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9 - Pastoral nomads

from Part I - Global histories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

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.

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  • Pastoral nomads
  • Edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge World History
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059251.011
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  • Pastoral nomads
  • Edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge World History
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059251.011
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Pastoral nomads
  • Edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge World History
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059251.011
Available formats
×