Pastoral nomads

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139059251.011

9 - Pastoral nomads

from Part I - Global histories

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015

Timothy May

Edited by

Craig Benjamin

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Craig Benjamin: Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University, Michigan

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Summary

The ancient Central Eurasian steppes stretched from Manchuria in the east to the Alfold Plain in Hungary and Romania in the west. Steppe pastoral nomads subsisted largely on the dairy products of their animals, such as cheese, yogurt, and cheese curds, supplemented with meat from their animals as well as from hunting. Covering the Pontic and Caspian steppes, Scythia stretched roughly from the Dniester River to the Amu Darya River and perhaps even to the Altai Mountains. The Sarmatians interacted with the Scythians frequently as the Sarmatians nomadized between the Don and Volga rivers, although by the sixth century some had crossed the Don River and found pastures near the Sea of Azov and may have been subject to Scythian dominion. The Xiongnu merged with other disparate pastoral nomads and formed a new confederation known as the Huns, although this may have been what the Xiongnu called themselves.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge World History , pp. 235 - 268

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059251.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2015

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