This is a list of nomadic people arranged by economic specialization and region.
Nomadic people are communities who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but nomadic behavior is increasingly rare in industrialized countries.
Hunter-gatherers
Nomadic hunting and gathering, following seasonally available wild plants and game, is the oldest human method of subsistence.
Africa
Hadza people Pygmies Twa people Mbuti San people
Americas
Abenaki Aché Alaskan Athabaskans Aleut Alutiiq Apache Beothuk Blackfoot Cheyenne Chichimeca Chiquillanes Chitimacha Chumash Chono Clovis culture Cody complex Comanches Crow Dalton tradition Dene Dorset culture Eyak Folsom culture Greenlandic Inuit Guarani Haida Hell Gap complex Indigenous peoples of California Ingalik Innu Inuit Iñupiat Karankawa Kawésqar Kiowa Koyukon Lakota Makah Maritime Archaic Menominee Métis Nation of Canada Navajo (until the sixteenth century with the introduction of sheep, and the adoption of agriculture from the Puebloans) Nez Perce Norton tradition Nukak-Makú Ojibwe Oshara tradition Oxbow complex Paiute Paleo-Arctic tradition Pirahã Plains Indians Plano culture Puelche Red Ocher people Red Paint People Sioux (from around the 17th century onwards, they were previously a farming people who lived in the Ohio River Valley) Tehuelche Thule people Tlingit Utes Yaghan Yahi Yanomami Yupik
Asia
Adivasi Aeta Ainu Altai Andamanese Great Andamanese Jarawa Lodha Onge Sabar Sentinelese Shompen Ati Mongolian Batek Chukchi Denisova hominine Dolgans Kazakhs (before USSR) Kyrgyz (before USSR) Ket Meenas Nganasan Nicobarese Orang Darat Orang Laut Penan Polahi Raute Sakai Selkup Semang Siberian Yupik Yakuts Homo erectus (Paleolithic era)
Oceania Most Indigenous Australians prior to Western contact
Spinifex People Aboriginal Tasmanians Tiwi
Most Papuans prior to Western contact
Europe
Cro-Magnon Aurignacian Gravettian Magdalenian Hamburg Solutrean Neanderthals (during the Paleolithic) Sami (formerly, up until the fifteenth century)
Pastoralists
Pastoralists raise herds, driving them or moving with them, in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. The pastoralists are sedentary, remaining within a local area, but moving between permanent spring, summer, autumn and winter (or dry and wet season) pastures for their livestock.
Africa
Ababdeh Afar Bedouin Beja Berbers Borana Oromo Dinka Fulanis Gabra Karamojong Maasai (originally, now settled or semi-nomadic) Mrazig of Tunisia Nuer Pokot Rendille Sahrawis Samburu Somali Tigre Tuareg Toubou Trekboer Turkana
Asia
Some Komi Ahir/Yadav Altai people Baloch Balti Banjara Chukchi Dhangar Dukha Enets Evenks Evens Gaddis Gaderia Gavli Gujjar only in Gilgit Baltistan, Kashmir, and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gurjar Hmong Huns Jat Khanty people Kochis Koryaks Kurumbar Maldhari pastoralist groups of Kutch Mansi people Moken Mongols Nenets Tarkhans Tibetans (primarily the Changpa at present) Turkic (ancient, medieval age) Turkic (present) Xiongnu Yukaghirs Ahir Bafan Bayad Bharwad Bulgars (briefly, between the conquest of the hypothetical Kingdom of Balhara and the formation of Great Bulgaria) Charan Crimean Tatars (certain groups) Cumans (up until the formation of the country Wallachia/Basarabia) Halaypotra Hingora Karakalpaks Kathi Kazakhs Ker Khakas Khant Khazars Kipchaks Kyrgyz Me Meta Qureshi Mughals (before they invaded and settled the Indian subcontinent in the 16th century) Mutwa Node Nogais Pancholi Avars Paratharia Pechenegs Qashqai Rabari Raysipotra Royma Samma Sandhai Muslims Sanghar Seljuks (during the Middle Ages) Shahsevan Soomra Sorathia Theba Turkmens Tuvans Wagher Warya Yörük some northern Yakuts Shors Soyots Telengits Teleuts Tofalar Tozhu Tuvans Tsaatan Wakhi In Afghanistan Kuchis (Kochai) Hephthalites Hunas
Europe
Hellenic Sarakatsani Illyrian Albanians (some tribes, namely katuns) Mongolic Kalmyks Romance Vaqueiros de alzada Vlachs Turkic Nogai people Stavropol Turkmens Bashkirs Kazakhs Uralic Magyars (Prior to arrival in Carpathia and until Christianization in the 11th century)
