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Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers , pastoral nomads (owning livestock ), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pastoral tribes slowly decreased, reaching an estimated 30–40 million nomads in the world as of 1995 .

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112-665: The Middle Corridor , also called TITR ( T rans-Caspian I nternational T ransport R oute ), is a trade route from Southeast Asia and China to Europe via Kazakhstan , Caspian Sea , Azerbaijan , Georgia and Turkey (optional). It is an alternative to the Northern Corridor to the north through Russia , and the Ocean Route to the south, via the Suez Canal . Geographically, the Middle Corridor

224-498: A common world of interacting components." These routes – spreading religion , trade and technology – have historically been vital to the growth of urban civilization. The extent of development of cities, and the level of their integration into a larger world system, has often been attributed to their position in various active transport networks. The Incense Route served as a channel for trading of Indian, Arabian and East Asian goods. The incense trade flourished from South Arabia to

336-541: A country where 85% of its inhabitants were nomadic herders. Today only 15% remain nomads. As many as 2 million nomadic Kuchis wandered over Afghanistan in the years before the Soviet invasion , and most experts agreed that by 2000 the number had fallen dramatically, perhaps by half. A severe drought had destroyed 80% of the livestock in some areas. Niger experienced a serious food crisis in 2005 following erratic rainfall and desert locust invasions. Nomads such as

448-563: A couple of kilometres from each other. The geographical closeness of families is usually for mutual support. Pastoral nomad societies usually do not have large populations. One nomadic society, the Mongols , gave rise to the largest land empire in history. The Mongols originally consisted of loosely organized nomadic tribes in Mongolia, Manchuria, and Siberia. In the late 12th century, Genghis Khan united them and other nomadic tribes to found

560-418: A derogatory sense. According to Gérard Chaliand , terrorism originated in nomad-warrior cultures. He points to Machiavelli 's classification of war into two types, which Chaliand interprets as describing a difference between warfare in sedentary and nomadic societies: There are two different kinds of war. The one springs from the ambition of princes or republics that seek to extend their empire; such were

672-438: A desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders. A century ago, nomadic Bedouin still made up some 10% of the total Arab population. Today, they account for some 1% of the total. At independence in 1960, Mauritania was essentially a nomadic society. The great Sahel droughts of the early 1970s caused massive problems in

784-620: A fixed annual or seasonal pattern of movements and settlements. Nomadic people traditionally travel by animal, canoe or on foot. Animals include camels, horses and alpaca. Today, some nomads travel by motor vehicle. Some nomads may live in homes or homeless shelters, though this would necessarily be on a temporary or itinerant basis. Nomads keep moving for different reasons. Nomadic foragers move in search of game, edible plants, and water. Aboriginal Australians, Negritos of Southeast Asia, and San of Africa, for example, traditionally move from camp to camp to hunt and gather wild plants. Some tribes of

896-458: A part of the secondary-products revolution proposed by Andrew Sherratt , in which early pre-pottery Neolithic cultures that had used animals as live meat ("on the hoof") also began using animals for their secondary products, for example: milk and its associated dairy products , wool and other animal hair, hides (and consequently leather ), manure (for fuel and fertilizer ), and traction. The first nomadic pastoral society developed in

1008-435: A pattern of transhumance . Since the 1990s, as the cash economy shrank, unemployed relatives were reabsorbed into family farms, and the importance of this form of nomadism has increased. The symbols of nomadism, specifically the crown of the grey felt tent known as the yurt , appears on the national flag, emphasizing the central importance of nomadism in the genesis of the modern nation of Kyrgyzstan . From 1920 to 2008,

1120-576: A separate dialect or language is spoken. They are speaking languages of Indic origin and many are structured somewhat like an argot or secret language, with vocabularies drawn from various languages. There are indications that in northern Iran at least one community speaks Romani language , and some groups in Turkey also speak Romani. In Afghanistan, the Nausar worked as tinkers and animal dealers. Ghorbat men mainly made sieves , drums, and bird cages, and

1232-510: A service community to the Jamshedi , after they fled Baluchistan because of feuds. Still some groups such as Sarıkeçililer continues nomadic lifestyle between coastal towns Mediterranean and Taurus Mountains even though most of them were settled by both late Ottoman and Turkish republic. The Bukat people of Borneo in Malaysia live within the region of the river Mendalam , which

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1344-411: A variety of commercial or service activities. Formerly, all or a majority of their members were itinerant, and this largely holds true today. Migration generally takes place within the political boundaries of a single state these days. Each of the peripatetic communities is multilingual, it speaks one or more of the languages spoken by the local sedentary populations, and, additionally, within each group,

1456-440: Is tsampa and they drink Tibetan style butter tea . Pala will eat heartier foods in the winter months to help keep warm. Some of the customary restrictions they explain as cultural saying only that drokha do not eat certain foods, even some that may be naturally abundant. Though they live near sources of fish and fowl these do not play a significant role in their diet, and they do not eat carnivorous animals, rabbits or

1568-706: Is known for certain about the past of these communities; the history of each is almost entirely contained in their oral traditions. Although some groups—such as the Vangawala—are of Indian origin, some—like the Noristani—are most probably of local origin; still others probably migrated from adjoining areas. The Ghorbat and the Shadibaz claim to have originally come from Iran and Multan, respectively, and Tahtacı traditional accounts mention either Baghdad or Khorāsān as their original home. The Baluch say they were attached as

