List of nomadic peoples
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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 The Hadza, or Hadzabe (''Wahadzabe'' in Swahili), are a Tanzanian indigenous ethnic group mostly based in southwest Karatu District of Arusha Region. They live around Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Plateau ...
*
Pygmies In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...
**
Twa people Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...
**
Mbuti The Mbuti people, or Bambuti, are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their languages are Central Sudanic languages and Bantu languages. Subgroups Bambuti are pygmy hunter-gatherers, and are one of the old ...
*
San people The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, ...


Americas

*
Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...
*
Aché The Aché ( ) are an indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people of Paraguay. They are hunter-gatherers living in eastern Paraguay. From the earliest Jesuit accounts of the Aché in the 17th century until their peaceful outside contac ...
*
Alaskan Athabaskans The Alaskan Athabascans, Alaskan Athabascans, Alaskan AthapascansWilliam Simeone, ''A History of Alaskan Athapaskans'', 1982, Alaska Historical Commission or Dena (russian: атабаски Аляски, атапаски Аляски) are Alaska ...
*
Aleut The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...
*
Alutiiq The Alutiiq people (pronounced in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, "Aleut"; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name ( or ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are a so ...
*
Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
*
Beothuk The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland. Beginning around AD 1500, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples w ...
*
Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
*
Chichimeca Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajio region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" that d ...
* Chiquillanes *
Chitimacha The Chitimacha ( ; or ) are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans who live in the U.S. state of Louisiana, mainly on their reservation in St. Mary Parish near Charenton on Bayou Teche. They are the only Indigenous people in the s ...
*
Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...
* Chono *
Clovis culture The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 ...
*
Cody complex The Cody complex is a Paleo-Indian culture group first identified at a bison antiquus kill site near Cody, Wyoming in 1951. Points possessing characteristics of Cody Complex flaking have been found all across North America from Canada to as fa ...
*
Comanches The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
*
Crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...
*
Dalton tradition The Dalton tradition is a Late Paleo-Indian and Early Archaic projectile point tradition. These points appeared in most of Southeast North America around 10,000–7,500 BC. :''"They are distinctive artifacts, having concave bases with "ears" ...
*
Dene The Dene people () are an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...
*
Dorset culture The Dorset was a Paleo-Eskimo culture, lasting from to between and , that followed the Pre-Dorset and preceded the Thule people (proto-Inuit) in the North American Arctic. The culture and people are named after Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) in ...
*
Eyak The Eyak ( Eyak: ʔi·ya·ɢdəlahɢəyu·, literally "inhabitants of Eyak Village at Mile 6"Krauss, Michael E. 1970. ''Eyak dictionary''. University of Alaska and Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1963-1970) are a Native American indigenous ...
*
Folsom culture The Folsom Complex is a Paleo-Indian archaeological culture that occupied much of central North America from c. 8500 BCE to c. 4000 BCE. The term was first used in 1927 by Jesse Dade Figgins, director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History. ...
*
Greenlandic Inuit Greenlanders ( kl, Kalaallit / Tunumiit / Inughuit; da, Grønlændere) are people identified with Greenland or the indigenous people, the Greenlandic Inuit (''Grønlansk Inuit''; Kalaallit, Inughuit, and Tunumiit). This connection may be r ...
* Guarani * Haida *
Hell Gap complex Hell Gap complex is a Plano culture from 10,060 to 9,600 before present. It is named after the Hell Gap archaeological site, in Goshen County, Wyoming. Other Hell Gap complex sites In addition to the Hell Gap archaeological site, other Wyoming ...
*
Indigenous peoples of California The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...
* Ingalik *
Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
*
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
*
Iñupiat The Iñupiat (or Inupiat, Iñupiaq or Inupiaq;) are a group of Alaska Natives, whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current ...
*
Karankawa The Karankawa were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys."Karankawa." In ''Cassell's Peoples, Nations and Cultures,'' edited by John ...
*
Kawésqar The Kawésqar, also known as the Alacalufe, Kaweskar, Alacaluf or Halakwulup, are an indigenous people of South America, indigenous people who live in Chilean Patagonia, specifically in the Brunswick Peninsula, and Wellington Island, Wellington, ...
*
Koyukon The Koyukon (russian: Коюконы) are an Alaska Native Athabascan people of the Athabascan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. Their traditional territory is along the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers where they subsisted for thousands of years by ...
*
Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...
*
Makah The Makah (; Klallam: ''màq̓áʔa'')Renker, Ann M., and Gunther, Erna (1990). "Makah". In "Northwest Coast", ed. Wayne Suttles. Vol. 7 of '' Handbook of North American Indians'', ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Instit ...
*
Maritime Archaic The Maritime Archaic is a North American cultural complex of the Late Archaic along the coast of Newfoundland, the Canadian Maritimes and northern New England. The Maritime Archaic began in approximately 7000 BC and lasted into the 18th century ...
*
Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
*
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
(until the sixteenth century with the introduction of sheep, and the adoption of agriculture from the
Puebloans The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
) *
Nez Perce The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
*
Norton tradition The Norton tradition is an archaeological culture that developed in the Western Arctic along the Alaskan shore of the Bering Strait around 1000 BC and lasted through about 800 AD. The Norton people used flake- stone tools like their predecessors ...
* Nukak-Makú *
Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
*
Oshara tradition Oshara Tradition, the northern tradition of the Picosa culture, was a Southwestern Archaic tradition centered in the area now called New Mexico and Colorado. Cynthia Irwin-Williams developed the sequence of Archaic period in the Americas, Archaic ...
*
Oxbow complex The Oxbow Complex is a Late Archaic period complex situated in the Northern Great plains that lasted from about 5200 to 3800 BP. Their points are concave, and are designed for atlatls. They hunted bison, elk, geese, and bear. The complex was def ...
*
Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
*
Paleo-Arctic tradition The Paleo-Arctic Tradition is the name given by archaeologists to the cultural tradition of the earliest well-documented human occupants of the North American Arctic, which date from the period 8000–5000 BC. The tradition covers Alaska and ex ...
* Pirahã *
Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...
*
Plano culture The Plano cultures is a name given by archaeologists to a group of disparate hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America during the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period. Distinguishing characteristics The Plan ...
* Puelche *
Red Ocher people The Red Ocher people were an indigenous people of North America. A series of archaeological sites located in the Upper Great Lakes, the Greater Illinois River Valley, and the Ohio River Valley in the American Midwest have been discovered to be ...
*
Red Paint People The Red Paint People are a Pre-Columbian culture indigenous to the New England and Atlantic Canada regions of North America. They were named after their burials, which used large quantities of ochre, normally red, to cover both the bodies of the d ...
*
Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
(from around the 17th century onwards, they were previously a farming people who lived in the
Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...
) * Tehuelche *
Thule people The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people o ...
*
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
* Utes * Yaghan *
Yahi The Yana were a group of Native Americans indigenous to Northern California in the central Sierra Nevada, on the western side of the range. Their lands, prior to encroachment by white settlers, bordered the Pit and Feather rivers. They w ...
*
Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Etymology The ethnonym ''Yanomami ...
*
Yupik Yupik may refer to: * Yupik peoples, a group of indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Russian Far East * Yupik languages, a group of Eskimo-Aleut languages Yupꞌik (with the apostrophe) may refer to: * Yup'ik people The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg ...


