Nomads are people with no settled home who move from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock, or otherwise making a living. They can be divided into three main categories: hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads, and peripatetic nomads. Hunter-gatherers are the oldest type of nomad, while pastoral nomads raise large herds of animals and move to new areas when the animals have consumed the available food. Peripatetic nomads travel frequently and may participate in businesses that move from place to place, such as circus workers. Nomadic groups often follow a fixed annual or seasonal pattern of movements and settlements, and they traditionally travel by animal, canoe, or on foot. Today, some nomads travel by motor vehicle. Most nomads travel in groups of families, bands, or tribes, which are based on kinship and marriage ties or on formal agreements of cooperation. The decision-making process within these groups is often led by a council of adult males, although some tribes have chiefs.
The term "nomad" comes from a Greek word meaning "roaming about for pasture," and there are still 30-40 million nomads around the world today. Nomadism is a way of life for peoples who do not live continually in the same place but move cyclically or periodically. It is distinguished from migration, which involves a total change of habitat. Nomadism does not imply unrestricted and undirected wandering; rather, it is based on temporary centers whose stability depends on the availability of food supply and the technology for exploiting it. The diverse groups of nomads include nomadic hunters and gatherers, pastoral nomads, and tinker or trader nomads, each with their own distinct characteristics and ways of life.