1680-487: Is served in bowls, possibly with sugar or milk . Milk and other dairy products, like cheese and yogurt , are especially important. Kumiss is a drink of fermented milk. Wrestling is a popular sport, but the nomadic people do not have much time for leisure. Horse riding is a valued skill in their culture. Ann Marie Kroll Lerner states that the pastoral nomads were viewed as "invading, destructive, and altogether antithetical to civilizing, sedentary societies" during

1792-606: Is the shortest route between Western China and Europe. It is undergoing major developments in parts, with the Trans-Kazakhstan railroad completed in 2014 and the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railway operational in 2017. In 2022, the Middle Corridor's cargo doubled to 1.5 million tons, while the Northern Route's shipping volume declined by 34%. However, obstacles to the further use of the Middle Corridor include

1904-484: Is thought to have developed in three stages that accompanied population growth and an increase in the complexity of social organization . Karim Sadr has proposed the following stages: The pastoralists are sedentary to a certain area, as they move between the permanent spring, summer, autumn and winter (or dry and wet season) pastures for their livestock . The nomads moved depending on the availability of resources. Nomadic pastoralism seems to have developed first as

2016-732: The Arabian Peninsula , resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar by the first half of the first millennium AD. It continued up to historic times, later becoming the Maritime Silk Road . This trade network also included smaller trade routes within Island Southeast Asia , including the lingling-o jade network, and the trepanging network. In eastern Austronesia , various traditional maritime trade networks also existed. Among them

2128-653: The Arabian Sea . The Maritime Silk Road developed from the earlier Austronesian spice trade networks of Islander Southeast Asians with Sri Lanka and Southern India (established 1000 to 600 BCE), as well as the earlier Maritime Jade Road , known for lingling-o artifacts, in Southeast Asia, based in Taiwan and the Philippines . For most of its history, Austronesian thalassocracies controlled

2240-663: The Chalcolithic period. The period from the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE to the beginning of the Common Era saw societies in Southeast Asia, Western Asia, the Mediterranean, China, and the Indian subcontinent develop major transportation networks for trade. One of the vital instruments which facilitated long-distance trade was portage and the domestication of beasts of burden . Organized caravans, visible by

2352-640: The Danube river become the principal artery of trade, eclipsing the Amber Road and other commercial routes. The redirection of investment to the Danubian forts saw the towns along the Amber Road growing slowly, though yet retaining their prosperity. The prolonged struggle between the Romans and the barbarians further left its mark on the towns along the Amber Road. Via Maris, literally Latin for "the way of

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2464-648: The Eastern and the Western worlds . According to Vadime Elisseeff (2000): "Along the Silk Roads, technology traveled, ideas were exchanged, and friendship and understanding between East and West were experienced for the first time on a large scale. Easterners were exposed to Western ideas and life-styles, and Westerners, too, learned about Eastern culture and its spirituality-oriented cosmology. Buddhism as an Eastern religion received international attention through

2576-694: The Fulani of the Sahel , the Khoikhoi of South Africa and Namibia , groups of Northeast Africa such as Somalis and Oromo , and the Bedouin of the Middle East. Most nomads travel in groups of families, bands, or tribes . These groups are based on kinship and marriage ties or on formal agreements of cooperation. A council of adult males makes most of the decisions, though some tribes have chiefs. In

2688-840: The Gadia Lohar blacksmiths of India, the Roma traders, Scottish travellers and Irish travellers. Many nomadic and pastorally nomadic peoples are associated with semi-arid and desert climates ; examples include the Mongolic and Turkic peoples of Central Asia , the Plains Indians of the Great Plains , and the Amazigh and other peoples of the Sahara Desert . Pastoral nomads who are residents of arid climates include

2800-525: The Greco-Roman world increased spices became the main import from India to the Western world, bypassing silk and other commodities. The Indian commercial connection with South East Asia proved vital to the merchants of Arabia and Persia during the 7th and 8th centuries. The Abbasids used Alexandria, Damietta , Aden and Siraf as entry ports to India and China. Merchants arriving from India in

2912-518: The Inca dominance, specialized long-distance merchants provided the highlanders with goods such as gold nuggets, copper hatchets, cocoa, salt etc. for redistribution among the locals, and were key players in the politics of the region. Hatchet shaped copper currency was produced by the Peruvian people , in order to obtain valuables from pre Columbian Ecuador . A maritime exchange system stretched from

3024-665: The Mediterranean shores. From the 8th until the 15th century, Venetian and genoese merchants held the monopoly of European trade with the Middle East. The silk and spice trade , involving spices , incense , herbs , drugs and opium , made these Mediterranean city-states phenomenally rich. Spices were among the most expensive and demanded products of the Middle Ages. They were all imported from Asia and Africa. Muslim traders – mainly descendants of Arab sailors from Yemen and Oman – controlled maritime routes throughout

3136-541: The Middle French nomade , from Latin nomas ("wandering shepherd"), from Ancient Greek νομᾰ́ς ( nomás , “roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture”), which is derived from the Ancient Greek νομός ( nomós , “pasture”). Nomads are communities who move from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock, or otherwise making a living. Most nomadic groups follow