Asia

*
Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...
*
Aeta The Aeta (Ayta ), Agta, or Dumagat, are collective terms for several Filipino indigenous peoples who live in various parts of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. They are considered to be part of the Negrito ethnic groups and share common ...
* Ainu * Altai *
Andamanese The Andamanese are the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, part of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal in Southeast Asia. The Andamanese peoples are among the various groups ...
**
Great Andamanese The Great Andamanese are an indigenous people of the Great Andaman archipelago in the Andaman Islands. Historically, the Great Andamanese lived throughout the archipelago, and were divided into ten major tribes. Their distinct but closely relate ...
**
Jarawa Jarawa may refer to: * Jarawas (Andaman Islands), one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands ** Jarawa language (Andaman Islands) * Jarawa (Berber tribe), a Berber tribal confederacy that flourished in northwest Africa during the seventh ...
**
Lodha Lodha may refer to Hindu or Jain surname, caste, tribe or community which have different origin and class. Disambiguation: Lodhia, a Kshatriya (Chandravanshi) surname used by people in India. * Lodha people, are a tribal/Adivasi people living prim ...
**
Onge The Onge (also Önge, Ongee, and Öñge) are an Andamanese ethnic group, indigenous to the Andaman Islands in Southeast Asia at the Bay of Bengal, currently administered by India. They are traditionally hunter-gatherers and fishers, but al ...
**
Sabar The sabar is a traditional drum from Senegal that is also played in the Gambia. It is associated with Wolof and Serer people.Sentinelese The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group ...
**
Shompen The Shompen or Shom Pen are the indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Shompen are a designated Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Tribe. ...
*
Ati Ati or ATI may refer to: * Ati people, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines **Ati language (Philippines), the language spoken by this people group ** Ati-Atihan festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines *Ati language (China), a ...
* Batek * Chukchi * Denisova hominine *
Dolgans Dolgans (; Dolgan: , , (Sakha); Yakut: ) are an ethnic group who mostly inhabit Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. They are descended from several groups, particularly Evenks, one of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North. They adopted a Tur ...
* Ket *
Meenas Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the sta ...
* Nganasan * Nicobarese *
Papuans The indigenous peoples of West Papua in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Malay Arch ...
*
Penan The Penan are a nomadic indigenous people living in Sarawak and Brunei, although there is only one small community in Brunei; among those in Brunei half have been converted to Islam, even if only superficially. Penan are one of the last such pe ...
* Raute *
Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...
* Selkup *
Semang The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula. They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand. The Semang are among the different eth ...
*
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
*
Yakuts The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Districts ...
* ''
Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
'' (Paleolithic era)


