Nomadic Peoples of the World

Nomads come back after travelling for seven days in the Moroccan desert on March 16, 2013 in M'hamid El Ghizlane, southeast of Zagora. (FADEL SENNA/AFP/Getty Images)

For thousands of years nomads have roamed the earth, living off the land with their livestock, or hunting and gathering food with the changing seasons. Climate change and globalization have indisputably impacted their lifestyles, but photographer Jeroen Toirkens, who spent 12 years living with numerous nomadic peoples around the Northern Hemisphere, says the reality is more complicated.

"They are very strong at adapting to natural circumstances because they live so close to nature," Toirkens said in an interview with Weather.com. Although climate change is certainly harmful, it can also be seen as an opportunity in some ways, such as more land being exposed in Greenland as the ice melts, Toirkens said.

Apart from dealing with the threat of climate change, nomadic peoples around the world have had to contend with industrialization, the allure of modern technology, disease and changed diets, and alcoholism.

"One of the hardest things is when I encounter these people struggling with alcohol and struggling with their identity," Toirkens said. "The alcoholism problem, it comes from somewhere, it comes from the changing of their way of life, the disappearing of their culture and traditions. A lot of young people struggle with this."

At the same time, nomads must decide whether they want to continue their traditional lifestyle or become more reliant on modern technology and the Western world, which can be especially hard on teenagers who want access to the Internet and their own mobile phones.

Toirkens said he also experienced incredibly warm hospitality, even from people who had very little to share. In one instance he was traveling with a group through Turkey and saw a woman living in a cave with nothing but a carpet for the floor, but she still invited them in and had enough teacups to serve tea to everyone.

"Those experiences you never forget," Toirkens said.

To see Toirkens's photography of nomads in Alaska, Greenland, Mongolia, Morocco, Turkey and other parts of the world, his book, Nomad, is available on Amazon and through his website. You can also learn more about Foundation Nomadslife, the organization through which Toirkens shares his experiences and supports nomadic college students.

In the following pages, explore the complex culture and lives of nomads around the world.

NEXT: They hunt with poison made from scorpions and snake venom

Bushmen - Southern Africa

This photo taken on July 4, 2010 shows a bushman, known in the community as Gert, standing in front of a traditional bushveld toilet in Andries Vale village in the Kalahari, Northern Cape. (PABALLO THEKISO/AFP/Getty Images)

Legendary for their hunting and tracking skills and for their language, which is filled with clicks, the Bushmen are the oldest known nomadic people in Southern Africa. The term "Bushman" refers to a number of related hunter-gatherer peoples who have lived in Botswana, Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia for the last 20,000 years. They're also known as San, and although there are 100,000 left, few of the modern Bushmen are able to live as hunter-gatherers, says Kruger Park, South Africa. Colonialism destroyed their traditional way of life, since many were enslaved or killed by farmers, and although the Kalahari Game Reserve was created to provide them with land for hunting, they were forced out for a period of time in the 1990s, according to Survival International.

Despite the hardships they've suffered, some Bushmen have been able to retain their traditional lifestyle and have continued hunting and gathering food. National Geographic reported that they use crushed scorpion and trapdoor spiders or snake venom and cactus juice to create poisoned arrows, and they track animals by following their spore, measuring the time it takes for a crushed blade of grass to straighten itself, and watching how long it takes for termites to rebuild a destroyed nest. Traditionally the Bushmen survived on every type of meat they could catch, including antelope, zebra, wild hare, insects, giraffe, lion, hyena and snakes, but today their hunting is restricted to the game reserve and it is feared that their thousands of years worth of traditional knowledge will be lost if they lose their nomadic lifestyle.

NEXT: They migrate across mountains and deserts

Amazigh - Northern Africa

Berber children swim in an irrigation pool on the side of a mountain in the village of Ait Souka on July 25, 2007 in Imlil district, Morocco. The irrigation pool gradually fills up during the day then is drained in the evening to supply crops and the village. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

For thousands of years, the nomadic Amazigh (also known as Berbers) of North Africa have survived invasions by various groups, including Romans and Phoenicians, until finally being partially assimilated into Arab culture in the seventh century. But many of the 25 million Amazigh still living in North Africa have retained their distinct culture and languages, with nearly 40 percent of people in Morocco speaking one of three Amazigh languages, according to National Geographic. Despite their independence, Amazigh people have been subjugated by a number of regimes, especially under the Ghadafi regime in Libya -- the indigenous people were banned from using Amazigh names for children, speaking Amazigh languages, or displaying the Amazigh flag, says CNN. Although many of the Amazigh continue practicing traditional rituals, few are able to follow the migration routes they once covered bi-annually that took them from the High Atlas Mountains to the bottom of the mountain valleys and the Sahara Desert. In one particular region, around 410 families were making the migration in 1988, but because of drought and a lack of grazing areas, only 15 continue to make it today, reported The Independent. Others have resorted to relying on tourism to supplement their migratory lifestyle, by charging foreign tourists to make the trek with them. As one journalist wrote in the Telegraph, "Nomads don't see the appeal of living in houses, digging in fields, working for bosses, paying taxes or being policed."

