A Kernel of Truth
Image: A nomad is getting his herd in shape Courtesy: http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/mongolia-tour/detail In this chapter, I would like to share my thoughts about steppe nomads. This topic is very important for the development of my book which shows how the geographic imagination of Latin Europeans about the Far East altered. If up to the 13th century the furthest destination was India, it would later embrace China. What was in the middle? The fascinating world of the pastoralist nomads which was the antipode of Western Europe. The nomads are currently receiving a better treatment in historical research. They are no longer considered the dead end of social and economic development but rather a specific mode of production conditioned by survival strategies of existence under the harsh climate and the tough competition. Their mobility would give the steppe dwellers a fair chance to stay independent from the state authorit...