Oceania

* Most
Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
prior to Western contact **
Spinifex People The Pila Nguru, often referred to in English as the Spinifex people, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia, whose lands extend to the border with South Australia and to the north of the Nullarbor Plain. The centre of their h ...
**
Tasmanian Aborigines The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...
** Tiwi * Most
Papuans The indigenous peoples of West Papua in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Malay Arch ...
prior to Western contact


Europe

*
Cro-Magnon Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They ...
** Aurignacian **
Gravettian The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years BP. It is archaeologically the last European culture many consider unified, and had mostly disappeared by   ...
**
Magdalenian The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madele ...
**
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
**
Solutrean The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Paleolithic of the Final Gravettian, from around 22,000 to 17,000 BP. Solutrean sites have been found in modern-day France, Spain and Portugal. Details ...
*
Neanderthals Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...
(during the Paleolithic) *
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
(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 Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
.


Africa

* Ababdeh * Afars * Beja *
Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...
*
Borana Oromo The Borana is one of the two major subgroups of the Oromo people. They live in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region and Liben Zone of the Somali Region of Ethiopia, former Northern Frontier District of Northern Kenya,Tana River in the former co ...
*
Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out ...
* Fulanis * Gabra * Karamojong *
Maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...
(originally, now settled or semi-nomadic) *
Mrazig The Mrazig are a previously nomadic people who live in and around the town of Douz, Tunisia. Numbering around 50,000, they are the descendants of the Banu Sulaym tribe who left the Arabian peninsula in the eighth century. They lived first in Egyp ...
of
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
*
Nuer Nuer may refer to: * Nuer people * Nuer language The Nuer language (Thok Naath) ("people's language") is a Nilotic language of the Western Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Nuer people of South Sudan and in western Ethiopia (region of Gamb ...
* Pokot * Rendille * Sahrawis * Samburu *
Somalis The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, ar, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...
*
Tuaregs The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern ...
*
Toubou The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya and northeastern Niger. They live either as herders and nomads or as ...
*
Trekboers The Trekboers ( af, Trekboere) were nomadic pastoralists descended from European settlers on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa. The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape ...
* Turkana


Americas

*
Nukak The Nukak people (also Nukak- Makú) live between the Guaviare and Inírida rivers, in the depths of the tropical humid forest, on the fringe of the Amazon basin, in Guaviare Department, Republic of Colombia. They are nomadic hunter-gatherers ...
*
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...


