ranging from fully nomadic camel breeding to semino-
madic sheep and goat herding mixed with farming. Some of
these societies, such as the Nabataean Kingdom in Arabia,
became wealthy and powerful through merchant activities,
transporting goods from all over the ancient world in their
camel caravans. Both Rome and Persia, who were dueling
for power in the ancient Near East, oft en developed alliances
with nomad tribal chiefs, sometimes granting them offi cial
governmental titles in exchange for their loyalty. Such at-
tempts to enlist the services of nomadic tribes increased the
power and standing of their leaders and strengthened their
military capability, which they sometimes used against
their patrons. From the fourth century b.c.e. onward the
ascending power and infl uence of nomadic groups began to
undermine the Roman and Persian Empires and ultimately
contributed to their collapse.
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
Th e ancient Australians were mostly nomadic. One of their
skills for survival was mobility: When fi res or fl oods came,
they moved out of the way. Th ey even learned to turn fi re
to their advantage by setting fi res that would drive game to
them and would clear grassland or forest so that edible plants
could grow. Th us, the ancient Australians shaped their envi-
ronment to suit their needs.
Hunter-gatherer populations in the islands of the Phil-
ippines may have been seminomadic, moving within a set
tribal range from place to place, relocating when game or ed-
ible plants ran short. It is possible that the island of Honshu
in Japan had people on its eastern coast who lived by the sea
in summer and moved inland in winter, eating seafood when
on the shore and perhaps venison when the deer moved down
from the mountains in winter.
Th e earliest nomads of eastern Asia probably followed
wild game on their migrations. Some took to following rein-
deer; as the glaciers of the north melted and the reindeer
shift ed their own migrations northward in response, those
people following the reindeer learned to endure bitter cold.
Some of them migrated from northeastern Siberia to Alaska
during what may have been as many as seven separate migra-
tions from Asia to the Americas.
Most of what may have happened among the nomadic
peoples of eastern Asia beyond the reach of the knowledge of
the Chinese is unknown. In the northern reaches of China,
perhaps as recently as 1500 b.c.e., nomadic peoples hunted el-
ephants and rhinoceroses. Th ese scattered, thin populations
of people posed little threat to the young civilization of the
Yellow River region until they learned to herd cattle, sheep,
and Bactrian camels. Herding helped their populations grow,
and they oft en bumped into China when they wanted to ex-
pand their pastures.
Th ere were hundreds of nomadic tribes, but the names
of only a few are known. Th e Xiongnu were a federation of
catt le-herding tribes, ver y warli ke. Th ey harassed China until
about 106 b.c.e., when a Chinese army drove them away from
the Silk Road and into central Asia. Most historians believe
their descendants became the Huns, invaders of Europe in
the 400s c.e. Th e Yuezhi were shepherds who were driven out
of their lands by the Xiongnu, but in 130 b.c.e. they settled in
what is now Afghanistan. Th e Fergana in what is now Turke-
stan bred superb horses, which they supplied, sometimes un-
willingly, to China in the 400s b.c.e.
In the 300s c.e. fi ve nomadic groups, the Five Hu, invaded
northern China and ruled it for about 150 years. Th ey formed
16 states in northern China. In 383 c.e. they united under one
l e a d e r a n d f o r m e d a n a r my o f 9 0 0 , 0 0 0 m e n t h a t t r i e d t o c o n q u e r
the rest of China. Th e cavalry was made up almost entirely of
nomads, but the infantry was composed of Chinese conscripts,
many of whom deserted during the Battle of Fei River, when
the nomads were decisively defeated by the Chinese army. In
398 c.e. the Toba tribe led a confederation of 119 tribes and
formed the Northern Wei state (ended ca. 534 b.c.e.).
Little is known about the nomads of western Asia, and
archaeology is only just beginning to uncover their past. Th e
principal nomadic peoples of Asia north of the Near East
and east of Europe were the Cimmerians and the Scythians.
Both lived in the steppes of Asia. So little is known about
the Cimmerians that they were long thought to be mythi-
cal. Th e Cimmerians and Scythians raided the Near East
and southeastern Europe, carrying away booty and slaves.
Th e Scythians sometimes kidnapped Greek artists, who cre-
ated sculptures for the Scythians. Many historians credit the
Scythians with inventing the fi rst stirrup, a leather loop. In
529 b.c.e. Persia’s Cyrus the Great (r. 559–529 b.c.e.) died in
battle against the Scythians.
Little is known for certain about activities in central
Asia, between the Near East and northwestern China, but
there must have been a lively mix of nomadic tribes. Nearly
all of them spoke Indo-European languages, though some
spoke languages from the Far East. Th e Aryans are probably
the most famous of these Indo-European-speaking groups.
Th e word Aryan is oft en used as if the Aryans were a single
tribe, but the ancient Indian writers who wrote down the oral
history of the Aryans about 500 b.c.e. used the word arya to
describe the languages spoken by the nomads, not their tribe.
Th e word Aryan comes from the word arya. Th e Aryans were
probably several diff erent tribes.
Th e nomads of central Asia had probably had trading
relations with the Harappan civilization of the Indus River
region for hundreds of years before moving into Harappan
territory. At the height of their civilization the Harappans
had built city walls over 13 feet thick and perhaps as high.
Had they been healthy, it is unlikely that the Aryans could
have overcome them, but a series of natural disasters had ru-
ined the Harappans’ cities, and they were probably easy tar-
gets for the warlike Aryans.
Th e Aryans were cattle herders, and they measured the
value of goods by how many cattle the goods were worth.nomadic and pastoral societies: Asia and the Pacific 791