Peripatetic Peripatetic nomads offer the skills of a craft or trade to the settled populations among whom they travel. They are the most common remaining nomadic peoples in industrialized nations. Most, or all, of the following ethnonyms probably do not correspond to one community; many are locally or regionally used (sometimes as occupational names), others are used only by group members, and still others are used pejoratively only by outsiders. Most peripatetic nomads have traditions that they originate from South Asia. In India there are said to be home of over two hundred such groups. Many peripatetic groups in Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey still speak dialects of Indo-Aryan, such as the Ghorbati.Nomads in India : proceedings of the National Seminar / edited by P.K. Misra, K.C. MalhotraRao, Aparna (1986). "Peripatetic Minorities in Afghanistan—Image and Identity." In Die ethnischen Gruppen Afghanistan, edited by E. Orywal. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert
South Asia
In Afghanistan:Rao, Aparna (1986). "Peripatetic Minorities in Afghanistan—Image and Identity." In Die ethnischen Gruppen Afghanistan, edited by E. Orywal. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert Kuchi (Kochai) Badyanesin Balatumani Chalu Changar Chighalbf Ghalbelbaf Ghorbat (Qurbat) Herati Jalili Jat Juggi Jola Kouli Kuṭaṭa Lawani Luli Mogat Maskurahi Musalli Nausar Pikraj Qawal Sabzaki Sadu Shadibaz (Shadiwan) Sheikh Mohammadi tribe Noristani Siyahpayak Vangawala (Bangṛiwal/Churifrosh)
In Bangladesh: Bede Buno Doma Sapuria
In India:"Peripatetic peoples and Lifestyles" by Aparna Rao in Disappearing peoples? : indigenous groups and ethnic minorities in South and Central Asia / edited by Barbara A. Brower, Barbara Rose Johnston pages 53 to 72 Abdal Aheria Bakho Bansphor Bazigar Bede Boria Changar Deha Dharhi Dharkar Doma Gandhila Habura Heri Hurkiya Kalabaz Kan Kanjar Karwal Kela Mirasi Mirshikar Nat Pamaria Patharkat Perna Qalandar Sansi Sapera Muslims Sapera Sapuria
In Pakistan:Customary strangers : new perspectives on peripatetic peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia / edited by Joseph C. Berland and Aparna Rao. Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2004. Churigar Doma Kanjar Lori Mirasi Qalandar
In Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan Telugus
Middle East
In Iran: Orak Asheq Challi Changi Chareshmal (Krishmal) Dumi Feuj Ghajar Ghorbati (Ghorbat, Gurbat, Qurbati) Gurani Haddad (Ahangar, Hasanpur) Howihar Juki Karachi Kenchli Kowli (Kuli) Luri Luti Mehtar Ojuli Qarbalband Sazandeh Suzmani Tat Toshmal In Iraq: Dom Kowli (Kuli) Zott In Syria: Dom Nawar
In Turkey:"Marginal Groups and Itinerants" by Ingvar Savanberg pages 602 to 612 in Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey / compiled and edited by Peter Alford Andrews, with the assistance of Rüdiger Benninghaus (Wiesbaden : Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1989) Abdal of Turkey Arabci Bosha Çingene Gäwändi Ghorbati Qeraçi Susmani Tahtacı
Europe
Romani people Sinti Manush Romanichal Romanisæl Iberian Kale (Gitanos) Finnish Kale Welsh Kale Scottish Travellers New Age travellers Irish Travellers or Pavees Indigenous Dutch Travellers or Woonwagenbewoners Indigenous Flemish Travellers or Voyageurs Indigenous Norwegian Travellers or Reisende/Skøyere/Fantefolk Showmen (Funfair Travellers) Yenish (German Travellers) Mercheros Camminanti
North America
Irish Travellers Romani peopleSutherland, Ann. Gypsies: The Hidden Americans. Waveland Press, 1986. Carnies Gutter punks
Popular misconceptions Manchus, Jurchens and related groups The Manchus are mistaken by some as nomadic peoplePamela Crossley, The Manchus, p. 3 when in fact they were not nomads,Patricia Buckley Ebrey et al., East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, 3rd edition, p. 271Frederic Wakeman, Jr., The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in the Seventeenth Century, p. 24, note 1 but instead were a sedentary agricultural people who lived in fixed villages, farmed crops, practiced hunting and mounted archery.