Asia

* Some Komi *
Ahir Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...
*
Altay people The Altai people ( alt, Алтай-кижи, Altai-kizhi), also the Altaians ( alt, Алтайлар, Altailar), are a Turkic ethnic group of indigenous peoples of Siberia mainly living in the Altai Republic, Russia. Several thousand of the Alta ...
* Baloch * Balti *
Banjara The Banjara (also known as ,Vanzara,Lambadi,Gour Rajput,Labana) are a historically nomadic trading caste who may have origins in the Mewar region of what is now Rajasthan. Etymology The Banjaras usually refer to themselves as ''Gor'' and out ...
* Chukchi *
Dhangar Dhangar is a herding caste of people found in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. They are referred as Gavli in southern Maharashtra, Goa and northern Karnataka, Golla in Andhra Pradesh and Karna ...
*
Dukha The Dukha, DukhansElisabetta Ragagnin (2011)Dukhan, a Turkic Variety of Northern Mongolia, Description and Analysis Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden or Duhalar ( mn, Цаатан, Tsaatan) are a small Tuvan (Tozhu Tuvans) Turkic community of semi- ...
*
Enets people The Enets (russian: энцы, ; singular: , ; also known as Yenetses, Entsy, Entsi, Yenisei or Yenisey Samoyeds) are a Samoyedic ethnic group who live on the east bank, near the mouth, of the Yenisei River. Historically nomadic people, they now m ...
* Evenk people *
Evens The Evens ( eve, эвэн; pl. , in Even and , in Russian; formerly called ''Lamuts'') are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of th ...
*
Gaddis The Gaddi is a semi-pastoral Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic tribe living mainly in the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Overview The origin of the Gaddi Tribe is Gaderiya ( Dhangar) they also additionally believe that ...
*
Gaderia Gadariya or Gadaria (also known as, Pal, Baghel, Nikhar, Dhengar, Gadri, Gaddi,Gujjar, Gaari, Gayri, Gaderi, Bharud, Bharwad, Bhedihar, Dhangar, Hatkar, Khutekar, Kuruba, Kurubaru, Kuruma, Kuruva, Kurumba,etc,) are a community of traditionally ...
*
Gavli Ahir Gavli or Yadav Gawli is a subcaste of the Yadav community, found in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Madhya pradesh. They are referred as Golla in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. Yadava, Konar, Manyani Nair, Golla and Ahir Ga ...
*
Gujjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...
only in
Gilgit Baltistan Gilgit (; Shina language, Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit-Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major Tourism in Paki ...
,
Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
, and parts of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
*
Gujar Gujar may refer to: *Gurjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into variou ...
*
Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related to ...
*
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
*
Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
* Khanty people *
Koryaks Koryaks () are an indigenous people of the Russian Far East, who live immediately north of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Kamchatka Krai and inhabit the coastlands of the Bering Sea. The cultural borders of the Koryaks include Tigilsk in the south ...
*
Kuchi Kochis or Kuchis (Pashto: کوچۍ Kuchis) are pastoral nomads belonging primarily to the Ghilji Pashtuns. In the southern, western and northern regions of Afghanistan they are also referred to at times as maldar (Pashto: مالدار maldar, ...
*
Kurumbar Kuruba is a Hindu caste native to the Indian state of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They are the third-largest caste group in Karnataka. Traditionally, they were agriculturalists and cattle farmers. The origins of kuruba i ...
*
Maldhari Maldharis are herdsmen community in Gujarat, India. Originally nomads, they came to be known as Maldharis after settling in Junagadh district (mainly Gir Forest). "Maldhari" is an occupational term which refers to people from a variety of castes ...
pastoralist groups of Kutch *
Mansi people The Mansi (Mansi: Мāньси / Мāньси мāхум, ''Māńsi / Māńsi māhum'', ) are a Ugric indigenous people living in Khanty–Mansia, an autonomous okrug within Tyumen Oblast in Russia. In Khanty–Mansia, the Khanty and Mansi lan ...
*
Moken The Moken (also ''Mawken or'' ''Morgan''; ; th, ชาวเล, lit=sea people, translit=chao le) are an Austronesian people of the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands claimed by both Myanmar and Thailand. Most of the 2, ...
*
Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
* Nenetses * Tarkhans *
Tibetans The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans liv ...
(primarily the
Changpa The Changpa or Champa (Changthang: ཆངཔ) are a semi-nomadic Tibetan people found mainly in the Changtang in Ladakh, India. A smaller number resides in the western regions of the Tibet Autonomous Region and were partially relocated for ...
at present) * Turkic (ancient, medieval age) * Turkic (present) **
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...
**
Yukaghirs The Yukaghirs, or Yukagirs ( (), russian: юкаги́ры) are a Siberian ethnic group people in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River. Geographic distribution The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region ...
**
Ahir Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...
** Bafan **
Bayad The bayad (''Bagrus bajad''), is a species of bagrid catfish from Africa. Distribution The natural habitat of the bayad are lakes and rivers in Africa. These include lakes such as Lake Chad, Lake Albert, and Lake Turkana, as well as rivers suc ...
**
Bharwad The Bharwad, also known as gadaria, are a Hindu caste found in the state of Gujarat in India, primarily engaged in herding livestock. History The Bharwads claim they are the descendants of (Hinduism). According to Sudipta Mitra, historians ...
**
Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...
(briefly, between the conquest of the hypothetical Kingdom of Balhara and the formation of Great Bulgaria) ** Charan **
Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...
(certain groups) **
Cumans The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...
(up until the formation of the country Wallachia/Basarabia) **
Halaypotra The Halaypotra ( sd, هاليپوٽا) are a Muslim community found in the state of Gujarat in India and a province of Sindh in Pakistan. They are one of a number of communities of Maldhari pastoral nomads found in the Banni region of Kutch. Hi ...
