artifacts on which Vesta is depicted as a snake woman. The cult of Vesta was also widespread in Greece, but the Greeks considered her the patroness of sailors.
In addition to the dominant deity, the Scythians worshiped Jupiter, Apollo, Venus, Neptune. Every hundredth prisoner was sacrificed to these gods. However, the Scythians did not have a specific place for religious rites. Instead of shrines and temples, they lavished reverence on the graves of their loved ones. Of course, their care and vigilance could not stop the robbers who desecrated the burial mounds after the funeral. There is hardly a grave like this left untouched.

Hierarchy
The structure of the tribal association of the Scythians was multi-level. At the top of such a pyramid were the Sayi - the Royal Scythians, they controlled other relatives. Starting from the 7th century BC. Steppe Crimea fell under the influence of the Scythians. The local people submitted to the conquerors. Scythia was so powerful that no one, even the Persian king Darius, could prevent the establishment of new Greek colonies on their lands. But the benefits of such a neighborhood were obvious. Olbia and the cities of the Bosporan kingdom were actively trading with the Scythians, and, apparently, they levied tribute and could influence the political situation. This fact was confirmed by the Kul-Oba mound of the 4th century BC. BC, which was excavated near Kerch in 1830. For some unknown reason, the warrior buried under this mound was not taken to the burial place of the Scythian nobility, while it is obvious that the entire Panticapaeum took part in the funeral procession.

Migrations and wars
The territory of the South-Western Crimea at first was of little interest to the Scythians. The Chersonese state was just beginning to emerge when the Scythians began to be gradually crowded out by the Sarmatians, Macedonians and Thracians. They advanced from the east and west, forcing the Scythian kingdom to "shrink". Soon, only the lands of the Steppe Crimea and the Lower Dnieper region remained under the rule of the Scythian kings. The capital of the kingdom was moved to a new city - Scythian Naples. Since then, the authority of the Scythians has been lost. They were forced to coexist with new neighbors.
Over time, the Crimean Scythians, who settled in the foothills, began to make the transition from nomadic to settled life. Cattle breeding has been replaced by agriculture. The excellent Crimean wheat was in demand on the world market, therefore the rulers of Scythia in every way encouraged and forced their people to popularize agriculture. The neighbors of the Scythians, the kings of the Bosporus, received large profits from the sale of exported grain grown by Scythian labor. The kings of Scythia also wanted to receive their share of the income, but for this they needed their own ports and new lands. After several unsuccessful attempts to fight against the powerful people of the Bosporus of the 6th-5th centuries. BC, the Scythians turned their gaze in the opposite direction, to where Chersonesus grew and flourished. However, the development of new territory did not save the Scythians from defeat. The Sarmatians dealt a fatal blow to the weakened kingdom. These events date back to the period 300 BC. Under the onslaught of the conquerors, the Scythian kingdom fell.

Sarmatians

Scientists believe that the Sarmatians descended from the descendants of two cultures, Srubnaya and Andronovo. The beginning of our era and the first millennium BC was marked by the widespread settlement of the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes across the Great Steppe. They belonged to the northern Iranian peoples, along with the Asian Saks and the European Scythians. In antiquity, it was believed that the Sarmatians descended from the Amazons, whose husbands were Scythian men. However, for these women, the language of the Scythians was difficult, and they could not master it, and the language of the Sarmatians is a distorted Scythian. In particular, such was the opinion of Herodotus.

In the 3rd century BC, Scythian power weakened, and the Sarmatians occupied the leading position in the Black Sea region. A large period of the history of our country is associated with them.
Zabelin believed that the peoples whom the Greeks and Romans called Sarmatians were in reality Slavs. In the territories of the Northern Black Sea region, the Sarmatians were engaged in cattle breeding, their way of life was nomadic, they wandered closed along a specific route during the year, choosing places with good pastures. Their farm included sheep, small horses, and cattle. They also hunted, and along with women who were not inferior to their men in horseback riding and archery.
They lived in felt tents, which were mounted on carts, and their main food was milk, cheese, meat, and millet porridge. The Sarmatians dressed almost the same as the Scythians. The women's clothes were long, with a belt and long trousers. A cap pointed at the end served as their headdress.

Religion of the Sarmatians

In the religious and cult representation of the Sarmatians, images of animals, in particular, a ram, occupied a special place. The image of a ram was often applied to the handles of swords or drinking vessels. The image of a ram was personified with "heavenly grace", was a symbol of many peoples of antiquity. And also the Sarmatians had a very strong cult of their ancestors.
The religious syncretism of the Greco-Iranian tribes found its embodiment in Aphrodite-Aputara, or the deceiver, this is the cult of the goddess of the ancient Greco-Sarmatians. She was considered the goddess of fertility and was the patroness of horses. The sanctuary of this goddess was on Taman, there is a place of Aputara there, but whether it was in Panticapaeum is not known for sure. The cult of the goddess Astarte, revered in Asia, has much in common, almost related, with the cult of Aphrodite-Aputara. The Sarmatians worshiped the cult of fire and the sun, the guardians of this cult were the chosen priestesses.

The subject of the cult of the Sarmatians was the sword, it personified the god of war. According to historians, the sword was stuck into the ground and worshiped with reverence.
From the Sarmatians, for the entire thousand-year stay, there were few reminders, monuments, huge mounds up to 5-7 meters in height. Sarmatian and Sauromatian mounds usually form groups where the terrain is quite high. As a rule, on high hills, they offer an immense steppe panorama. They are visible from afar and attract treasure hunters and robbers of all stripes.
These tribes did not disappear without a trace for the South of Russia. They left the names of rivers, such as the Dniester, Dnieper, Don. The names of these rivers and numerous small streams are translations from the Sarmatian language.

social organization

Among the Sarmatians, household items were quite diverse, and this only indicates that their crafts were well developed. They cast bronze items, were engaged in blacksmithing, tanning and woodworking were also developed. Sarmatians moved to the west, and for this they had to conquer territories.
Since the Sarmatians were constantly at war, the power of the leader, or "king", increased, since he was the center of the grouping of the military squad. However, the tribal system, jealously guarded by them, prevented the creation of a single, integral state.
The main difference between the social system of the Sarmatians was the remnants of matriarchy, this is especially noticeable in the early stages of the development of the Sarmatian society. Some ancient authors considered the Sarmatians to be female-controlled, since women participated in wars on an equal basis with men.

The art has been developed. Things were artistically decorated with semi-precious stones, glass, enamel, then framed with a filigree pattern.
When the Sarmatians came to the Crimea, they changed the composition of the indigenous population, brought their ethnic group there. They also entered the ruling dynasties of the Bosporus, while ancient culture became Sarmatized. Their influence on public life, the economy, clothing is also enormous, they spread their weapons, taught the local population new methods of war.

