# Are There Any Nomads Left? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269 "2009-03-12T23:30:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/1 "2009-03-12T23:30:05Z")
As people come to accept the conveniences of modern life, I would expect that the number of nomadic people is shrinking. How many people in the world still live this way? Of course, a nomad’s life has some advantages-you are always seeing new things, and you never get burdened with a lot of posesssions. I think I would like to be one-how do you become a nomad? ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/2 "2009-03-13T00:05:58Z")
There are lots of nomads in Mongolia, and even a lot of city people retain ties to their nomadic relatives and go out to the country with some frequency. It is still very common for families to own the traditional “ger” tent that the nomads use. The steppes of Central Asia are probably the best for this kind of thing, places like Kazakhstan and Siberia. If you wanted to try out the lifestyle, I would recommend Mongolia; the people there are nice and practice an interesting blend of Shamanic polytheistic traditions and Tibetan Buddhism. If you can’t stand to drink slightly fermented mare’s milk, though, you probably should reconsider going. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/3 "2009-03-13T00:49:09Z")
There’s still Ryu from Street Fighter… 😉 just kiddin. I actually know a few guys that are basically nomadic in America. They wander around state to state performing odd jobs and such, working construction, that sort of thing. Every couple years they make their way back to our home state (california) and I usually catch up with them. It’s still possible, just not nearly as common as it used to be ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/4 "2009-03-13T00:53:17Z")
I’m still here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/5 "2009-03-13T01:46:23Z")
[Yes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumance) Look up ‘transhumance’ or ‘nomadic pastoralism’. These ways of life are dying out as the more settled people try to convince the pastoralists to stop their wandering ways for various reasons – land ownership, politics, state/federal resources, what have you. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/6 "2009-03-13T02:06:46Z")
Nomads are alive and well in West Africa. From the Mbororo to the Tuaregs, there are many still-strong nomadic cultures. In Cameroon I was in the middle of a large Mbororo (Or Bush Fulbe) population. They were cow-herding people that moved seasonally to greener pastures. During the day, the women would sell milk in nearby towns. Indeed, the generic West African image of a milkmaid is a Fulbe woman with a calabash of milk on her head. Their culture was quite lively, with a semi-Islamic religion, beautiful crafts, a strict warrior code, interesting gender roles, amazing body art, etc. But they also have their difficulties. Governments pressure nomads to settle, because it’s hard to tax a nomad and they are known to start rebellions now and then. And because nomads can often be quite rich (where I was it was not unusual for a Mbororo family to have $10,000 or more worth of cattles, in a place where $1.00 a day was a decent salary) and have little protection they are the target of a lot of crime. The Mbororo of Cameroon have been dealing with an ongoing rash of kidnappings and grisley murders. So it’s getting harder and harder to be nomadic, but these days are by no means over yet. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/7 "2009-03-13T02:29:37Z")
Are you asking about just hunter/gatherer and animal-herding nomads, or are groups like the Roma and Travelers included? Because you can find them even in cities in industrialized countries. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/8 "2009-03-13T04:18:38Z")
I’ve read that there are about 250,000 people in the world who can be considered hunter-gatherers: > **[Hunter-gatherer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer)** > > A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, honey, bird eggs, or anything safe to eat, and/or by hunting game (pursuing and/or trapping and killing wild animals, including catching fish). This is a common practice among most omnivores. Hunter-gatherer societies stand in con Hunti... ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/9 "2009-03-13T05:38:05Z")
Are the Saami/Laplanders nomadic? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/10 "2009-03-13T14:39:41Z")
ralph124c, are you going to bother returning to this thread to clarify what you mean by the term “nomadic people”, or do you consider it beneath you to explain your questions? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/11 "2009-03-13T15:53:45Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > ralph124c, are you going to bother returning to this thread to clarify what you mean by the term “nomadic people”, or do you consider it beneath you to explain your questions? I don’t think this one requires a great deal of explanation. 😕 There are still heaps of Bedouins roaming the inland regions of the Arabian peninsula, although many have been forced to remain in a vaguely defined “home range” in order to comply with government pressure. Obviously, from the standpoint of schooling and medical care it’s not ideal to have people roaming all over the place all the time. Moreover, the boundaries of many Arab states are somewhat fluid, since historically a ruler’s jurisdiction was based on where his people were rather than a fixed border. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/12 "2009-03-13T16:13:11Z")
