Why are there no nomads in Europe?
Agricultural states which, in the Medieval or Early Modern eras, fended off or emerged from nomadic invasions, had to develop large land holdings, centralized bureaucracies, efficient large-scale taxation, and huge armies– eg, the Russians, the Ottomans, the Mamelukes, and (this part I’m not as sure about) the Qings and Mogus. Even when they’re not fending off invasions, states generally hate nomads within their borders, and try to settle them so they can be taxed. In return, the nomads raid commerce and push peasants off the land, inhibiting industrialization and forcing the militarization of overland commerce.And nomads are ubiquitous. In the early modern period, Anatolia has Kurds and Turkomen, the Ukraine has Cossacks and Tatars, North Africa has various Arab and Berber groups, Arabia has Bedouin, Iran has Qashqai, Central Asia seems to have nothing BUT nomads, and presumably China and maybe India have their own groups.
But there’s one big exception: Europe, which didn’t have nomads, aside from arguably the Gypsies/Romani, who anyway don’t seem to have played much of a role in Western Europe. This seems pretty important for the development of European feudalism (apologies to Dr. Moye), states, empires, commerce, and industrialization. So why didn’t Europe have nomads? Is it geographic?
on March 28th, 2008 at 6:52 am
What did the Eurasian nomads live off of? It seems like the driving reason for nomadic existence is to keep up with a food source (i.e., the plains Indians and the buffalo). Maybe the food source that inspired the nomadic life in the East wasn’t available in Europe.
Another possible reason is that Europe is so fertile that the benefits of settling down are great enough to warrant giving up a nomadic lifestyle. I get the impression that the Eurasian steppe isn’t the best place to grow crops, so there’s probably more incentive to be nomadic there.
on October 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
There are nomads in Europe. To the north are the Sami people - reindeer herders and to the south there are Roma (Gypsies)
That there are not more is down to the cultural place of land in the social system. Europeans believe that land can be owned and that all land should be owned, Where there are nomads, land is considered a common resource, like air.