**
Hingora The Hingora are a Muslim community found in the state of Gujarat in India and a province of Sindh in Pakistan. They are one of a number of communities of Maldhari pastoral nomads found in the Banni region of Kutch. Present circumstances The c ...
**
Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
**
Karakalpaks The Karakalpaks or Qaraqalpaqs (; kaa, Qaraqalpaqlar, Қарақалпақлар, قاراقلپقلر), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Karakalpakstan in Northwestern Uzbekistan. During the 18th century, they settled in the lower reache ...
** Kathi **
Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
** Ker **
Khakas The Khakas (also spelled Khakass; Khakas: , ''khakas'', , ''tadar'', , ''khakastar'', , ''tadarlar'') are a Turkic indigenous people of Siberia, who live in the republic of Khakassia, Russia. They speak the Khakas language. The Khakhassian ...
** Khant **
Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
**
Kipchaks The Kipchaks or Qipchaks, also known as Kipchak Turks or Polovtsians, were a Turkic nomadic people and confederation that existed in the Middle Ages, inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the 8th century as part of the Se ...
** Kyrgyz ** Me ** Meta Qureshi **
Mutwa The Mutwa are a Muslim community found in the state of Gujarat in India and a province of Sindh in Pakistan. They are one of a number of communities of Maldhari pastoral nomads found in the Banni region of Kutch. History and origin The Mutwa a ...
**
Node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics *Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines, ...
**
Nogais The Nogais ( Nogai: Ногай, , Ногайлар, ) are a Turkic ethnic group who live in the North Caucasus region. Most are found in Northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and Astrakhan Oblast; some als ...
** Pancholi ** Avars ** Paratharia **
Pechenegs The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პა ...
** Qashqai **
Rabari The Rabari people (also known as Desai, Rabari, Raika, and Dewasi people) are an ethnic group from the Rajasthan also found in Gujarat Kutch region. Origin Myth The Rabari myth of origin is kshatriya that Shiva put them on earth to tend to the ...
** Raysipotra **
Royma The Rahuma, Rahuma,Rayma (Dhatti lang-sd) see)and also known as ( sd, راهمون Rahimoon) are a Muslim community found in the state of Chohatan Sedwa Shiv Gadraroad Ramsar Taluka in Barmer Rajasthan Gujarat in India and a province of Umarkot Ch ...
** Samma ** Sandhai Muslims **
Sanghar Sanghar ( sd, سانگھڙ; ur, سانگھڑ English: Sānghar) is a city in Sanghar District, Sindh, Pakistan. Sanghar is the headquarters of Sanghar District and Sanghar Taluka (a subdivision of the district). The driving distance of Sangher ...
**
Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...
(during the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
anyway) **
Shahsevan The Shahsevan ( az, Şahsevənlər), are a branch of the Turkic Oghuz groups, a sub-ethnic group of Azerbaijani people, located primarily in Iran and Republic of Azerbaijan. The name ''Shahsevan'' means "adherents of the Shah, a people who are lov ...
** Soomra ** Sorathia **
Theba ''Theba'' is a taxonomic genus of air-breathing land snails, medium-sized pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Helicidae, the true snails. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Theba Risso, 1826. Accessed through: World Register of Mari ...
**
Turkmens Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-weste ...
**
Tuvans The Tuvans ( tyv, Тывалар, Tıvalar) are a TurkicOtto Maenchen-Helfen, Journey to Tuva, p. 169 ethnic group indigenous to Siberia who live in Russia ( Tuva), Mongolia, and China. They speak Tuvan, a Siberian Turkic language. They are a ...
**
Wagher Wagher, Vagher or Waghir (Gujarati: ISO 15919: ''Vāghēr or Vāghir'') is a jāti from the Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat in India. Some Waghers are Hindu and others are Muslim. They speak Kutchi as a mother tongue. History Rebell ...
** Warya ** Yörük ** some northern
Yakuts The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Districts ...
**
Shors Shors or Shorians ( Shor: , ''shor-kizhi'', , ''tadar-kizhi'', , ''shor'', , ''tadar'', , ''shor-kizhiler'', , ''tadar-kizhiler'', , ''shorlar'', , ''tadarlar'') are a Turkic ethnic group native to Kemerovo Oblast of Russia. Their self design ...
**
Soyots The Soyot are ethnic group of Turkic origin live mainly in the Oka region in the Okinsky District in the Buryatia, Russia. According to the 2010 census, there were 3,608 Soyots in Russia. Their extinct language (partly revitalized) was of a Tu ...
**
Telengits Telengits or Telengut are a Turkic ethnic group primarily found in the Altai Republic, Russia. Telengits mainly live in a territory of Kosh-Agach District of the Altai Republic. They are part of a larger cultural group of Southern Altaians. ...
**
Teleuts ''Telenget, Telengut'' , native_name_lang = alt , image = TeleutsinRussia.png , population = , region1 = * , pop1 = 2,643 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = , ref2 ...
**
Tofalar The Tofalar (Тофалары, тофа (tofa) in Russian; formerly known as карагасы or Karagas) or Tofa people, are a Turkic people in the Irkutsk Oblast in Russia. Their ethnonym contains the Turkic plural suffix -lar, thus it means " ...
**
Tozhu Tuvans The Tozhu Tuvans, Tozhu Tuvinians, Todzhan Tuvans or Todzhinians (own name: Тугалар ''Tugalar'' or Тухалар ''Tukhalar''; Russian Тувинцы-тоджинцы ''Tuvincy-todžincy'', Тоджинцы ''Todžincy'') are a Turkic sub ...
** Tsaatan * Wakhi * In Afghanistan **
Kuchis Kochis or Kuchis (Pashto: کوچۍ Kuchis) are pastoral nomads belonging primarily to the Ghilji Pashtuns. In the southern, western and northern regions of Afghanistan they are also referred to at times as maldar (Pashto: مالدار maldar ...
(Kochai) **
Hephthalites The Hephthalites ( xbc, ηβοδαλο, translit= Ebodalo), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during th ...
**
Hunas Hunas or Huna (Middle Brahmi script: ''Hūṇā'') was the name given by the ancient Indians to a group of Central Asian tribes who, via the Khyber Pass, entered the Indian subcontinent at the end of the 5th or early 6th century. The Huna Kin ...
** Kouchi of
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...


