Contents
Pastoral Societies Were Common Across Afro-Eurasia
Main idea
Nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoral societies that relied on herding animals as their primary economic resource lived across Afro-Eurasia.
Pastoral peoples and societies have been significant forces throughout history, and their historical achievements have shaped the modern world.
What is Pastoralism?
Pastoralism is when a society’s primary economic activity revolves around the herding of animals. Pastoral peoples thrived across Afro-Eurasia in dry areas and could not easily support agriculture.
- Pastoral peoples were diverse, and their communities spanned from the subarctic regions of Northern Russia to Southern Africa’s grasslands.
- Pastoral communities lived in the lands between large, settled agricultural societies. Asa result, they connected distant civilizations and spread settled civilizations’ knowledge, goods, and technologies through their territories.
Pastoral Societies
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Livestock economy
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Less commercial trade
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Less urbanization
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Communities based on ancestry
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Women had higher status
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Smaller population
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Nomadic or semi-nomadic
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Elders made decisions
Agrarian Societies
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Agriculture economy
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More commercial trade
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Some urbanization
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More diverse communities
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Women had lower status
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Larger populations
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Settled and sedentary
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Formal governments
Pastoral Peoples Made Significant Impacts on History
Main idea
Despite being nomadic or semi-nomadic, pastoral societies caused some of history’s most significant events and built large civilizations. Sometimes some members of influential pastoral groups settled and gave up their nomadic ways.
Many of history’s significant changes resulted from the actions of pastoral groups. These changes helped shape the modern world.
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was a member of the semi-nomadic Bedouin community. The herding of goats, sheep, and camels was the traditional economic activity of Bedouin tribes. Other Bedouins, like Muhammad and his wife, were traders. Following Islam’s founding, pastoral or semi-pastoral communities in Northern Africa (the Berbers) and Central Asia adopted (the Turks) adopted and spread Islam.
While pastoral communities were often tribal, some nomadic groups settled down and established successful non-pastoral societies.
The Islamic Empires: Following the founding and expansion of Islam, two vast Islamic empires developed. The Umayyad controlled territories that stretched from Spain to the borders of modern Pakistan. The Abbasid, while smaller, led Islam through its Golden Age, which spread mathematical, scientific, and philosophical knowledge across Afro-Eurasia.
The Turkish Empires: Another powerful pastoral group, the Turks, migrated from Central Asia to the Middle East between the 6th and 11th centuries. Turkish Muslims became influential in the Islamic world between the 12th and 15th centuries. Turkish Muslims established powerful empires in Egypt (Mamluk), India (Delhi Sultanate), and the Middle East (Seljuk). The most successful Turkish Empire was the Ottoman Empire, which destroyed what remained of the Christian Byzantine Empire in 1453. The Ottoman Empire lasted until its defeat in World War I.
The Mongols: In the 13th century, various fragmented and waring pastoral tribes known as Mongols united. They conquered enough territory to construct the largest land empire in history. In the process, the Mongols destroyed the great Song dynasty in China and the Islamic Abbasid in the Middle East.
Trade across pastoral peoples’ lands would not have been possible without their help.
- Pastoralists provided security from thieves for merchants that moved through their lands along overland trade routes.
- Pastoralists profited from trade by providing rest houses for traders, fodder (food) for caravan animals, and stables for animals to rest.
- Pastoral communities also traded goods with Silk Roads merchants. These goods included animal products like wool and hides and animals themselves, such as camels and horses.
- Silk Roads caravans often followed routes pastoralists had established while moving with their animal herds.
Pastoralists were also vital in the spread of crops, ideas, and technologies.
- Buddhism spread through pastoral lands in Central Asia along Silk Road trade routes. Many of these communities adopted Buddhism.
- Revolutionary technologies such as gunpowder, paper, and the compass spread along the Silk Roads to the western world.
- Methods of silk production diffused from China through pastoral lands. By the 6th century, the Byzantine Empire had learned how to make silk and become the dominant silk producer in the Mediterranean region.
- Crops also spread through nomadic lands. Grapes and grape winemaking processes originated in the Mediterranean and moved east to China.
- Peaches and apricots originated in Eastern China and moved west to the Mediterranean region.
Founded the Islamic religion
Founded major empires: Seljuk (Middle East), Mamluk (Egypt), the Delhi Sultanate South Asia), and the Mongol Empire (across Eurasia)
Turks founded the Ottoman Empire, which destroyed the Christian Byzantine Empire
Mongols destroyed the Song Dynasty in China and Abbasid Caliphate in the Middle East
The Mongols Were One of the Most Successful Pastoral Groups in History
Main idea
The pastoral Mongols were a significant pastoral group. They constructed the largest land empire in history.
The Mongols were central Asian pastoral peoples from the north of China (modern Mongolia). Within just a few decades in the 13th century, the Mongol tribes of Northern Asia went from being a society of fragmented pastoral clan groups to creating the largest land empires in history. In constructing their Empire, Mongol leaders destroyed the Abbasid in the Middle East and the Song Dynasty in China. At its largest, the Mongol Empire stretched over 5000 miles from Eastern Europe to the Pacific coast in China.
Chinggis Khan founded the most successful Mongol alliance
Mongol clan or tribe had a leader known as a Khan (great leader). Tribes were often in conflict with one another over land and resources. When there was an outside threat or war preparation, separate Mongol tribes and clans would unite briefly. When the conflict was over, the groups would disband and return to their independent lifestyle. Bravery, courage, strength, and negotiation skills were desirable traits in Mongol leaders.
Chinggis Khan unified fragmented Mongol tribes: The founding of the Mongol Empire was the work of Chinggis Khan. His life did not start with much promise. His father was a Mongol leader who died when a rival Mongol leader poisoned him. Still a teenager and viewed as a weak leader, Chinggis’ tribe abandoned him. After a rival tribe captured him in 1182, Chinggis escaped to a remote mountain refugee, where he plotted his revenge. Over the following decades, Chinggis grew his reputation as a skillful warrior. In 1206, Mongol chiefs elected him as supreme ruler. Chinggis united the various Mongol tribes under his leadership and began his military conquests. When he died in 1227, the Mongol Empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean across Central Asia to near the borders of Europe.