3248-552: The Mongol Empire , which eventually stretched the length of Asia. The nomadic way of life has become increasingly rare. Many countries have converted pastures into cropland and forced nomadic peoples into permanent settlements. Modern forms of nomadic peoples are variously referred to as "shiftless", " gypsies ", " rootless cosmopolitans ", hunter-gatherers, refugees and urban homeless or street-people , depending on their individual circumstances. These terms may be used in

3360-645: The Organization of Turkic States for the Middle Corridor, with cargo transportation increasing six-fold in the last decade. Trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets , a single trade route contains long-distance arteries , which may further be connected to smaller networks of commercial and noncommercial transportation routes. Among notable trade routes

3472-656: The Tuareg and Fulani , who make up about 20% of Niger's 12.9 million population, had been so badly hit by the Niger food crisis that their already fragile way of life is at risk. Nomads in Mali were also affected. The Fulani of West Africa are the world's largest nomadic group. Pala nomads living in Western Tibet have a diet that is unusual in that they consume very few vegetables and no fruit. The main staple of their diet

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3584-577: The maritime section of historic Silk Road that connects China , Southeast Asia , the Indian subcontinent , Arabian Peninsula , Somalia and all the way to Egypt and finally Europe . It flourished between 2nd-century BCE and 15th-century CE. Despite its association with China in recent centuries, the Maritime Silk Road was primarily established and operated by Austronesian sailors in Southeast Asia, and by Persian and Arab traders in

3696-598: The 12th century the Germans played a relatively modest role in the north European trade. However, this was to change with the development of Hanseatic trade, as a result of which German traders became prominent in the Baltic and the North Sea regions. Following the death of Eric VI of Denmark , German forces attacked and sacked Denmark, bringing with them artisans and merchants under the new administration which controlled

3808-470: The 2nd millennium BCE, could carry goods across a large distance as fodder was mostly available along the way. The domestication of camels allowed Arabian nomads to control the long-distance trade in spices and silk from the Far East to the Arabian Peninsula . Caravans were useful in long-distance trade largely for carrying luxury goods, the transportation of cheaper goods across large distances

3920-425: The Amber Road began to rise steadily during the 1st century CE, despite the troop movements under Titus Flavius Vespasianus and his son Titus Flavius Domitianus . Under the reign of Tiberius Caesar Augustus , the Amber Road was straightened and paved according to the prevailing urban standards. Roman towns began to appear along the road, initially founded near the site of Celtic oppida . The 3rd century saw

4032-569: The Americas followed this way of life. Pastoral nomads, on the other hand, make their living raising livestock such as camels, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, or yaks; these nomads usually travel in search of pastures for their flocks. The Fulani and their cattle travel through the grasslands of Niger in western Africa. Some nomadic peoples, especially herders, may also move to raid settled communities or to avoid enemies. Nomadic craftworkers and merchants travel to find and serve customers. They include

4144-581: The Andean slopes – described sometimes as "vertical trade" – may have overshadowed the long-distance trade between the people of the Andes and the neighboring forests. The Callawaya herbalists traded in tropical plants between 6th and the 10th centuries, while copper was dealt by specialized merchants in the Peruvian valley of Chincha . Long-distance trade may have seen local elites resorting to struggle in order for manipulation and control. Prior to

4256-614: The Baluch were musicians and dancers. The Baluch men were warriors that were feared by neighboring tribes and often were used as mercenaries. Jogi men and women had diverse subsistence activities, such as dealing in horses, harvesting, fortune-telling , bloodletting , and begging . In Iran, the Asheq of Azerbaijan, the Challi of Baluchistan, the Luti of Kurdistan, Kermānshāh, Īlām, and Lorestān,

4368-716: The Basseri were smiths and tinkers, traded in pack animals, and made sieves, reed mats, and small wooden implements. In the Fārs region, the Qarbalband, the Kuli, and Luli were reported to work as smiths and to make baskets and sieves; they also dealt in pack animals, and their women peddled various goods among pastoral nomads. In the same region, the Changi and Luti were musicians and balladeers, and their children learned these professions from

4480-741: The Eurasian steppe ( c.  3300–2600 BCE), and of the Mongol spread in the later Middle Ages . Yamnaya steppe pastoralists from the Pontic–Caspian steppe , who were among the first to master horseback riding , played a key role in Indo-European migrations and in the spread of Indo-European languages across Eurasia. Trekboers in southern Africa adopted nomadism from the 17th century. Some elements of gaucho culture in colonial South America also re-invented nomadic lifestyles. One of

4592-571: The Hansa regions. During the third quarter of the 14th century the Hanseatic trade faced two major difficulties: economic conflict with the Flanders and hostilities with Denmark. These events led to the formation of an organized association of Hanseatic towns, which replaced the earlier union of German merchants. This new Hansa of the towns, aimed at protecting interests of the merchants and trade,

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4704-529: The Indian Ocean also had run by the Austronesian peoples of Island Southeast Asia . They established trade routes with Southern India and Sri Lanka as early as 1500 BCE, ushering an exchange of material culture (like catamarans , outrigger boats , sewn-plank boats, and paan ) and cultigens (like coconuts , sandalwood , bananas , sugarcane , cloves , and nutmeg ); as well as connecting