Europe

*
Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
(historically) *
Bashkirs , native_name_lang = bak , flag = File:Bashkirs of Baymak rayon.jpg , flag_caption = Bashkirs of Baymak in traditional dress , image = , caption = , population = approx. 2 million , popplace ...
*
Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
(ancient, early medieval age) * Magyars (ancient, early medieval age) *
Sarakatsani The Sarakatsani ( el, Σαρακατσάνοι, also written Karakachani, bg, каракачани) are an ethnic Greek population subgroup who were traditionally transhumant shepherds, native to Greece, with a smaller presence in neighbouring ...
*
Serbian people The term Serbians in English is a polysemic word, with two distinctive meanings, derived from morphological differences: * Morphology 1: Serb-ian- s, derived from the noun ''Serb'' and used interchangeably to refer to ethnic Serbs, thus having ...
(to late medieval period) *
Slavic peoples Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic language, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout ...
(ancient, early medieval age) * Some
reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
-herding
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
communities *
Vaqueiros de alzada The Vaqueiros de Alzada ( Asturian: Vaqueiros d'Alzada, "nomadic cowherds" in Asturian language, from their word for cow, cognate of Spanish ) are a northern Spanish nomadic people in the mountains of Asturias and León, who traditionally practi ...


West Asia

* In Iran ** َAshayer *** Qashqaie *** Bakhtiari ***
Khamseh The Khamseh ( fa, ایلات خمسه) is a tribal confederation in the province of Fars in southwestern Iran. It consists of five tribes, hence its name ''Khamseh'', "''the five''". The tribes are partly nomadic, Some are Persian speaking Bass ...
*** Baloch * In Iraq **
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
**
Alans The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the Al ...
**
Dahae The Dahae, also known as the Daae, Dahas or Dahaeans (Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: , , , ; Latin: ; Chinese: ; Persian: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian nomadic tribal confederation, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia. Ident ...
**
Parni The Parni (; grc, Πάρνοι, ''Parnoi'') or Aparni (; Ἄπαρνοι, ''Aparnoi'') were an East Iranian people who lived around the Ochus ( grc, Ὧχος ''Okhos'') ( Tejen) River, southeast of the Caspian Sea. It is believed that their o ...
**
Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...
ns **
Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...
*
Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved f ...
*
Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...
* Turkmen


Popular Misconceptions

The
Manchus The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Q ...
are mistaken by some as nomadic people when in fact they were not nomads, but instead were a sedentary agricultural people who lived in fixed villages, farmed crops, practiced hunting and mounted archery. The
Sushen Sushen is the modern Chinese name for an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in the northeastern part of China (in the area of modern Jilin and Heilongjiang) and what is in modern times the Russian Maritime Province and some other Siberi ...
used flint headed wooden arrows, farmed, hunted, and fished, and lived in caves and trees. The cognates Sushen or Jichen (稷真) again appear in the ''
Shan Hai Jing The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shan Hai Jing'', formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed sinc ...
'' and ''
Book of Wei The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 5 ...
'' 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, 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. The
Jurchens Jurchen (Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manch ...
were sedentary, settled farmers with advanced agriculture. They farmed grain and millet as their cereal crops, grew flax, and raised oxen, pigs, sheep, and horses. Their farming way of life was very different from the pastoral nomadism of the Mongols and the Khitan on the steppes. "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. Manchus practiced
Slash-and-burn agriculture Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...
in the areas north of
Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...
. The
Haixi Jurchens The Haixi Jurchens () were a grouping of the Jurchens as identified by the Chinese of the Ming dynasty. They inhabited an area that consists of parts of modern-day Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia in China. Etymology Haixi Jurche ...
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". Han Chinese society resembled that of the sedentary Jianzhou and Maolian, who were farmers. Hunting, archery on horseback, horsemanship, livestock raising, and sedentary agriculture were all practiced by the Jianzhou Jurchens as part of their culture. In spite of the fact that the Manchus practiced archery on horse back and equestrianism, the Manchu's immediate progenitors practiced sedentary agriculture. Although the Manchus also partook in hunting, they were sedentary. 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.
Nurhaci Nurhaci (14 May 1559 – 30 September 1626), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Qing (), was a Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th century in Manchuria. A member of the House of Aisin-Gioro, he reigned ...
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."


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 Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and Turkey still speak dialects of Indo-Aryan, such as the
Ghorbati Ghorbati (self-designations also Mugat and Hadurgar) is an ethnic group, an originally nomadic community in Iran and Afghanistan, as well as Central Asia where they are part of the various communities termed Lyuli. They are widespread in Iran, from ...
. There is also academic scholarship that connects European Romany groups with India.