Warfare

The war was the main occupation of the Sarmatians, however, like other barbarian tribes. Large cavalry detachments of Sarmatian warriors terrified and feared the neighboring states and the peoples inhabiting them. The riders were well armed and protected, they already had armor and chain mail, iron long swords, bows, they wore bows and their arrows were poisoned with snake venom. Their heads were protected by helmets made of ox-skin, armor made of twigs.
Their sword, up to 110 cm long, became a popular weapon, as its advantage in battle was obvious. The Sarmatians practically did not fight on foot, it was they who created the heavy cavalry. They fought with two horses, to give one a rest, they changed to the second. Sometimes they took three horses with them.
Their military art was at a very high stage of development for that time, since almost from birth they learned horseback riding, trained constantly and worshiped the sword.
They were extremely serious opponents, very dexterous warriors, they tried to avoid open war, throwing arrows as well, but they robbed superbly.

Migrations

The population of the Sarmatians grew, the number of livestock increased, in connection with this, the movements of the Sarmatians expanded. Not too much time passed, and they occupied and settled a vast territory between the Dnieper and Tobol, to the North Caucasus in the south. The Huns and other tribes began to push them from the East, and in the 4th century the Sarmatians went west, where they reached the Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula and crossed over to North Africa. There they assimilated with other peoples.
No matter how large the territory they inhabited, the South Ural and North Kazakhstan steppes were best inhabited by them. Only on the banks of one river, Ilek, and in its lower and middle reaches, more than one hundred and fifty mounds were found.
The Sarmatians came to the lower reaches of the Manych River, began to spread across the Kuban, where their influence was strong. At the end of the 4th century, the settlement of the Sarmatians in Stavropol intensified, they partially exterminated the local population, partially ousted them. As a result, the military potential of the indigenous population was lost.
The Sarmatians have always migrated very aggressively, capturing new territories at the same time. They were able to reach Eastern Europe, settling on the territory of the Middle Danube. They also penetrated into North Ossetia, there are numerous monuments of their culture, and the origin of the Ossetians is associated precisely with the Sarmatians, they are considered their descendants.
Although the Sarmatians lagged behind the Scythians in the development of their society, they went through the decomposition of the tribal system. And the leaders of the tribes, who were supported by the military squad, represented by the nobility, became the heads of the tribes.

Huns

The Huns are an Iranian-speaking group of peoples formed in the 2nd century. According to scientists, their tribes led a nomadic lifestyle. They became famous for their military actions and it was they who invented one of the best weapons of that time. The brightest events in the life of this union of tribes took place from the 2nd to the 5th centuries.
There are many white spots in the life history of such a people as the Huns. Historians of those times and modern times described the life and military exploits of the Huns. However, their historical accounts are often unreliable because they do not have scientific evidence. Moreover, these data are highly contradictory.
An Iranian-speaking people was formed by mixing Eurasian tribes, the peoples of the Volga and Ural regions. The Huns began their nomadic path from the Chinese borders and gradually moved to European territories. There is a version that the roots of these tribes must be sought in Northern China. They slowly, sweeping away everything in their path, kept a course to the northeast.

Lifestyle

Nomadic tribes, having no permanent housing, moved across the vast steppe territories, carrying all their belongings in wagons. They drove the cattle behind them. Their main activity is raiding and cattle breeding.
Sleeping in the open air and eating fried or raw meat, they eventually became strong and hardened. They kept raw meat under the saddle during the campaign to soften it. Roots and berries collected in the steppes or in the forest were often eaten. Wives with children and old people moved in wagons along with the whole tribe. From early childhood, boys were taught martial arts and horseback riding. By reaching adolescence, the guys became real warriors.
The clothing of a representative of these peoples was the skin of an animal, in which a slit was torn, after which it was put on over the head around the neck and worn until it was torn to shreds and flew off. There was usually a fur hat on the head, and the legs were wrapped in animal skins, more often goat skins.

Uncomfortable impromptu shoes fettered walking, so the Huns practically did not move on foot, and it was generally impossible for them to fight on foot. But they were fluent in riding skills and therefore spent all the time in the saddle. They even conducted negotiations and trade deals without getting off the horse.
They did not build any housing, even primitive huts. Only very rich and influential members of the tribe had beautiful wooden houses.
Capturing territories, enslaving and imposing tribute on local peoples, the Huns made significant changes in culture, language and traditions.
When a boy was born into the family of the Huns, immediately after birth, cuts were made on his face so that hair would not grow later. Therefore, even in old age they are beardless. The men walked stooping. They allowed themselves to have several wives.
The Huns worshiped the moon and the sun. And every spring they made sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors. They also believed in the afterlife and believed that their stay on earth is just a part of immortal life.

From China to Europe

Originating in northern China, the barbarian tribes of the Huns set off to conquer new territories in the northeast. They were not interested in fertile lands, since they had never been engaged in agriculture, they were not interested in territories for the construction of new cities, they were only interested in mining.
Raiding the settlements of the Scythian tribes, they took away food, clothing, livestock, jewelry. Scythian women were brutally raped and men were brutally killed.
By the 5th century, the Huns had firmly settled in European territories; their main occupation was raids and wars. Their weapons, made of bones, terrified those around them. They invented the most powerful bows at that time and fired whistling bullets. The famous long-range bow, which terrified enemies, was more than one and a half meters long. Horns and bones of animals served as the components of a formidable weapon.
They rushed into battle with fearlessness and with a terrible cry that frightened everyone. The army marched in the form of a wedge, but at the right moment, on command, everyone could reorganize.

The best period for the union of tribes, which included the Huns, Bulgars and Germanic and Slavic tribes conquered by the Huns, fell on the reign of Attila. This was a leader who was feared by both the enemies and the Huns themselves. To gain power, he treacherously killed his own brother. In European states, he was nicknamed "The Scourge of God."
He was a wise leader and was able to win battles with the Romans. He managed to force the Byzantine Empire to pay tribute. The Huns entered into a military alliance with the Romans and helped them seize territories belonging to the Germanic tribes.
Later, Attila's army entered into battle with the Roman army. Historians called this battle "a duel of light and darkness." A bloody battle lasted for seven days, as a result of which 165,000 soldiers died. The Huns' army was defeated, but a year later Attila gathered and led a new army to Italy.
According to one version, Attila was killed during his next wedding. He was killed by a young wife, the daughter of one of the German leaders. Thus, she avenged her tribe. He was found after a feast, bleeding.
The legendary leader was buried at the bottom of the Tisza River. He was buried in a triple coffin of gold, silver and iron. According to tradition, his weapons and jewelry were placed in the coffin. The leader was buried at night in order to keep the place of burial a secret. All those who participated in the funeral process were also later killed. The burial place of the formidable warrior is still unknown.
After the death of Attila, the Hun military leaders began to quarrel among themselves and could no longer hold power over other tribes. At that moment, the powerful union of tribes began to disintegrate, which later led to the extinction of the Huns as a people. Those who remained from the representatives of the tribe mixed with other nomadic peoples.
Later, the term "Huns" was used to refer to all the barbarians found on the territory of European states.
Until today, it remains a mystery where the treasures looted by the Huns over such a long period of time have gone. According to legend, they are at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea in a mysterious place called Bibion. Scuba divers and archaeologists conducted expeditions and research, they found various interesting finds, but nothing indicates that they belonged to the Huns. Bibion ​​himself has not been found either.
The period of history associated with the tribes of the Huns contains many mysteries, legends, and legends. Uneducated nomads kept states from China to Italy at bay. Entire settlements of civilians suffered at their hands. They terrified even the brave warriors of the Roman Empire. But with the death of Attila, the era of barbarian attacks by the Huns was over.