4816-712: The Indian Ocean, tapping source regions in the Far East and shipping for trading emporiums in India, westward to Ormus in Persian Gulf and Jeddah in the Red Sea . From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts. Venetian merchants distributed then the goods through Europe until the rise of the Ottoman Empire , that eventually led to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, barring Europeans from important combined-land-sea routes. As trade between India and

4928-569: The Indian or the Sri Lankan ports, spices were sometimes shipped to East Africa, where they were used for many purposes, including burial rites. On the orders of Manuel I of Portugal , four vessels under the command of navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope , continuing to the eastern coast of Africa to Malindi to sail across the Indian Ocean to Calicut . The wealth of the Indies

5040-759: The Indian ports included Barbaricum , Barygaza , Muziris and Arikamedu . The Indians were present in Alexandria and the Christian and Jewish settlers from Rome continued to live in India long after the fall of the Roman empire, which resulted in Rome's loss of the Red Sea ports, previously used to secure trade with India by the Greco-Roman world since the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Shortly before

5152-474: The Lovat River. From there, ships had to be portaged to the Dnieper River near Gnezdovo. A second route from the Baltic to the Dnieper was along the Western Dvina (Daugava) between the Lovat and the Dnieper in the Smolensk region, and along the Kasplya River to Gnezdovo. Along the Dnieper, the route crossed several major rapids and passed through Kiev, and after entering the Black Sea followed its west coast to Constantinople. The economic growth of Europe around

5264-423: The Mediterranean between roughly the 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE. This trade was crucial to the economy of Yemen and the frankincense and myrrh trees were seen as a source of wealth by its rulers. Ptolemy II Philadelphus , emperor of Ptolemaic Egypt , may have forged an alliance with the Lihyanites in order to secure the incense route at Dedan , thereby rerouting the incense trade from Dedan to

5376-476: The Mediterranean world, Roman Britain , Tigris-Euphrates river system and North Africa fell under the reach of this network at some point of their history. According to Robert Allen Denemark (2000): "The spread of urban trading networks, and their extension along the Persian Gulf and eastern Mediterranean, created a complex molecular structure of regional foci so that as well as the zonation of core and periphery (originally created around Mesopotamia ) there

5488-414: The Mehtar in the Mamasani district, the Sazandeh of Band-i Amir and Marv-dasht, and the Toshmal among the Bakhtyari pastoral groups worked as professional musicians. The men among the Kowli worked as tinkers, smiths, musicians, and monkey and bear handlers; they also made baskets, sieves, and brooms and dealt in donkeys. Their women made a living from peddling, begging, and fortune-telling. The Ghorbat among

5600-471: The Red Sea ports. The Roman historian Strabo mentions a vast increase in trade following the Roman annexation of Egypt, indicating that monsoon was known and manipulated for trade in his time. By the time of Augustus up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India, trading in a diverse variety of goods. Arsinoe , Berenice Troglodytica and Myos Hormos were the principal Roman ports involved in this maritime trading network, while

5712-419: The Silk Road. This highway has been associated with emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Sher Shah Suri , the latter became synonymous with this route due to his role in ensuring the safety of the travelers and the upkeep of the road. Emperor Sher Shah widened and realigned the road to other routes, and provided approximately 1700 roadside inns through his empire. These inns provided free food and lodgings to

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5824-406: The Silk Roads." Cultural interactions patronized often by powerful emperors, such as Kanishka , led to development of art due to introduction of a rich variety of influences. Buddhist missions thrived along the Silk Roads, partly due to the conducive intermixing of trade and cultural values, which created a series of safe stoppages for both the pilgrims and the traders . The Silk Roads led to

5936-536: The Via Maris route as a way leading along the shore of the Sea of Galilee . Early Muslim writings confirm that the people of West Africa operated a sophisticated network of trade, usually under the authority of a monarch who levied taxes and provided bureaucratic and military support to his kingdom. Sophisticated mechanisms for the economic and political development of the involved African areas were in place before Islam further strengthened trade, towns and government in western Africa. The capital, court and trade of

6048-525: The age of 7 or 8 years. The nomadic groups in Turkey make and sell cradles, deal in animals, and play music. The men of the sedentary groups work in towns as scavengers and hangmen; elsewhere they are fishermen, smiths, basket makers, and singers; their women dance at feasts and tell fortunes. Abdal men played music and made sieves, brooms, and wooden spoons for a living. The Tahtacı traditionally worked as lumberers; with increased sedentarization, however, they have taken to agriculture and horticulture. Little

6160-441: The animals can graze. Most nomads usually move within the same region and do not travel very far. Since they usually circle around a large area, communities form and families generally know where the other ones are. Often, families do not have the resources to move from one province to another unless they are moving out of the area permanently. A family can move on its own or with others; if it moves alone, they are usually no more than

6272-454: The camp and most do not eat again until they return to camp for the evening meal. The typical evening meal may include thin stew with tsampa , animal fat and dried radish . Winter stew would include a lot of meat with either tsampa or boiled flour dumplings . Nomadic diets in Kazakhstan have not changed much over centuries. The Kazakh nomad cuisine is simple and includes meat, salads, marinated vegetables and fried and baked breads . Tea