India

* In India: **
Abdal Abdāl () ''lit'': substitutes, but which can also mean "generous" 'karīm''and "noble" 'sharīf'' is a term used in Islamic metaphysics and Islamic mysticism, both Sunni and Shiite, to refer to a particularly important group of God's saints. ...
**
Aheria The Aheria are Indian caste found mainly in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. References {{india-ethno-stub Social groups of India ...
** Bakho ** Bangali **
Bansphor The Bansphor are a Hindu caste found in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 172 to 176 Manohar Publications Origin The community get their name from the Hindi w ...
** Bazigar **
Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
** Boria **
Changar Changar or Chingar (چنگھڑ) (चांगर) are an ancient mysterious vagabond former Hindu tribe of India. Changars sometimes called Cingân, Tsingan, Chingari, Tsingari, Tschangar etc., are mostly vagabond and speak their own Changhr ...
**
Deha The Deha, sometimes pronounced as Dahiya, Dhaya, Dhea, Daiya and Dheya are a caste found in India, and have other backward caste status in Haryana. They forms the largest jat community in Haryana. Origin According to some traditions, the c ...
** Dharhi ** Dharkar **
Domba The Dom (Sanskrit ''ḍoma'', dialectally also Domra, Domba, Domaka, Dombari and variants) are castes, or groups, scattered across India. Dom were a caste of drummer. According to Tantra scriptures, the Dom were engaged in the occupations of sing ...
** Gandhila ** Habura ** Heri ** Hurkiya ** Kalabaz ** Kan ** Kanjar ** Karwal ** Kela **
Mirasi The Mirasi ( ur, ; hi, मीरासी, translit=Mīrāsī; pa, , ਮਰਾਸੀ , translit=Marāsī) are a community found in North India and Pakistan. They are the genealogists and traditional singers and dancers of a number of commun ...
** Mirshikar **
Nat Nat or NAT may refer to: Computing * Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking Organizations * National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S. * National AIDS trust, a British charity * National Archives of Thailand * National As ...
** Pamaria **
Patharkat The Patharkat are a Hindu sub- caste found in North India. The majority of this subcaste in Nepal, Kushbadiya, speak a poorly known language, and exhibit enough distinct cultural values to be a separate ethnic group, nevertheless Pattharkat in ...
** Perna **
Qalandar Qalandar may refer to: * Qalandariyya, a Sufi mystic order * Qalandar (title), a title for Sufi saints * Qalandar (clan), a Muslim community found in North India and Pakistan * Qalandar (tribe), a Hazara tribe found in Afghanistan Places in Ir ...
** Sansi ** Sapera Muslims ** Sapera ** Sapuria


Pakistan

* In Pakistan: ** Churigar **
Dom Dom or DOM may refer to: People and fictional characters * Dom (given name), including fictional characters * Dom (surname) * Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto * Dom people, an et ...
** Kanjar ** Lori **
Mirasi The Mirasi ( ur, ; hi, मीरासी, translit=Mīrāsī; pa, , ਮਰਾਸੀ , translit=Marāsī) are a community found in North India and Pakistan. They are the genealogists and traditional singers and dancers of a number of commun ...
**
Qalandar Qalandar may refer to: * Qalandariyya, a Sufi mystic order * Qalandar (title), a title for Sufi saints * Qalandar (clan), a Muslim community found in North India and Pakistan * Qalandar (tribe), a Hazara tribe found in Afghanistan Places in Ir ...


Turkey

* In Turkey: ** Abdal of Turkey ** Arabci **
Bosha Bosha may refer to: * The Kingdom of Garo The Kingdom of Garo, also known as Bosha after its ruling dynasty, was an Oromo-Sidama kingdom in the Horn of Africa. Established by the Sidama people, it was situated on the periphery of the Gibe regi ...
** Çingene ** Gäwändi **
Ghorbati Ghorbati (self-designations also Mugat and Hadurgar) is an ethnic group, an originally nomadic community in Iran and Afghanistan, as well as Central Asia where they are part of the various communities termed Lyuli. They are widespread in Iran, from ...
** Qeraçi ** Susmani ** Tahtacı


Afghanistan

* In
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
: ** Kuchi (Kochai) ** Badyanesin ** Balatumani ** Chalu ** Changar ** Chighalbf ** Ghalbelbaf ** Ghorbat (Qurbat) ** Herati ** Jalili **
Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
** Juggi ** Jola ** Kouli ** Kuṭaṭa ** Lawani ** Luli Mogat ** Maskurahi ** Musalli ** Nausar ** Pikraj ** Qawal ** Sabzaki ** Sadu ** Shadibaz (Shadiwan) **
Sheikh Mohammadi tribe Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
** Noristani ** Siyahpayak ** Vangawala (Bangṛiwal/Churifrosh)