Tatars

Tatars are the second largest ethnic group in Russia and the most numerous people of Muslim culture in the country. Tatar peoples have a very ancient history, which is closely connected with the history of the peoples of the Ural-Volga region. And, at the same time, there is not much documented and truthful information on the history of the emergence of this people. Events in the distant 5th-13th centuries are so intertwined that it is very difficult to separate the history of the Tatar peoples from the history of the Turkic tribes, with whom they lived together for a long time on the territory of the Mongolian steppe.

The ethnonym "Tatars" has been known since about the 5th century. In Chinese, this name sounded “ta-ta” or “da-da”. Tatar tribes lived in those days in the north-eastern part of Mongolia and in some territories of Manchuria. For the Chinese, the name of these nationalities meant "dirty", "barbarian". The Tatars themselves called themselves, most likely, "pleasant people." The most famous tribal union of the ancient Tatars is considered to be “Otuz-Tatars” - “Thirty Tatars”, which later became the union “Tokuz Tatars” - “Nine Tatars”. These names are mentioned in the Turkic chronicle of the Second Turkic Khaganate (mid-8th century). Tatar tribes, like the Turkic ones, quite successfully settled in Siberia. And in the 11th century, the famous Turkic researcher Mahmud of Kashgar called the large territory between the Northern regions of China and Eastern Turkestan nothing but the "Tatar steppe". In subsequent works, scientists of that time indicate the following Tatar tribes: Dorben-Tatars, Oboe Tatars, Airiud-Buyruud. And by the middle of the XII century, the Tatars become one of the most powerful tribal formations in Mongolia. In the 70s of the XII century, the Tatar association defeats the Mongol army and after that the Chinese call "da-dan" (that is, Tatars) all nomads, regardless of their ethnicity.

Wars and migrations

The life of the Tatar tribes has never been calm and has always been accompanied by military battles. The Chinese feared the Tatars and took all sorts of preventive measures. According to some chronicles, they sought to reduce the number of adult Tatars, for which, once every three years, the Chinese waged war against the Tatar tribes. In addition, internecine clashes broke out periodically, as well as local wars between the Tatars and the Mongols. A great role in the history of the Tatars, as well as all the peoples of this region, was played by the creation of the Great Turkic Khaganate. This powerful formation controlled a vast territory from Altai to the Crimea. But at the beginning of the 7th century it broke up into two parts - Western and Eastern, and in the middle of the 8th century it completely collapsed. It is known that in some battles the Turkic troops also included numerous Tatar detachments. After the fall of the Eastern Khaganate, some Tatar tribes submitted to the Uighurs and subsequently entered into an alliance with the Turkic Khitan, part of the tribe went west to the Irtysh region and took a leading role in the formation of the Kimak Khaganate, on the basis of which the Kazakhs and Siberian Tatars later developed.

The history of these khaganates was also not long. The Uighur Khaganate was defeated by the Kirghiz in 842, and after some time the Tatars created many states and tribal associations in the southeastern regions of Siberia and in the territory of Northern China east of East Turkestan, which allowed Muslim historians to call this region Dasht-i Tatars or " Tatar steppe. These were powerful associations that controlled part of the Great Silk Road and pursued an active foreign policy in Central Asia. But in the thirties, numerous Tatar principalities were conquered by the state of Karakitaev (western Khitans). Thirty years later, the Tatar troops completely defeated the Mongols, and at the end of the century they went to war with China. The Chinese were much stronger, and the defeated remnants of the Tatar tribes were forced to move away from the Chinese borders. The second misfortune for the Tatars was the rule of Genghis Khan, who in 1196 defeated their army, in 1202, after the Tatar uprising, destroyed the entire adult Tatar population as punishment.

The Kimak Khaganate existed in the territories of Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia until the thirties of the XII century. The forces of the Khaganate seized more and more lands, displacing local tribes in different directions, which caused a large migration of Tatar tribes across the territory of Eurasia. After the fall of the Kimaks, power passed to the unification of the Kipchaks, who began to move further west. The Tatar tribes went along with them.

Government system

Like many Turkic peoples, the Tatars had an institution of electiveness of the supreme ruler (tenrikot). There were many demands on him. He had to be smart, fair, brave and honest. The chosen leader had to resemble the supreme Turkic deity - Tenri (god of heaven). It was not thought that this leader would enrich himself at the expense of his people. On the contrary, it was assumed that he should be a fair representative of the interests of all sections of the population, including the conquered peoples. The doctrine of power in Tatar society was conditioned by the Mandate of Heaven, and the ruler had to deserve this mandate every time with his virtue. If the environment of the ruler understood that he was no longer virtuous enough, he could be re-elected. As a rule, a successful assassination attempt has always been the most successful way of re-election.

In subsequent formations (khaganates), power began to be inherited, and the khagans received the right to specific ownership of lands. Also, specific lands were owned by other high-ranking people in the Khaganates. They were obliged to put up a certain number of soldiers for battles and monitor the implementation of laws in the subject territory. As in most Turkic tribes, the fundamental principle of the social and state structure of the Tatars was a strict hierarchy of clans and tribes. In addition, the use of the labor of slaves (more often slaves) in the household was widely practiced. The captured captives participated in grazing, fodder and other work. If a man was captured, he was most likely sold to China.
The classification of the social structure of the Central Asian states of that time is carried out by historians in different ways. This is a military democracy, and a tribal state, and a patriarchal-feudal state formation. The last kaganates (for example, Kimak) are already called the early feudal society. The main type of economy of all these associations was nomadic cattle breeding. The settled tribes were already engaged in agriculture - they grew barley, wheat, in some places rice. The nationalities also developed a craft - leatherwork, metallurgy, construction technologies, jewelry art.

Religious canons

Since ancient times, Tengrianism has been extremely widespread in the Turkic environment - the doctrine of the God of Heaven, who ruled over everyone. Pagan beliefs about totems were widely known - animals that stood at the source of the Tatar peoples and were their patrons. The resulting associations - kaganates (and later the Golden Horde), were multi-confessional states, where no one was forced to change their faith. But the Tatar tribes, in contact with other peoples, inevitably came to a change in beliefs. Thus, the Uighurs (and the Tatars living in the territory of their principalities) adopted Islam from Khorezm. The Tatars of East Turkestan partly adopted Buddhism, partly Manichaeism and Islam. A great reformer in this area was Genghis Khan, who separated the state from religion and removed the chief shaman from power, proclaiming equal rights for all creeds. And in the XIV century, Uzbek Khan recognized in Islam the main state ideology, which many historians recognize as the reason for the collapse of the Golden Horde. Now the traditional religion of the Tatars is Sunni Islam.

