Nomads time ca. 500-C. 1500
The larger interconnected areas of Asia, particularly
suitable for agriculture, are found along the coasts of the
west, east and south. In the centuries surrounding the birth
of Christ, all the most suitable areas were home to densely
populated agricultural crops. To this was added parts of
Central Asia, where, despite uncertain rainfall, there could
be a basis for fairly dense agricultural communities around
natural oases, rivers or irrigated areas.
Communication between the densely populated agricultural
areas was made difficult until the 1900s. of natural
barriers, mountains, deserts and seas, and therefore the
world's population has lived throughout most of its history
in ignorance of the continent's extent and population. Every
single cultural area, every "human ant nest" lived its own
life. Nevertheless, cultural links between the most remote
parts of the continent, albeit indirect and slow, have
continued. There are clear examples of spontaneous
development of vastly different solutions to the same
problem in different cultures, but equally clear examples
exist that material or intangible cultural features have
migrated over long distances and have been adapted or
recorded in distant areas.
Throughout history, two possibilities have been open to
contact between Asia's cultures: the Central Asian steppe
land and the sea. The period from approx. 500 to approx.
1500 was, for any other period, the time of the steppes and
nomads in the history of the continent, when man -
especially after the introduction of the stirrup in the
second half of 1000-t. - learned to take advantage of all
the horse's opportunities both in war and in peace.
The Central Asian steppe country
According to
Abbreviationfinder, the Central Asian steppe country is, for climatic
reasons, only to a limited extent suitable for agricultural
cultivation and thus for closer settlement; on the other
hand, it is suitable for cattle breeding and has from a very
early date been home to nomads. To the north and northwest,
the steppe country is bounded by a forest belt, to the south
by mountains or desert, and only in the east and southwest
does the steppe land pass without natural barriers into the
densely populated agricultural areas of China, Iran and
southern Europe.
Between the cattle-farming nomads and the peasants, there
was largely a symbiotic relationship; the nomads made use of
land not suitable for arable land and gladly traded their
products for the farmer's. The nomads understood the cargo
and riding animals that allowed communication between
distant areas. In addition to the symbiotic, however, there
also existed a contradiction that reflected the vastly
different conditions of life. Especially in areas with
irrigation, the field farmer was bound to a specific
location and depended on peace and security. The nomad
depended on freedom and movement, and on still walking he
had to follow his pasture with his animals, and had to be
prepared to fight for the best pastures.
Exactly when the nomads learned to use the horse as a
riding animal, you do not know. In 1000-tfKr. the horse was
used militarily, biased tanks, and it is a military
technique that is first and foremost linked to the more
developed agricultural areas. First from 800-tfKr. we meet
more extensive use of the horse as a riding animal - yet
without stirrups. From 600-tfKr. the Middle East was
attacked by prepared nomads and from 300 AD. China. For the
history of China, these early nomadic attacks became
crucial, as it was with the use of nomadic fighting
techniques that China rallied during the Qind Dynasty in 221
BC.
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