Nomadic Peoples Project

Scythian Nomad with Wife, 6th century B.C. Gold, length 16.2 cm, Siberian collection, Peter I. Hermitage.

The programs of the Nomadic Peoples Project are designed to bring attention to and build awareness about the history and culture of nomadic peoples and their way of life in the world today. Nomads the world over are living a precarious existence predicated on a delicate balance between their struggles with sedentary peoples over land, water resources, access to pasture, migration routes and longstanding cultural conflicts.

Nomadic societies have figured large in the history of the world from earliest times when the Huns and the Scythians rode out to conquer and rule large dominions, and the Mongols built the largest empire ever known. The interactions of nomadic peoples with sedentary populations has from time immemorial been infused with intensely charged dynamics that frequently led to conflict between these societies. Contemporary nomadic communities have inherited many of the challenges of their ancestors with the added complexities of large-scale industrialization, increased sedentary populations usurping pasture-lands, loss of traditional migration routes, and global warming leading to drought and desertification.

Despite the threats faced by many nomadic peoples in the world today, nomadic civilization has survived countless threats and is still the way of life for millions of people living out this most ancient of lifestyles. The Nomadic Peoples Project is dedicated to bringing attention to the living culture and circumstances of nomadic communities in todays globally industrialized environment.