Mongols

The homeland of the Mongols is considered to be a territory located northwest and north of China, in a region called Central Asia. These cold, arid plateaus, cut by weathered, eroded mountain ranges north of the Siberian taiga and along the Chinese frontier, are a barren bare steppe and desert where the Mongols were born.

Birth of the Mongolian nation

The foundation of the future Mongolian state was laid at the beginning of the 12th century, during this period several tribes were consolidated by the leader Kaidu. Subsequently, his grandson Kabul established relations with the leadership of Northern China, which first developed on the basis of vassalage, and after the end of a short war, as a recipient of insignificant tribute. However, his successor Ambakai was handed over by the Tatars to the Chinese, who did not fail to deal with him, after which the reins of government passed to Kutula, who suffered a defeat from the Chinese in 1161 and entered into an alliance with the Tatars. The Tatars, a few years later, killed Yesugai, the father of Temuchin, who gathered all the Mongols around him and conquered the world under the name of Genghis Khan. It was these events that became the catalyst for the consolidation of several nomadic tribes into one nation called the Mongols, from the mere mention of which the rulers of the medieval world were in awe.

The social structure of the Mongols

Until the beginning of the 13th century, which was marked by the great conquests of the Mongols led by Genghis Khan, the Mongolian nomads in the steppes were engaged in grazing sheep, cows, goats and ever-increasing herds of horses. In arid areas, the Mongols bred camels, but on the lands located closer to the Siberian taiga, there were tribes who lived in forests and hunted. The taiga tribes treated shamans with special trepidation, who occupied a central and key place in their social structure.
The Mongolian tribes were characterized by a structured social hierarchy, headed by the nobility, who bore the titles of noyons, princes, bakhadurs. They were subject to not so well-born nobility, followed by ordinary nomads, individual captives, as well as subjugated tribes who were in the service of the winners. Estates were subdivided into clans that were part of a looser tribal structure. The affairs of clans and tribes were discussed at kurultais, where the nobility elected the khan. He was elected for a limited period and had to solve certain strategic tasks, for example, plan the conduct of the war. His power was limited, while the nobility really controlled everything, this state of affairs contributed to the formation of short-lived confederations, this led to constant anarchy in the ranks of the Mongols, which only Genghis Khan managed to cope with.

Religious beliefs of the Mongols

The religion of the Mongols belonged to the shamanic type. Shamanism was widespread among northern nomads and other peoples of North Asia. They did not have a developed philosophy, dogmatics and theology, in connection with which, Muslims, Christians and Jews did not recognize shamanism. To get the right to exist, shamanism had to adapt to the most superstitious forms of manifestation of Christianity, such as Nestorianism, widespread in Central Asia. In the Mongolian language, a shaman was called a kam, he was a sorcerer, healer and soothsayer, according to the beliefs of the Mongols, he was an intermediary between the world of the living and the dead, people and spirits. The Mongols sincerely believed in the nature of countless spirits, which included their ancestors. For each natural object and phenomenon, they had their own spirit, this concerned the spirits of the earth, water, plants, sky, it was these spirits, according to their beliefs, that determined human life.

The spirits in the Mongolian religion had a strict hierarchy, the heavenly spirit Tengri was considered the supreme among them, it was with him that the supreme leaders who served him faithfully were related. According to the beliefs of the Mongols, Tengri and other spirits expressed their will in prophetic dreams, during rituals and in visions. If necessary, they revealed their will directly to the ruler.

Despite the fact that Tengri punished and thanked his followers, ordinary Mongols did not perform any special rituals dedicated to him in everyday life. A little later, when the Chinese influence became tangible, the Mongols began to decorate the tablets, which had his name, fumigating them with incense. Much closer to the people and their daily affairs was the goddess Nachigay, also called Etugen. She was the mistress of grass, herds and harvest, it was with her image that all dwellings were decorated and prayers were addressed for good weather, a large harvest, an increase in herds and the prosperity of the family. Mongols addressed all prayers to ongons, they were original idols made by women from silk, felt and other materials.

Mongol wars before the era of Genghis Khan
Until the 13th century, little was known about the Mongol tribes, they were mainly mentioned in Chinese chronicles, in which they were called Men-wu. It was about nomads eating sour milk and meat and allowing themselves to raid the Celestial Empire, which at that time were absolutely unsuccessful. At the beginning of the 12th century, the second emperor Tatszun conquered most of Mongolia, his followers limited themselves to defensive wars with this people.

After the formation of the Mongolian state by Khabul Khan, who was the ancestor of Genghis Khan, all the Mongolian tribes were united. Initially, they were considered vassals of Emperor Xizong, but soon entered into hostilities with him. As a result of this war, a peace treaty was concluded, the Chinese sent an observer to the camp of Khabul Khan, but he was killed, which was the reason for the start of another war. This time, the Jin rulers sent Tatars to fight the Mongols, Khabul Khan could not withstand another exhausting campaign. He died before reaching his destination. Ambagai took power into his own hands.
However, at the time of the truce, he was treacherously captured by the Tatars and handed over to the Chinese authorities. The next Khan Kutula, united with the Manchu rebels, again attacked the Celestial Empire, as a result, the Chinese lost the fortifications north of Kerulen, control over which was lost after the death of Kurulai of his four brothers in an internecine war. All these actions became the prerequisite for the battle near Lake Buir-nur in 1161, where the Mongols lost to the combined forces of the Chinese and Tatars. This led to the restoration of Jin power in Mongolian territory.

Migration of the Mongols

Initially, the Mongolian tribes were not nomads, they were engaged in hunting and gathering in the region of Altai and Dzungaria, as well as on the plains south and north of the Gobi. Coming into contact with the nomadic tribes of Western Asia, they adopted their culture and gradually migrated to the steppe regions, where they took up cattle breeding and turned into the nation that we know today.

Turks

History of occurrence

Studies of the origin of the Turkic peoples, ethnic group, their cultural traditions, unfortunately, are still the most problematic for academic science.
The first historical mention of the Turks is found in the Chinese acts on the exchange of goods of the great empire. Documents were kept with the established at that time the formation of a confederation of nomads in the VI century AD. e. Stretching along the entire Great Wall and reaching the Black Sea in the west, the empire is known to the Chinese as T "u Küe and to the Turks themselves as Gek Türk, which meant the Top of Heaven.