The Sushen used flint headed wooden arrows, farmed, hunted, and fished, and lived in caves and trees.Huang 1990 p. 246. The cognates Sushen or Jichen (稷真) again appear in the Shan Hai Jing and Book of Wei during the dynastic era referring to Tungusic Mohe tribes of the far northeast. The Mohe enjoyed eating pork, practiced pig farming extensively, and were mainly sedentary,Gorelova 2002, pp. 13-4. and also used both pig and dog skins for coats. They were predominantly farmers and grew soybean, wheat, millet, and rice, in addition to engaging in hunting.Gorelova 2002, p. 14.
The Jurchens were sedentary,Vajda . settled farmers with advanced agriculture. They farmed grain and millet as their cereal crops, grew flax, and raised oxen, pigs, sheep, and horses.Sinor 1996, p. 416. Their farming way of life was very different from the pastoral nomadism of the Mongols and the Khitan on the steppes.Twitchett, Franke, Fairbank 1994, p. 217.de Rachewiltz 1993, p. 112. "At the most", the Jurchen could only be described as "semi-nomadic" while the majority of them were sedentary.
The Manchu way of life (economy) was described as agricultural, farming crops and raising animals on farms.Wurm 1996, p. 828. Manchus practiced Slash-and-burn agriculture in the areas north of Shenyang.Reardon-Anderson 2000, p. 504. The Haixi Jurchens were "semi-agricultural, the Jianzhou Jurchens and Maolian (毛怜) Jurchens were sedentary, while hunting and fishing was the way of life of the "Wild Jurchens".Mote, Twitchett & Fairbank 1988, p. 266. Han Chinese society resembled that of the sedentary Jianzhou and Maolian, who were farmers.Twitchett & Mote 1998, p. 258. Hunting, archery on horseback, horsemanship, livestock raising, and sedentary agriculture were all practiced by the Jianzhou Jurchens as part of their culture.Rawski 1996, p. 834. In spite of the fact that the Manchus practiced archery on horse back and equestrianism, the Manchu's immediate progenitors practiced sedentary agriculture.Rawski 1998, p. 43. Although the Manchus also partook in hunting, they were sedentary.Thomas T. Allsen 2011, p. 215. Their primary mode of production was farming while they lived in villages, forts, and towns surrounded by walls. Farming was practiced by their Jurchen Jin predecessors.
For political reasons, the Jurchen leader Nurhaci chose variously to emphasize either differences or similarities in lifestyles with other peoples like the Mongols.Perdue 2009, p. 127. Nurhaci said to the Mongols that "The languages of the Chinese and Koreans are different, but their clothing and way of life is the same. It is the same with us Manchus (Jušen) and Mongols. Our languages are different, but our clothing and way of life is the same." Later Nurhaci indicated that the bond with the Mongols was not based in any real shared culture. It was for pragmatic reasons of "mutual opportunism", since Nurhaci said to the Mongols: "You Mongols raise livestock, eat meat and wear pelts. My people till the fields and live on grain. We two are not one country and we have different languages."Peterson 2002, p. 31.
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