6384-408: The case of Mongolian nomads, a family moves twice a year. These two movements generally occur during the summer and winter. The winter destination is usually located near the mountains in a valley and most families already have fixed winter locations. Their winter locations have shelter for animals and are not used by other families while they are out. In the summer they move to a more open area in which

6496-439: The coast along the Red Sea to Egypt. I. E. S. Edwards connects the Syro-Ephraimite War to the desire of the Israelites and the Aramaeans to control the northern end of the Incense route, which ran up from Southern Arabia and could be tapped by commanding Transjordan . Gerrha – inhabited by Chaldean exiles from Babylon – controlled the Incense trade routes across Arabia to the Mediterranean and exercised control over

6608-532: The coastal cultures in the Indian Ocean . Maritime trade began with safer coastal trade and evolved with the manipulation of the monsoon winds, soon resulting in trade crossing boundaries such as the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal . South Asia had multiple maritime trade routes which connected it to Southeast Asia , thereby making the control of one route resulting in maritime monopoly difficult. Indian connections to various Southeast Asian states buffered it from blockages on other routes. By making use of

6720-436: The control of a single power. Some similarities between the Mesoamerican and the Andean cultures suggest that the two regions became a part of a wider world system, as a result of trade, by the 1st millennium BCE. The current academic view is that the flow of goods across the Andean slopes was controlled by institutions distributing locations to local groups, who were then free to access them for trading. This trade across

6832-418: The control of the trans Saharan trade, resulting in damage on both sides and a weak Moroccan victory, further strengthening the uninvolved Saharan tribes. Struggles and disturbances continued till the 14th century, by which the Mandé merchants were trading with the Hausa , between Lake Chad and the Niger . Newer trade routes developed following extension of trade. Long-distance maritime trade network in

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6944-410: The creation of a merchant class urban centers and the growth of trade-based economies. Among the frequented routes of the Silk Route was the Burmese route extending from Bhamo , which served as a path for Marco Polo 's visit to Yunnan and Indian Buddhist missions to Canton in order to establish Buddhist monasteries . This route – often under the presence of hostile tribes – also finds mention in

7056-499: The development of agriculture, most hunter-gatherers were eventually either displaced or converted to farming or pastoralist groups. Only a few contemporary societies, such as the Pygmies , the Hadza people , and some uncontacted tribes in the Amazon rainforest , are classified as hunter-gatherers; some of these societies supplement, sometimes extensively, their foraging activity with farming or animal husbandry. Pastoral nomads are nomads moving between pastures. Nomadic pastoralism

7168-433: The earliest evidence of maritime trade was the Neolithic trade networks of the Austronesian peoples among which is the lingling-o jade industry of the Philippines , Taiwan , southern Vietnam and peninsular Thailand . It also included the long-distance routes of Austronesian traders from Indonesia and Malaysia connecting China with South Asia and the Middle East since approximately 500 BCE. It facilitated

7280-438: The existence of an Assyrian merchant colony at Kanesh in Cappadocia (now in modern Turkey ). Trading networks of the Old World included the Grand Trunk Road of India and the Incense Road of Arabia . A transportation network consisting of hard-surfaced highways, using concrete made from volcanic ash and lime, was built by the Romans as early as 312 BCE, during the times of the Censor Appius Claudius Caecus . Parts of

7392-450: The first monograph regarding the community in the early years of the 19th century. The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks ( Russian : Путь "из варяг в греки" , Put' iz varyag v greki , Swedish : Vägen från varjagerna till grekerna , Greek : Εμπορική Οδός Βαράγγων – Ελλήνων , Emporikḗ Odós Varángōn-Ellḗnōn ) was a trade route that connected Scandinavia, Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. The route allowed traders along

7504-425: The fissures of Dryobalanops aromaticus); several types of rotan of cane ( Calamus rotan and other species); poison for blowpipe darts (one source is ipoh or ipu : see Nieuwenhuis 1900a:137); the antlers of deer (the sambar, Cervus unicolor); rhinoceros horn (see Tillema 1939:142); pharmacologically valuable bezoar stones (concretions formed in the intestines and gallbladder of the gibbon, Seminopithecus, and in

7616-425: The flow of the Maritime Silk Road, especially the polities around the straits of Malacca and Bangka , the Malay Peninsula , and the Mekong Delta ; although Chinese records misidentified these kingdoms as being "Indian" due to the Indianization of these regions. Prior to the 10th century, the route was primarily used by Southeast Asian traders, although Tamil and Persian traders also sailed them. The route

7728-524: The largest nomadic populations in the world, an estimated 1.5 million in a country of about 70 million. In Kazakhstan where the major agricultural activity was nomadic herding, forced collectivization under Joseph Stalin 's rule met with massive resistance and major losses and confiscation of livestock. Livestock in Kazakhstan fell from 7 million cattle to 1.6 million and from 22 million sheep to 1.7 million. The resulting famine of 1931–1934 caused some 1.5 million deaths: this represents more than 40% of