Separate tribes roamed to hunt and fight raids with sedentary neighbors. It is believed that Mongolia is the progenitor of both the Turks and the Mongols. These groups, completely different, at first glance, peoples, in the process of the development of civilization, mixed and intertwined. In an endless history of events, battles, wars, the rise and stagnation of powers, nations converged and diverged, which is still manifested in the similarity of their language groups.
Türk, as a term, was first recorded by chronicle sources in the second half of the 6th century, consolidated and later widely used.
Ancient authors and medieval researchers - Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy, the author of Armenian geography of the 7th century Shirakatsi and many others left their notes about the Turkic tribes and peoples.
The processes of assimilation and separation of individual nationalities and language groups took place constantly and always. The territory of Mongolia is an ideal starting point for the advancement of nomadic tribes in search of fresh pastures and for expanding their horizons in exploring uncharted territories with more severe nature and predatory fauna. To do this, the first Turks had to go through a long line of endless plains and fields, open steppes, stretching all the way to Europe. Naturally, the riders could move much faster across the steppes. In the places of their usual stops, to the south of such a nomadic road, entire settlements of kindred tribes settled down and began to live in rich communities. They formed strong communities among themselves.

The arrival of the Turks from the territory of the modern Mongolian plains is a very long process according to the historical scale. This time period has not yet been fully explored. Each subsequent successive wave of raids or invasions marks its appearance in historical chronicles only when Turkic tribes or famous warriors seize power in various regions that are completely uncharacteristic of them. This could happen in conjunction with the Khazars, Seljuks, or with one of the many, for that time, nomadic groups.
Certain evidence of the discoveries of scientists gives material to the assumptions to consider the Volga-Ural interfluve as the ancestral home of the Turkic people. This includes the regions of Altai, Southern Siberia and the Baikal region. Perhaps it was their second ancestral home, from where they began their movement to Europe and Western Asia.
The ethnogenesis of the entire Turkic community is reduced to the fact that the main ancestors of the Turks in the first ten centuries of our era began their existence in the east, in the territory between modern Altai and Baikal.
Historically, the Turks are not one single ethnic group. They consist of kindred and assimilated peoples of Eurasia. Although the entire diverse community, nevertheless, is a single ethno-cultural whole of the Turkic people.

Data by religion

Before the adoption of the main world religions - Islam, Buddhism and partially Christianity, the Turkic peoples had and still have the first religious basis - the worship of Heaven - Tengri, the Creator. In everyday life, Tengri is synonymous with Allah.
This ancient original religion, Tengrism, is recorded in the Manchu breviaries and Chinese chronicles, Arabic, Iranian sources, in fragments of the surviving ancient Turkic runic monuments of the 6th-10th centuries. This is a completely original creed, has a complete conceptual form with the doctrine of a single deity, the concept of three worlds, mythology and demonology. The Turkic religion has many religious rites.
Tengrianism, as a fully formed religion, through a system of spiritual values ​​and codes, cultivated certain stable ethnic concepts of nomadic peoples.
Islam determines the entire worldview of the Turks, which recreates the history of their ancestors and the richness of Muslim culture. However, Islam received a certain Turkic interpretation based on the application of all the cultural traditions of Tengrism. This is expressed in the peculiarities of the ethnic worldview and perception of the world by a person, as the acceptance of the factor of its coexistence with spiritualized nature.
One of the most important forms of Turkic art, besides painting and poetry, is the narration of epics in a falsetto voice, accompanied by a string instrument topshur (topshur), similar to a lute. The lyrics were usually proclaimed in a low bass register.
These stories were very popular among the inhabitants of the steppe. One of the legendary storytellers, Delhi, knew 77 of them by heart. And the longest story took seven days and nights.
The history of the Turkic ethnos and the development of the language group begins with the Orkhon-Yenisei monument, which is still considered the most ancient monument of all Turkic languages ​​and dialects.
The latest data of science say that the Scythian ethnoculture of the animal style, with its sources and roots, is closely intertwined with the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia and Altai.

social organization

The accelerated development of the processes of social and territorial consolidation led to the creation by the Turkic-speaking peoples and tribes of a number of state formations - kaganates in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium. This form of political creation of the structure of society marked the process of formation of classes among the nomads.
The constant migration of the population led to a peculiar socio-political structure of society - the Western Turkic Khaganate - this is a single system based on nomadic and semi-nomadic farming and settled agricultural management.
On the lands conquered by the Turks, the governorship of the kagan, the supreme person, was established. He controlled the collection of taxes and the transfer of tribute to the kagan's capital. In the Khaganate, the process of formation of classes and feudal social relations of the early period was constantly going on. The military-political resources of the power of the Western Turkic Khaganate were not strong enough to keep different peoples and tribes in constant obedience. Continuous civil strife, quick and frequent changes of rulers - a constant process in society, which was accompanied by the inevitable weakening of public power and the fall of the kaganate in the VIII century.

Wars of the Turks with other peoples

The history of the Turkic people is the history of wars, migrations and resettlements. The social structure of society directly depended on the success of the battles and the outcome of the battles. The long and cruel wars of the Turks with various nomadic tribes and settled peoples contributed to the formation of new nationalities and the formation of states.
Having enlisted the support of the rulers, the Turks established diplomatic relations with various northern Chinese states and large tribes. Creating and assembling large armies in the Danube valley, under the leadership of the ruler of the kaganate, the Turks devastated the countries of Europe more than once.
During the period of the greatest territorial expansion, the Turkic Khaganate extended from Manchuria to the Kerch Strait, and from the Yenisei to the Amu Darya. The Great Chinese Empire, in constant wars for territory, divided the Khaganate into two main parts, which subsequently led to its complete collapse.

Migrations

According to anthropological external features, it is possible to distinguish the Turks of the Caucasoid and Mongoloid races. But the most common type is transitional, which belongs to the Turanian or South Siberian race.
The Turkic peoples were hunters and nomadic shepherds taking care of sheep, horses and sometimes camels. In an extremely interesting culture that has survived, there are core characteristics that were laid down from the early beginnings and have been fully maintained to the present day.
The Volga-Ural region had all the favorable natural conditions for the rapid development of the ethnic group inhabiting it, especially the steppe and forest-steppe zones. Expanses of excellent pastures for livestock, forests, rivers and lakes, mineral deposits.
This region was one of the possible ones, where people, starting from the 3rd millennium BC, began to domesticate wild animals for the first time. The geographical location of the region at the crossroads of Europe and Asia also contributed to the accelerated development of the Volga-Ural Territory. Numerous tribes passed through it in all directions. It was here that various ethnic groups mixed up, which were the distant ancestors of the Turkic, Finnish, Ugric and other peoples. The area was densely populated during the Mesolithic and Neolithic. The whole cultural mosaic was formed in it, various traditions were intertwined and consolidated. The region itself was a zone of contacts of various cultural currents. According to archaeologists, the development of civilization and the return migrations of tribes from this area were of no small importance. Based on the size of the settlements, it can be concluded that the settlers survived by a mobile, nomadic life. They lived in huts, caves or small insulated semi-dugouts, which vaguely resemble later yurts.

