trader in
Hargeisa,
Somaliland. Nomadic pastoralism was historically widespread throughout less fertile regions of Earth. It is found in areas of low rainfall such as
Arabian Peninsula (except
Yemen) inhabited by
Bedouins, as well as
Northeast Africa inhabited, among other ethnic groups, by
Somalis (where
camel, cattle, sheep and goat nomadic pastoralism is especially common). Nomadic
transhumance is also common in areas of harsh climate, such as
Northern Europe and Russia inhabited by the indigenous
Sami people,
Nenets people and
Chukchis. There are an estimated 30–40 million nomads in the world. Pastoral nomads and semi-nomadic pastoralists form a significant but declining minority in such countries as
Saudi Arabia (probably less than 3%),
Iran (4%), and
Afghanistan (at most 10%). They comprise less than 2% of the population in the countries of North Africa except
Libya and
Mauritania. The
Eurasian steppe has been largely populated by pastoralist nomads since the late prehistoric times, with a succession of peoples known by the names given to them by surrounding literate
sedentary societies, including the
Bronze Age Proto-Indo-Europeans, and later
Proto-Indo-Iranians,
Scythians,
Sarmatians,
Cimmerians,
Massagetae,
Alans,
Pechenegs,
Cumans,
Kipchaks,
Karluks,
Saka,
Yuezhi,
Wusun,
Jie,
Xiongnu,
Xianbei,
Khitan,
Pannonian Avars,
Huns,
Mongols,
Dzungars and various
Turkics. The
Mongols in what is now
Mongolia, Russia and China, and the
Tatars or
Turkic people of Eastern Europe and
Central Asia were nomadic people who practiced nomadic transhumance on harsh Asian
steppes. Some remnants of these populations are nomadic to this day. In Mongolia, about 40% of the population continues to live a traditional nomadic lifestyle. In
China, it is estimated that a little over five million herders are dispersed over the pastoral counties, and more than 11 million over the semi-pastoral counties. This brings the total of the (semi)nomadic herder population to over 16 million, in general living in remote, scattered and resource-poor communities. nomads in southern
Algeria In the Middle Hills and
Himalaya of
Nepal, people living above about 2,000 m practise
transhumance and nomadic pastoralism because settled agriculture becomes less productive due to steep slopes, cooler temperatures and limited irrigation possibilities. Distances between summer and winter pasture may be short, for example in the vicinity of
Pokhara where a valley at about 800 meters elevation is less than 20 km. from alpine pastures just below the
Annapurna Himalaya, or distances may be 100 km or more. For example, in
Rapti zone some 100 km west of Pokhara the
Kham Magar move their herds between winter pastures just north of India and summer pastures on the southern slopes of
Dhaulagiri Himalaya. In far western Nepal, ethnic Tibetans living in Dolpo and other valleys north among the high Himalaya moved their herds north to winter on the plains of the upper
Brahmaputra basin in
Tibet proper, until this practice was prohibited after
China took over Tibet in 1950–51. The nomadic
Sami people, an indigenous people of northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and the
Kola Peninsula of Russia, practise a form of nomadic transhumance based on
reindeer. In the 14th and 15th century, when reindeer population was sufficiently reduced that Sami could not subsist on hunting alone, some Sami, organized along family lines, became reindeer herders. Each family has traditional territories on which they herd, arriving at roughly the same time each season. Only a small fraction of Sami have subsisted on reindeer herding over the past century; as the most colorful part of the population, they are well known. But as elsewhere in Europe, transhumance is dying out. In Chad, nomadic pastoralists include the
Zaghawa,
Kreda, and
Mimi. Farther north in
Egypt and western
Libya, the
Bedouins also practice pastoralism. ==Cross-border pastoralism==