7840-526: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to Lerner, they are rarely accredited as "a civilizing force". Allan Hill and Sara Randall observe that western authors have looked for "romance and mystery, as well as the repository of laudable characteristics believed lost in the West, such as independence, stoicism in the face of physical adversity, and a strong sense of loyalty to family and to tribe" in nomadic pastoralist societies. Hill and Randall observe that nomadic pastoralists are stereotypically seen by

7952-429: The limited capacities of seaports and railways , the absence of a unified tariff structure and single operator, and the alignment of geopolitics along the route . Since the Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014, cargo traffic in the Middle Corridor has grown to nearly 3.2 million tons in 2022 as goods shifted from the Northern Corridor. Turkey positions itself as a key player between China and Europe through

8064-567: The major trade routes of the Old World to newer routes between modern nation-states . This activity was sometimes carried out without traditional protection of trade and under international free-trade agreements, which allowed commercial goods to cross borders with relaxed restrictions. Innovative transportation of modern times includes pipeline transport and the relatively well-known trade involving rail routes , automobiles , and cargo airlines . Long-distance trade routes were developed in

8176-526: The maritime trade routes, bulk commodity trade became possible for the Romans in the 2nd century BCE. A Roman trading vessel could span the Mediterranean in a month at one-sixtieth the cost of over-land routes . The peninsula of Anatolia lay on the commercial land routes to Europe from Asia as well as the sea route from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea . Records from the 19th century BCE attest to

8288-463: The material cultures of India and China.. They constituted the majority of the Indian Ocean component of the spice trade network. Indonesians , in particular were trading in spices (mainly cinnamon and cassia ) with East Africa using catamaran and outrigger boats and sailing with the help of the Westerlies in the Indian Ocean. This trade network expanded to reach as far as Africa and

8400-593: The natives call Buköt . Bukat is an ethnonym that encapsulates all the tribes in the region. These natives are historically self-sufficient but were also known to trade various goods. This is especially true for the clans who lived on the periphery of the territory. The products of their trade were varied and fascinating, including: "...resins (damar, Agathis dammara; jelutong bukit, Dyera costulata, gutta-percha, Palaquium spp.); wild honey and beeswax (important in trade but often unreported); aromatic resin from insence wood ( gaharu, Aquilaria microcarpa); camphor (found in

8512-872: The older routes. Vadime Elisseeff (2000) comments on the Grand Trunk Road: "Along this road marched not only the mighty armies of conquerors, but also the caravans of traders, scholars, artists, and common folk. Together with people, moved ideas, languages, customs, and cultures, not just in one, but in both directions. At different meeting places – permanent as well as temporary – people of different origins and from different cultural backgrounds, professing different faiths and creeds, eating different foods, wearing different clothes, and speaking different languages and dialects would meet one another peacefully. They would understand one another's food, dress, manner, and etiquette, and even borrow words, phrases, idioms and, at times, whole languages from others." The Amber Road

8624-424: The oldest human subsistence method. Pastoralists raise herds of domesticated livestock, driving or accompanying them in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Nomadism is also a lifestyle adapted to infertile regions such as steppe , tundra , or ice and sand , where mobility is the most efficient strategy for exploiting scarce resources. For example, many groups living in

8736-428: The peoples of Malaysia , Brunei , Singapore , Thailand , Indonesia , and Cambodia also participated in the massive animist-led trading network. Participants in the network at the time had a majority animist population. The maritime road is one of the most extensive sea-based trade networks of a single geological material in the prehistoric world. It was in existence for at least 3,000 years, where its peak production

8848-519: The period from 8,500 to 6,500 BCE in the area of the southern Levant . There, during a period of increasing aridity, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) cultures in the Sinai were replaced by a nomadic, pastoral pottery-using culture, which seems to have been a cultural fusion between them and a newly-arrived Mesolithic people from Egypt (the Harifian culture), adopting their nomadic hunting lifestyle to

8960-416: The political and logistical approach prevalent during the Middle Ages. Newer means of transport led to the establishment of new routes, and countries opened up borders to allow trade in mutually agreed goods as per the prevailing free trade agreement. Some old trading route were reopened during the modern times, although in different political and logistical scenarios. The entry of harmful foreign pollutants by

9072-399: The population of nomadic pastoral tribes slowly decreased from over a quarter of Iran 's population. Tribal pastures were nationalized during the 1960s. The National Commission of UNESCO registered the population of Iran at 21 million in 1963, of whom two million (9.5%) were nomads. Although the nomadic population of Iran has dramatically decreased in the 20th century, Iran still has one of

9184-545: The port city of Aden paid tribute in form of musk , camphor , ambergris and sandalwood to Ibn Ziyad , the sultan of Yemen. Moluccan products shipped across the ports of Arabia to the Near East passed through the ports of India and Sri Lanka . Indian exports of spices find mention in the works of Ibn Khurdadhbeh (850 CE), al-Ghafiqi (1150), Ishak bin Imaran (907) and Al Kalkashandi (14th century). After reaching either

9296-450: The purpose of seeking a new home in a new country, not for the purpose of subjecting it to their dominion as in the first case, but with the intention of taking absolute possession of it themselves and driving out or killing its original inhabitants. Primary historical sources for nomadic steppe-style warfare are found in many languages: Chinese, Persian, Polish, Russian, Classical Greek, Armenian, Latin and Arabic. These sources concern both