Huge spaces contributed to large movements-migrations of large groups of pastoralists, which facilitated the process of mixing and assimilation with the ancient tribes. In addition, such a nomadic image made it possible to quickly spread the economic and cultural achievements of pastoral tribes, nationalities and ordinary people from other areas with which they interacted. And that is why the separation of the first Turkic people also marked the stage of large-scale development of the steppe spaces, the development and spread of productive forms of the economy on it - livestock breeding and the development of nomadic forms of farming.
On such a vast territory, the social culture of the nomadic Turks could not remain unshakable and uniform; it changed according to migration, mutually enriching itself with the achievements of foreign tribal groups.
These first settlements of the Turks were soon followed by a mysterious and powerful wave of conquest, which, according to researchers, was Turkic in its origin - the empire of the Khazars, which occupied the entire western part of the territory of Gök Türk. The Khazars surprise their contemporaries and chroniclers with stories of amazing political intrigues that were transformed en masse into Judaism in the 8th century.

NOMADS(or nomads, Bedouins) (from the Greek nomados - nomadic) the conditional name of peoples and ethnic groups that lead a mobile lifestyle during the year or season. They are distinguished by a peculiar way of life, daily economic activities and traditional culture.

Nomadism originated at the end of the 2nd beginning of the 1st millennium BC. among the mountain-steppe tribes of Eurasia in connection with the transition to mobile cattle breeding. Today, peoples of a number of countries of Central and Western Asia, as well as North Africa, lead a similar way of life. In addition, nomads include reindeer herders in the Arctic zones of Europe, North America and Asia, who constantly change their place of residence in search of food for animals. The number of northern nomadic peoples is relatively low.

It is rather difficult to determine the number of nomads, and their range of movement covers approximately 2/5 of the inhabited land, which includes vast territories of deserts, semi-deserts, tropical and taiga regions. Researchers have not yet come to a unified and final opinion on who should be classified as nomads, since the degree of mobility of pastoralists is a variable value, depending on the number of livestock, landscape, seasons, the presence and size of the base settlement, etc. Modern nomads, keeping extensive cattle breeding in the conditions of seasonal migrations as the basis of their existence, as a rule, combine other types of economic activity with it. However, in a number of regions, cattle breeding ceases to play the main role and turns into a pastoral economy, and the main part of the tribe (confederation of tribes) passes to settled agriculture.

The most significant groups of the nomadic population still live in the countries of Africa and Asia, mainly within the arid zone (an area of ​​\u200b\u200bdry climate with high temperatures and low precipitation), where pastoralism with seasonal movement of livestock and people continues to be the main occupation outside the oases residents of this area.

In the fight against drought, people tried in every way to diversify their activities. Nomads often make up herds of different animals: camels, sheep, goats, cattle of a certain number, trying to take into account how much and what kind of food can be found in the nomadic areas for each species. Herds may travel long distances or graze in the same valleys or around a well.

So, the nomads of the Sahara divide the calendar year into two seasons, spending six months in the village (summer and autumn during the harvesting of grain crops and collecting dates in oases), and the rest of the time they wander between pastures and separate water sources. At this time, young sheep and camels appear, and, consequently, the Bedouins procure milk, butter and wool. At the same time, the Bedouins hunt, collect fruits from trees, seeds and grass roots, sell livestock or engage in smuggling, and in famine years they do not disdain robbery. Some of them do not even have documents, they often do not recognize national borders, driving their animals from the territory of one country to another in search of food.

In the African regions of Ahaggar, Tassili and Aira, on a territory exceeding 1 million square meters. km, which is crossed by about a dozen caravan trails, is home to 250 thousand Tuareg nomads, the indigenous inhabitants of Central Sahara. The Tuareg are divided into two large, rival groups: the eastern one (which is dominated by tribes quel-air And kel-gress) and the western, more numerous ( yulemedden, kel-ahaggar,kel-adzher,iforas And tenge-rengif). To the south and west of Agadez live Nigerian Tuareg ( kel tamashek, more than 200 thousand), occupied by nomadic cattle breeding. They mainly breed zebu cows with long and short horns, which give, in addition to meat, milk, as well as short-haired sheep, goats and rams. However, in the Sahel (“outskirts”, “shore” - Arabic, transitional zone / 400 km wide / from the desert to the savannahs of West Africa) they are engaged in agriculture and trade. In addition, nomads equip caravans in autumn to send the products of their labor to the markets of large cities.

The main trade commodity of the Sahara is still salt. Salt mining has been and remains a source of income for the Bedouins (from Arab. badiya- dry space, steppe, desert). In a number of African states, governments have placed salt mines under the supervision of tribes. Mauritania, Mali, Algeria and Niger have large salt deposits. Even Ibn Batuta, an Arab traveler of the 14th century, described how in the Middle Ages in the Ayselik region the local population mined salt and made copper rods: under high pressure, salt and copper formed copper chloride, from which (when coke was added) pure copper was released.

The inhabitants of the Sahara Tuareg(Algeria, Niger), Berbers(Morocco, Algeria) Moors(the predominant ethnic group in Mauritania, as well as part of the population of Western Sahara, Senegal, Gambia, southern Morocco), tube(Sudan, Libya), beja(Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia), cababish(Sudan, Ethiopia), etc. - they speak their dialects. They also have a peculiar material culture and social organization. As a rule, a tribe (several families or clans) is an extended patrilineal family with a common ancestor (eponym). Rains and pastures occupy a special place in the religious beliefs of the inhabitants of the Sahara. Therefore, often the leaders of the tribes are also rain casters.

With the development of agriculture (especially irrigation) and mobile pastoralism, the possibilities of significant property inequality and the emergence of early feudal and even early class relations arose. Therefore, among the nomads there are elements of the feudal system, in which the caste structure of society is preserved.

In the Arabian Desert, the routes of nomads run between oases with wells, which are the focus of settled agricultural life. In winter, during the rainy season, the desert spaces of Arabia are covered with vegetation, and then the tribes lead the cattle outside the oases until April-May, when the green pastures dry up.

In the recent past, the Bedouins played a large role in the caravan trade, traveling thousands of kilometers. Now the routes are noticeably reduced. A mobile way of life is still preserved by a number of tribes in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and a number of African countries. In Australia, in the steppes and semi-deserts of the hot zone, groups of aborigines live - hunters and gatherers. This type also includes some tribes of the Kalahari Bushmen, and in Brazil - the inhabitants of the dry savannahs.

Olga Bibikova

Definition

Not all pastoralists are nomads. It is advisable to associate nomadism with three main features:

1. extensive cattle breeding as the main type of economic activity;
2. periodic migrations of most of the population and livestock;
3. special material culture and worldview of the steppe societies.