I thought that a true nomad, is a person who travels incessantly -not someone (like a herder of animals), whoc covers the same route every year. The bedouin would fit the latter definition. Or perhaps the Plain Indians of the American West-they had no fixed routine (except for returning to winter quarters). ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/13 "2009-03-13T16:32:48Z")
a significant number of Tibetans are nomads. a day or so north or west of chengdu (a city of 12 million near the epicenter of last year’s earthquake) will put you in nomad lands. i spent a few weeks backpacking and horse riding with the golok nomads in Aba. ---
**Author:** ![Lurking\_Quahog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lurking_quahog/32/21274_2.png) [@Lurking\_Quahog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lurking_Quahog)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/14 "2009-03-13T16:38:04Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I think I would like to be one-how do you become a nomad? First, start listening to a lot of Grateful Dead. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/15 "2009-03-13T16:58:51Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I thought that a true nomad, is a person who travels incessantly -not someone (like a herder of animals), whoc covers the same route every year. The bedouin would fit the latter definition. Or perhaps the Plain Indians of the American West-they had no fixed routine (except for returning to winter quarters). [QUOTE=Wikipedia] There are three kinds of nomads: hunter-gatherers moving between hunting grounds, pastoral nomads moving between pastures, and “peripatetic nomads” moving between customers. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Online Etymology Dictionary] **nomad** 1555, from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). nomade, from L. Nomas (gen. Nomadis) “wandering groups in Arabia,” from Gk. nomas (gen. nomados, pl. nomades) “roaming, roving, wandering” (to find pastures for flocks or herds), related to nomos “pasture,” lit. “land allotted,” and to nemein “put to pasture,” originally “deal out,” from PIE base \*nem- “to divide, distribute, allot” (see nemesis). [/QUOTE] Thus, the “true” nomads would technically be the ones who _do_ cover a fixed route (between grazing areas). This would include the Bedouin, who follow a fixed route out of necessity (ie., in the desert, there’s nowhere else to go, since every wadi and oasis is pretty much already claimed by somebody else). ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/16 "2009-03-13T17:47:08Z")
There is a lot of middle ground between “guy who has a cottage up on the hill where he lets the cows graze in summer” and “guy who wakes up every morning and sets off in some random direction with no rhyme or reason.” The Mbororo that I knew had a deep understanding of their region and it’s political boundaries, markets, grazing grounds, roads, inhabitants and crime conditions. When deciding where to go they’d consider security, market forces, weather, cultural events and gatherings, and all kinds of other stuff. So while they thought this stuff out, it’s not like they had a fixed route. During the two years that I lived in Cameroon, there was a major movement of Mbororo people away from the insecure and bandit-ridden border with CAR and Chad and into the fertile lands to the south. I imagine they had many such movements in their history, since the language closest to theirs is Wolof in Senegal- almost halfway across Africa from their currently expanding boundaries. ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/17 "2009-03-13T18:48:13Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Are the Saami/Laplanders nomadic? Kind of. However, they have adopted snow mobiles, trucks, and helicopters for transportation instead of using good old skis. Here in Sweden they move with their reindeer herds towards the sea (where the climate is milder) when winter comes, and then back to the mountains for the summer. Right now they aren’t far from where I live. We encountered a reindeer herd on the road recently. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/18 "2009-03-14T06:50:16Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Are the Saami/Laplanders nomadic? I’d rather turn that around and say that there are still nomadic Sami. Plenty of people who speak one of the Sami languages at home and identify as Sami live in towns and cities, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/19 "2009-03-14T22:41:23Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > As people come to accept the conveniences of modern life, I would expect that the number of nomadic people is shrinking. This seems like a peculiarly First World viewpoint. I’ve read that anthropolgists have found that nomadism is one of the “happiest” forms of human existence. It’s been very difficult to persuade nomads to settle down, which would seem to support that claim. Historically, a lot of nomads have been settled (or displaced) at gunpoint by more numerous, heavily armed farming states…not because they like diushwasjers and flush toilets. As another way of responding to this question, “modern life” is “convenient” only to a subset of the planet’s human inhabitants; in large areas of the world it’s labor-intensive, crowded, cruel, and/or otherwise fraught with peril and limited resources. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269/20 "2009-03-14T22:59:49Z")
Do Canadian “snowbirds” count? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-nomads-left/489269.md?page=2)