9408-524: The raising of stock. This lifestyle quickly developed into what Jaris Yurins has called the circum- Arabian nomadic pastoral techno-complex and is possibly associated with the appearance of Semitic languages in the region of the Ancient Near East . The rapid spread of such nomadic pastoralism was typical of such later developments as of the Yamnaya culture of the horse and cattle nomads of

9520-478: The region find mention in the works of scholar Abū 'Ubayd 'Abd Allāh al-Bakrī ; the mainstay of the trans Saharan trade was gold and salt. The powerful Saharan tribes, Berber in origin and later adapting to Muslim and Arab cultures, controlled the channels to western Africa by making efficient use of horse-drawn vehicles and pack animals. The Songhai engaged in a struggle against the Sa'di dynasty of Morocco over

9632-693: The results of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the subsequent political independence and economic collapse of its Central Asian republics has been the resurgence of pastoral nomadism. Taking the Kyrgyz people as a representative example, nomadism was the centre of their economy before Russian colonization at the turn of the 20th century, when they were settled into agricultural villages. The population became increasingly urbanized after World War II, but some people still take their herds of horses and cows to high pastures ( jailoo ) every summer, continuing

9744-665: The resumption of direct trade with the East and the elimination of the taxes extracted previously by the middlemen of the south. According to Milo Kearney (2003) "The South Arabs in protest took to pirate attacks over the Roman ships in the Gulf of Aden . In response, the Romans destroyed Aden and favored the Western Abyssinian coast of the Red Sea." Indian ships sailed to Egypt as the maritime routes of Southern Asia were not under

9856-827: The route to establish a direct prosperous trade with Byzantium, and prompted some of them to settle in the territories of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The route began in Scandinavian trading centres such as Birka, Hedeby, and Gotland, crossed the Baltic Sea entered the Gulf of Finland, followed the Neva River into the Lake Ladoga. Then it followed the Volkhov River, upstream past the towns of Staraya Ladoga and Velikiy Novgorod, crossed Lake Ilmen, and up

9968-660: The sea", was an ancient highway used by the Romans and the Crusaders . The states controlling the Via Maris were in a position to grant access for trade to their own citizens and collect tolls from the outsiders to maintain the trade route. The name Via Maris is a Latin translation of a Hebrew phrase related to Isaiah . Due to the biblical significance of this ancient route, many attempts to find its present-day location have been made by Christian pilgrims. 13th-century traveler and pilgrim Burchard of Mount Zion refers to

10080-454: The settled populace in Africa and Middle East as "aimless wanderers, immoral, promiscuous and disease-ridden" peoples. According to Hill and Randall, both of these perceptions "misrepresent the reality". Peripatetic minorities are mobile populations moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade . Each existing community is primarily endogamous, and subsists traditionally on

10192-425: The spread of Southeast Asian spices and Chinese goods to the west, as well as the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism to the east. This route would later become known as the Maritime Silk Road , although that is a misnomer, since spices, rather than silk, were traded along this route. Many Austronesian technologies like the outrigger and catamaran , as well as Austronesian ship terminologies, still persist in many of

10304-506: The total Kazakh population at that time. In the 1950s as well as the 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of the Middle East, especially as home ranges have shrunk and population levels have grown. Government policies in Egypt and Israel , oil production in Libya and the Persian Gulf , as well as

10416-531: The trading of aromatics to Babylon in the 1st century BCE. The Nabateans exercised control over the routes along the Incense Route, and their hold was challenged – without success – by Antigonus Cyclops , emperor of Syria. The Nabatean control over trade further increased and spread in many directions. The replacement of Greece by the Roman empire as the administrator of the Mediterranean basin led to

10528-530: The travelers regardless of their status. The British occupation of this road was of special significance for the British Raj in India. Bridges, pathways and newer inns were constructed by the British for the first thirty-seven years of their reign since the occupation of Punjab in 1849. The British followed roughly the same alignment as the old routes, and at some places the newer routes ran parallel to

10640-433: The true steppe nomads ( Mongols , Huns , Magyars and Scythians ) and also the semi-settled people like Turks , Crimean Tatars and Russians , who retained or, in some cases, adopted the nomadic form of warfare. Hunter-gatherers (also known as foragers) move from campsite to campsite, following game and wild fruits and vegetables . Hunting and gathering describes early peoples' subsistence living style. Following

10752-405: The tundra are reindeer herders and are semi-nomadic, following forage for their animals. Sometimes also described as "nomadic" are various itinerant populations who move among densely populated areas to offer specialized services ( crafts or trades ) to their residents—external consultants , for example. These groups are known as " peripatetic nomads ". The English word nomad comes from

10864-463: The wars of Alexander the Great, and those of the Romans, and those which two hostile powers carry on against each other. These wars are dangerous but never go so far as to drive all its inhabitants out of a province, because the conqueror is satisfied with the submission of the people... The other kind of war is when an entire people, constrained by famine or war, leave their country with their families for

10976-432: The way of trade routes has been a cause of alarm during the modern times. A conservative estimate stresses that future damages from harmful animal and plant diseases may be as high as 134 billion US dollars in the absence of effective measures to prevent the introduction of unwanted pests through various trade routes. Nomads Nomadic hunting and gathering—following seasonally available wild plants and game—is by far