Nomads lived in arid steppes and semi-deserts or high-mountain regions, where cattle breeding is the most optimal type of economic activity (in Mongolia, for example, land suitable for agriculture is 2%, in Turkmenistan - 3%, in Kazakhstan - 13%, etc.) . The main food of the nomads was various types of dairy products, less often animal meat, hunting prey, products of agriculture and gathering. Drought, snowstorm (jute), epidemics (epizootics) could deprive the nomad of all means of subsistence overnight. To counter natural disasters, pastoralists developed an effective system of mutual assistance - each of the tribesmen supplied the victim with several heads of cattle.

Life and culture of nomads

Since the animals were constantly in need of new pastures, pastoralists were forced to move from one place to another several times a year. The most common type of dwelling among nomads were various types of collapsible, easily portable structures, usually covered with wool or leather (yurt, tent or tent). The household utensils of the nomads were not numerous, and the dishes were most often made of unbreakable materials (wood, leather). Clothes and shoes were sewn, as a rule, from leather, wool and fur. The phenomenon of "horsemanship" (i.e., the presence of a large number of horses or camels) gave the nomads significant advantages in military affairs. Nomads never existed in isolation from the agricultural world. They needed agricultural products and handicrafts. Nomads are characterized by a special mentality, which involves a specific perception of space and time, hospitality customs, unpretentiousness and endurance, the presence of war cults among ancient and medieval nomads, a warrior-rider, heroized ancestors, who, in turn, found reflection, as in oral art ( heroic epic), and in the visual arts (animal style), a cult attitude towards cattle - the main source of existence for nomads. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that there are few so-called "pure" nomads (permanently nomads) (some of the nomads of Arabia and the Sahara, the Mongols and some other peoples of the Eurasian steppes).

Origin of nomadism

The question of the origin of nomadism has not yet had an unambiguous interpretation. Even in modern times, the concept of the origin of cattle breeding in hunter societies was put forward. According to another, now more popular point of view, nomadism was formed as an alternative to agriculture in the unfavorable zones of the Old World, where part of the population with a manufacturing economy was forced out. The latter were forced to adapt to new conditions and specialize in cattle breeding. There are other points of view. No less debatable is the question of the time of the formation of nomadism. Some researchers tend to believe that nomadism developed in the Middle East on the periphery of the first civilizations as early as the 4th-3rd millennium BC. Some even tend to note traces of nomadism in the Levant at the turn of the 9th–8th millennium BC. Others believe that it is too early to talk about real nomadism here. Even the domestication of the horse (Ukraine, IV millennium BC) and the appearance of chariots (II millennium BC) do not yet speak of a transition from an integrated agricultural and pastoral economy to real nomadism. According to this group of scientists, the transition to nomadism took place not earlier than the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. in the Eurasian steppes.

Classification of nomadism

There are many different classifications of nomadism. The most common schemes are based on the identification of the degree of settlement and economic activity:

• nomadic,
• semi-nomadic and semi-sedentary (when agriculture already prevails) economy,
• transhumance (when part of the population lives roaming with cattle),
• yaylagnoe (from the Turks. "yaylag" - a summer pasture in the mountains).

In some other constructions, the type of nomadism is also taken into account:

• vertical (mountains, plains) and
• horizontal, which can be latitudinal, meridional, circular, etc.

In a geographical context, we can talk about six large zones where nomadism is widespread.

1. the Eurasian steppes, where the so-called "five types of livestock" are bred (horse, cattle, sheep, goat, camel), but the most important animal is the horse (Turks, Mongols, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, etc.). The nomads of this zone created powerful steppe empires (Scythians, Xiongnu, Turks, Mongols, etc.);
2. the Middle East, where nomads breed small cattle and use horses, camels and donkeys (Bakhtiyars, Basseri, Pashtuns, etc.) as transport;
3. the Arabian Desert and the Sahara, where camel breeders (Bedouins, Tuareg, etc.) predominate;
4. East Africa, savannahs south of the Sahara, inhabited by peoples who breed cattle (Nuer, Dinka, Maasai, etc.);
5. high mountain plateaus of Inner Asia (Tibet, Pamir) and South America (Andes), where the local population specializes in breeding animals such as yak, llama, alpaca, etc.;
6. northern, mainly subarctic zones, where the population is engaged in reindeer herding (Saami, Chukchi, Evenki, etc.).

Rise of nomadism

The heyday of nomadism is associated with the period of the emergence of "nomadic empires" or "imperial confederations" (mid-1st millennium BC - mid-2nd millennium AD). These empires arose in the neighborhood of established agricultural civilizations and depended on the products coming from there. In some cases, nomads extorted gifts and tribute at a distance (Scythians, Xiongnu, Turks, etc.). In others, they subjugated farmers and levied tribute (Golden Horde). Thirdly, they conquered farmers and moved to its territory, merging with the local population (Avars, Bulgarians, etc.). Several large migrations of the so-called "pastoral" peoples and later nomadic pastoralists are known (Indo-Europeans, Huns, Avars, Turks, Khitan and Cumans, Mongols, Kalmyks, etc.). During the Xiongnu period, direct contacts were established between China and Rome. The Mongol conquests played a particularly important role. As a result, a single chain of international trade, technological and cultural exchanges was formed. It was as a result of these processes that gunpowder, compass and book printing came to Western Europe. In some works, this period is called "medieval globalization".

Modernization and decline

With the beginning of modernization, the nomads were unable to compete with the industrial economy. The appearance of repeating firearms and artillery gradually put an end to their military power. Nomads began to be involved in modernization processes as a subordinate party. As a result, the nomadic economy began to change, the social organization was deformed, and painful acculturation processes began. In the twentieth century in the socialist countries, attempts were made to carry out forced collectivization and sedenterization, which ended in failure. After the collapse of the socialist system in many countries there was a nomadization of the way of life of pastoralists, a return to semi-natural methods of farming. In countries with a market economy, the processes of adaptation of nomads are also very painful, accompanied by the ruin of pastoralists, erosion of pastures, rising unemployment and poverty. Currently, approximately 35 40 million people. continues to engage in nomadic pastoralism (Northern, Central and Inner Asia, the Middle East, Africa). In countries such as Niger, Somalia, Mauritania and others, pastoral nomads make up the majority of the population.

In everyday consciousness, the point of view prevails that the nomads were only a source of aggression and robbery. In reality, there was a wide range of different forms of contacts between the settled and the steppe world, from military confrontation and conquest to peaceful trade contacts. Nomads have played an important role in human history. They contributed to the development of little habitable territories. Thanks to their intermediary activities, trade relations were established between civilizations, technological, cultural and other innovations were spread. Many nomad societies have contributed to the treasury of world culture, the ethnic history of the world. However, having a huge military potential, the nomads also had a significant destructive impact on the historical process; as a result of their destructive invasions, many cultural values, peoples and civilizations were destroyed. A number of modern cultures are rooted in nomadic traditions, but the nomadic way of life is gradually disappearing - even in developing countries. Many of the nomadic peoples today are under the threat of assimilation and loss of identity, since in the rights for the use of land they can hardly compete with settled neighbors. A number of modern cultures are rooted in nomadic traditions, but the nomadic way of life is gradually disappearing - even in developing countries. Many of the nomadic peoples today are under the threat of assimilation and loss of identity, since in the rights for the use of land they can hardly compete with settled neighbors.

