Nomadic Civilization: Historical Research (Apr 2022)
Nomadism and sedentarization of Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the second half of XVIII – first half of XIX centuries
Abstract
This study examines the history of the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe. The chronological framework is the second half of the 18th–the first half of the 19th century, which is less studied in modern Nomad studies, including in relation to the Kalmyks, Kazakhs and Nogais. In the history of the Russian state and the nomadic peoples inhabiting it, nomadism and the transition to a settled way of life have always played a significant role. In the XVIII century, the Russian government began to actively involve nomads in agricultural work. The traditional pastoral economy of the nomads was highly productive and was oriented, first of all, to their personal needs and the maintenance of their clan and family. Livestock has always played a huge role in the life of a nomad and was a measure of wealth and poverty, fixed capital and the most important food product, a method of transportation (horse-drawn transport), a means of exchange and the basis for making a home and clothing. The authors pay attention to the problem of land ownership and land use, which nomadic societies faced during this period, which resulted in practice in limiting and reducing nomadic lands, and this, of course, affected, in particular, the economic situation of the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe. The nomadic population of the Russian Empire still continued to lead a nomadic way of life and was mainly engaged in nomadic pastoralism. The process of nomadism, the selection and distribution of pasture lands, as well as other basic elements of the labor process were determined only by economic expediency. As a result, the nomadic mode of production within the Russian state retained in full measure all of its basic parameters of functioning and did not undergo any significant changes in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
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