11088-457: The west coast of Mexico to southernmost Peru, trading mostly in Spondylus , which represented rain and fertility and was considered the principal food of the gods by the people of the Inca empire . Spondylus was used in elite rituals, and the effective redistribution of it had political effect in the Andes during the pre-Hispanic times. The Silk Road was one of the first trade routes to join

11200-469: The wild asses that are abundant in the environs, classifying the latter as horse due to their cloven hooves. Some families do not eat until after the morning milking, while others may have a light meal with butter tea and tsampa . In the afternoon, after the morning milking, the families gather and share a communal meal of tea, tsampa and sometimes yogurt . During winter months the meal is more substantial and includes meat. Herders will eat before leaving

11312-702: The women peddled these as well as other items of household and personal use; they also worked as moneylenders to rural women. Peddling and the sale of various goods was also practiced by men and women of various groups, such as the Jalali, the Pikraj, the Shadibaz, the Noristani, and the Vangawala. The latter and the Pikraj also worked as animal dealers. Some men among the Shadibaz and the Vangawala entertained as monkey or bear handlers and snake charmers; men and women among

11424-587: The works of Rashid-al-Din Hamadani . The Grand Trunk Road – connecting Chittagong in Bangladesh to Peshawar in Pakistan – has existed for over two and a half millennia . One of the important trade routes of the world, this road has been a strategic artery with fortresses , halting posts, wells , post offices , milestones and other facilities. Part of this road through Pakistan also coincided with

11536-419: The year 1000, together with the lack of safety on the mainland trading routes, eased the development of major commercial routes along the coast of the Mediterranean . The growing independence of some coastal cities gave them a leading role in this commerce: Maritime Republics , Italian " Repubbliche Marinare " ( Venice , Genoa , Amalfi , Pisa , Gaeta , Ancona and Ragusa ), developed their own "empires" in

11648-399: Was a European trade route associated with the trade and transport of amber . Amber satisfied the criteria for long-distance trade as it was light in weight and was in high demand for ornamental purposes around the Mediterranean. Before the establishment of Roman control over areas such as Pannonia , the Amber Road was virtually the only route available for long-distance trade. Towns along

11760-621: Was a series of interacting civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley ; then also Syria , central Anatolia ( Hittites ) and the Aegean ( Minoans and Mycenaeans ). Beyond this was a margin which included not only temperate areas such as Europe, but the dry steppe corridor of central Asia . This was truly a world system, even though it occupied only a restricted portion of the western Old World. Whilst each civilization emphasized its ideological autonomy, all were identifiably part of

11872-558: Was from 2000 BCE to 500 CE, older than the Silk Road in mainland Eurasia or the later Maritime Silk Road . A notable artifact that the trading network made, the Lingling-o artifacts, were made by artisans around 500 BCE. The network began to wane during its final centuries from 500 CE until 1000 CE. The entire period of the network was a golden age for the diverse animist societies of the region. The Maritime Silk Road refers to

11984-573: Was influential in the early spread of Hinduism and Buddhism to the east. China later built its own fleets starting from the Song dynasty in the 10th century, participating directly in the trade route up until the end of the Colonial Era and the collapse of the Qing dynasty . The modern times saw development of newer means of transport and often controversial free trade agreements, which altered

12096-467: Was not profitable for caravan operators. With productive developments in iron and bronze technologies, newer trade routes – dispensing innovations of civilizations – began to rise. Navigation was known in Sumer between the 4th and the 3rd millennium BCE. The Egyptians had trade routes through the Red Sea , importing spices from the " Land of Punt " ( East Africa ) and from Arabia. In Asia,

12208-804: Was now open for the Europeans to explore; the Portuguese Empire was one of the early European empires to grow from spice trade. The Maritime Jade Road was an extensive trading network connecting multiple areas in Southeast and East Asia. Its primary products were made of jade mined from Taiwan by animist Taiwanese indigenous peoples and processed mostly in the Philippines by animist indigenous Filipinos, especially in Batanes , Luzon , and Palawan . Some were also processed in Vietnam , while

12320-412: Was prominent for the next hundred and fifty years. Philippe Dollinger associates the downfall of the Hansa to a new alliance between Lübeck , Hamburg and Bremen , which outshadowed the older institution. He further sets the date of dissolution of the Hansa at 1630 and concludes that the Hansa was almost entirely forgotten by the end of the 18th century. Scholar Georg Friedrich Sartorius published

12432-703: Was the Amber Road , which served as a dependable network for long-distance trade. Maritime trade along the Spice Route became prominent during the Middle Ages , when nations resorted to military means for control of this influential route. During the Middle Ages, organizations such as the Hanseatic League , aimed at protecting interests of the merchants and trade became increasingly prominent. In modern times , commercial activity shifted from

12544-767: Was the ancient Lapita trade network of Island Melanesia ; the Hiri trade cycle , Sepik Coast exchange , and the Kula ring of Papua New Guinea ; the ancient trading voyages in Micronesia between the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands (and possibly also New Guinea and the Philippines ); and the vast inter-island trade networks of Polynesia . The Ptolemaic dynasty (305 to 30 BC) had initiated Greco-Roman maritime trade contact with India using

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