Middle East

* In
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
: ** Orak ** Asheq ** Challi ** Changi ** Chareshmal (Krishmal) ** Dumi ** Feuj **
Ghajar Ghajar ( ar, غجر, he, ע'ג'ר or ) is an Alawite-Arab village on the Hasbani River, on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied portion of Syria's Golan Heights. In , it had a population of . History Early history Control ove ...
**
Ghorbati Ghorbati (self-designations also Mugat and Hadurgar) is an ethnic group, an originally nomadic community in Iran and Afghanistan, as well as Central Asia where they are part of the various communities termed Lyuli. They are widespread in Iran, from ...
(Ghorbat, Gurbat, Qurbati) ** Gurani **
Haddad Haddad (Aramaic: ܚܕܕ or ܚܕܐܕ, ar, حداد, he, חדד;) is a primarily Levantine family name originating in Aramaic. The original Haddad (Aramaic: ܚܕܕ or ܚܕܐܕ) surname means ''blacksmith'' in Semitic languages. It is commonly u ...
(Ahangar, Hasanpur) ** Howihar ** Juki ** Karachi ** Kenchli ** Kowli (Kuli) **
Luri Luri may refer to: * Luri people or Lurs, an Iranian people * Luri language, Western Iranian language continuum spoken by the Lurs * Luri language (Nigeria), dialect of the Afro-Asiatic language Polci * Luri, Haute-Corse, commune in France * Luri ...
** Luti ** Mehtar ** Ojuli ** Qarbalband ** Sazandeh ** Suzmani ** Tat ** Toshmal * In
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
: **
Dom Dom or DOM may refer to: People and fictional characters * Dom (given name), including fictional characters * Dom (surname) * Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto * Dom people, an et ...
** Kowli (Kuli) **
Zott ''Zott'' ( ar, زط; singular ''Zottī'') is the Arabic term for Gypsy (term), gypsies, Romani people, and Dom people. The Zott were musicians who migrated in great numbers from northern India to the Middle East about 1000 years ago. Their name wa ...
* In
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
: **
Dom Dom or DOM may refer to: People and fictional characters * Dom (given name), including fictional characters * Dom (surname) * Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto * Dom people, an et ...
** Nawar


Europe

*
Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...
**
Sinti The Sinti (also ''Sinta'' or ''Sinte''; masc. sing. ''Sinto''; fem. sing. ''Sintesa'') are a subgroup of Romani people mostly found in Germany and Central Europe that number around 200,000 people. They were traditionally itinerant, but today o ...
** Manush **
Romanichal Romanichal Travellers ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom; ...
** Romanisæl ** Iberian Kale (
Gitanos The Romani in Spain, generally known by the exonym () or the endonym ''Calé'', belong to the Iberian Cale Romani subgroup, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as ) and in Southern France. Their sense of identity and cohesion stems f ...
) **
Finnish Kale The Finnish Kale ( rom, Kàlo; sv, Kalé; fi, Kaale, also ''Suomen romanit'' — "Finnish Romani") are a group of the Romani people who live primarily in Finland and Sweden. Their main languages are Finnish, Swedish and Finnish Romani. Histo ...
** Welsh Kale *
Scottish Travellers Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
*
New Age travellers New Age travellers, not completely synonymous with but otherwise shortened to New Travellers (often referred to as "crusties"), are people in the United Kingdom generally espousing New Age beliefs along with the hippie culture of the 1960s (over ...
*
Irish Traveller Irish Travellers ( ga, an lucht siúil, meaning "the walking people"), also known as Pavees or Mincéirs (Shelta: Mincéirí), are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group in Ireland.''Questioning Gypsy identity: ethnic na ...
s or Pavees *
Indigenous Norwegian Travellers Indigenous Norwegian Travellers (better known as Fantefolk or Skøyere) are an ethnic minority group in Norway. They are a wandering people who once travelled by foot, with horse-drawn carts and with boats along the southern and southwestern coas ...
or Reisende * Yenish (German Travellers) *
Mercheros Quinqui jargon is associated with '' quincalleros'' ( tinkers), a semi-nomadic group who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called ''mercheros''. They are reduced in number and possibly vanishing as a distinct group. ...
*
Camminanti The Camminanti are a nomadic ethnic group living in Southern Italy, almost entirely in Sicily. They are closely associated with the Romani people, given their similar circumstances and lifestyles, and although they are not ethnic Romani, they are ...


North America

*
Irish Traveler Irish Travellers ( ga, an lucht siúil, meaning "the walking people"), also known as Pavees or Mincéirs (Shelta: Mincéirí), are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group in Ireland.''Questioning Gypsy identity: ethnic n ...
s *
Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...
Sutherland, Ann. ''Gypsies: The Hidden Americans''. Waveland Press, 1986. * Carnies * Oogles


References

{{reflist, 30em Nomads Modern nomads