Nomadic peoples today include:

Historical nomadic peoples:

Literature

• Andrianov B.V. The unsettled population of the world. M.: "Nauka", 1985.
• Gaudio A. Civilizations of the Sahara. (Translated from French) M .: "Nauka", 1977.
• Kradin N.N. nomadic societies. Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 1992.240 p.
• Kradin N.N. Hunnu Empire. 2nd ed. revised and additional Moscow: Logos, 2001/2002. 312 p.
• Kradin N.N. , Skrynnikova T.D. Empire of Genghis Khan. M.: Eastern Literature, 2006. 557 p. ISBN 5-02-018521-3
• Kradin N.N. Nomads of Eurasia. Almaty: Dyk-Press, 2007. 416 p.
• Markov G.E. Nomads of Asia. Moscow: Publishing House of Moscow University, 1976.
• Masanov N.E. Nomadic civilization of the Kazakhs. M. - Almaty: Horizon; Sotsinvest, 1995.319 p.
• Khazanov A.M. Social history of the Scythians. M.: Nauka, 1975.343 p.
• Khazanov A.M. Nomads and the outside world. 3rd ed. Almaty: Dyk-Press, 2000. 604 p.
• Barfield T. The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 325 p.
• Humphrey C., Sneath D. The End of Nomadism? Durham: The White Horse Press, 1999. 355 p.
• Khazanov A.M. Nomads and the Outside World. 2nd ed. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. 1994.
• Lattimore O. Inner Asian Frontiers of China. New York, 1940.
• Scholz F. Nomadismus. Theorie und Wandel einer sozio-ökonimischen Kulturweise. Stuttgart, 1995.
• Esenberlin, Ilyas Nomads.

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See what "Nomadic peoples" are in other dictionaries:

NOMADS OR NOMAD PEOPLES people living by pastoralism, moving from place to place with their herds; what are: Kirghiz, Kalmyks, etc. Dictionary of foreign words included in the composition of the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

See Nomads... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

2. Explain why nomadic tribes conquered new lands.

It was natural for nomadic tribes to move, because they lived by driving cattle from place to place. At the same time, all the men of such peoples were warriors, therefore it was not so difficult for them to seize new lands. But the main reason is that they themselves were forced out from the places where they had previously lived by stronger tribes or a deteriorated climate, then they were forced to seize new lands to replace the lost ones.

3. How did the nomads treat the population of the lands they conquered? Give examples.

The defeated nomadic peoples were forced out or destroyed by the victorious nomads in order to take possession of their pastures (for example, such a fate befell the Huns when they were defeated by the Turks). But the nomads left the farmers on their lands and sometimes created a state with them at their head. According to this principle (nomads are the ruling elite of a mainly agricultural state), the Avar Khaganate and the First Bulgarian Kingdom (on the Balkan Peninsula) were built. Sometimes pastoralists, under the influence of conquered peoples, themselves switched to a settled way of life (for example, this happened with the Volga Bulgars).

4. Make a historical note about the Volga Bulgarin or the Khazar Khaganate (optional) according to the plan: 1) the time of existence; 2) place on the map; 3) the main population and its occupations; 4) relations with neighboring states; 5) development of culture.

The Khazar Khaganate is one of the fragments of the Turkic Khaganate. It existed from the 7th century, when the Turkic Khaganate collapsed, until the 10th century, when it fell under the blows of Svyatoslav of Kyiv.

During its heyday, it occupied vast territories of the Ciscaucasia, the Lower and Middle Volga regions, modern North-Western Kazakhstan, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, the eastern part of the Crimea, as well as the steppes and forest-steppes of Eastern Europe up to the Dnieper.

The state was created by the Khazars (that is, the Turks), who were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding. But there also lived many Arabs, Jews who moved there mainly for the sake of trade and crafts. In addition, there were many conquered Slavic tribes in the state, who continued to cultivate the land as before the conquest.

The kaganate lived off trade, but fought with many neighbors. Thanks to his wars with the Arabs, we get most of the information about this state (from Arab sources). The wars with the Old Russian state eventually destroyed the Khazar Khaganate.

We do not know much about the culture of the Khazar Khaganate. But what we do know is amazing. For example, political culture. The formal ruler was the kagan, but in reality the king ruled. When the kagan was enthroned, he was strangled and half-consciously asked how many years he was going to rule. Most likely, prophecies were expected from a person with a creature changed in this way. The kagan was killed when the term he had named passed, or when he was forty years old, because it was believed that after this age the ruler lost his divine power.

The culture of the state is largely based on religion. Most likely, the ordinary inhabitants of the kaganates continued to profess what their ancestors did. But the elite converted to Judaism, a rather unusual choice for the region. And it was not just Judaism, but Karaism, which is not recognized by official Judaism).

5. Why do you think the states of nomadic peoples existed for a relatively short time?

Of these states, some were initially fragile. Separate tribes were held together only by coercion. Therefore, when the center forcing unity weakened, such states disintegrated. This happened with the Turkic Khaganate. Others were quite strong. The large cities became the centers of their economy, which bound people together better than coercion. Such states were simply sometimes unlucky - they met a much more powerful adversary. A striking example is the Volga Bulgaria, which fell under the blows of the then invincible Mongol army.

6*. Explain what has changed in the life of nomadic peoples since the formation of their state.

It depended on the emerging state. In some, for example, in the Turkic Khaganate, life almost did not change at all. The tribe only formally recognized the ruler and went on raids not only by itself, but also as part of the army of this ruler (although this did not cancel independent raids). That is why this state turned out to be fragile. On the other hand, there were many officials in the Khazar Khaganate, which means that life became more orderly, the inhabitants had to fulfill more instructions.

7*. It is known that pagan beliefs were common among nomadic tribes. Under what circumstances did these tribes adopt a new religion for them (Islam, Christianity, Judaism)? What did it matter?

The adoption of such a religion usually built the state into the system of international relations of the civilization whose religion the state adopted. In addition, life gradually changed under the influence of religion, for example, an ideology appeared, such as "all power is from the Lord." In this sense, it is not very clear what Karaism gave the Khazar Khaganate, because there were no other states in the region that even adopted Judaism, especially Judaism in the form of Karaism. At the same time, Karaism was not accepted by the entire population of the kaganate, therefore a state ideology based on this faith was impossible.

Usually the decision to switch to a new religion was made by one of the strong-willed rulers for various reasons, from political to true and sincere faith. Usually he wanted to convert all his people to a new faith, as a rule he had to cope with pagan opposition.