NEXT: A tribe uncontacted till 1981

Nukak-Maku - Colombia

An indigenous girl belonging to the Nukak-Maku ethnic group, the last nomadic people of Colombia, lays in a hammock on April 7, 2008, in a provisional settlement in Barrancon Bajo near San Jose del Guaviare. (RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP/Getty Images)

One of the last nomadic peoples in Colombia, the Nukak remained undiscovered until the 1980s and since then have lost about half their population due to diseases they contracted from outsiders. Traditionally, the Nukak lived at the headwaters of the northwest Amazon basin, deep in the forest, and they moved constantly from one location to the next as they hunted for food, says Survival International. Their diet consisted mainly of game, fish, turtles, insects, fruit, vegetables and honey, but as they were progressively forced out of their territory by coca farmers and the FARC (armed rebel forces in Colombia), the Nukak became reliant on food provided by the government, reported the Guardian. Not only has the different food caused them to suffer from malnutrition, being exposed to large populations of people has caused the Nukak to suffer from malaria, the flu, respiratory diseases and skin infections. Although some have come out of the jungle willingly while others have been forced out, few of the Nukak are prepared for the world that awaits them -- they have no concept of money, nations, or permanent houses, said the New York Times, and with more and more Nukak being pushed out of their territory, their culture is at risk of disappearing. And returning to the forest might not be possible anytime soon because of the heavy military and rebel presence, says the BBC.

NEXT: Killed and maimed by Afghanistan's land mines

Kuchi - Afghanistan

Sawabe, 12, from the nomadic Afghan Kuchi tribe stands near her camp with a camel May 30, 2005 in Faisabad, in northeast Afghanistan. The Kuchi of Afghanistan are nomads moving to the northeast in the spring and summer months where it is cooler and there is plenty of food for their herds. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Located in southern and eastern Afghanistan, the Kuchi nomads are still largely sedentary despite changes in society around them. According to Minority Rights, most Kuchi winter in the same place every year and thenmove with their herds of animals to find the best pastures, a migration they have made for centuries. Because of the conflicts that have ravaged Afghanistan for centuries, the Kuchi and their animals are ofteninjured or killed by land mines, reported Canadian magazine The Walrus, and with each new political regime the territory over which the Kuchi can travel shrinks or grows. According to the Christian Science Monitor, acensus from 1977 put the Kuchi population at about 2 million, but since then no surveys have been conducted and it's impossible to tell how many Kuchi people were killed in the conflict with the Taliban.

NEXT: Citizens of no nation

Gabra - Kenya/Ethiopia

A Gabra woman stands outside her house in the village of Yaa-Sharbana on June 29, 2008 in North Horr, some 730 kms northeast of Nairobi. (SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images)

The Gabra people of Kenya and Ethiopia are one group of nomads who have continued to thrive and been able to pursue their transitory lifestyle despite the technological advances and growing population around them. Known as camel nomads, the approximately 31,000 Gabra rely on mixed livestock (camels, cattle, sheep and goats) for sustenance and their livelihood, with camels being the most valued of all the animals, says Cultural Survival, and their willingness to help one another is reflected in the Gabra proverb, "a poor man shames us all." The Gabra get milk and meat from the animals, although camels are very rarely slaughtered, and they usually live in group sod 10 to 15 families, moving whenever the animals need new grazing territory, writes Paolo Tablino in his book The Gabra: Camel Nomads of Northern Kenya. Despite their ability to continue moving over the harsh terrain of the region, some Gabra have run into problems with citizenship, since they repeatedly cross from Ethiopia to Kenya, reported the East African magazine. An even more dire issue is that of armed conflict between the Gabra and the Borana, another pastoralist community, which has sent refugees fleeing the region, said IRIN, a reporting service for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

NEXT: Living in the polar region with reindeer

Sami - Scandinavia

People step out of a Lapp tent on December 20, 2010 near the village of Vuollerim, Lapland province, west of the costal city of Luleaa, Sweden. (JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Located in the icy polar regions of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, the Sami people -- also sometimes called Laplanders -- have continued to follow the routes of their ancestors in herding and managing huge herds of reindeer despite the changing climate. Yet of the approximately 70,000 Sami people in Scandinavia, only about 2 percent actually work in the reindeer industry, says Cultural Survival. The Sami have been hunter-gatherers for centuries, although today they rely more on all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles to move the herds.

For those working with the reindeer, their lives revolve around the environment and they still call themselves "the People of the sun and wind," according to the Swedish Institute. One photographer who lived among the Sami for three years said, "I was looking for culture that really could interpret nature's language, and I definitely found that with the Sami," in an interview with the New York Times. For those who have been displaced because of industry, mining and forestry, life in small artificial towns can be a hard adjustment, reported the BBC, but even for those who still live among the reindeer, there is tension between tradition and technology. Many teenagers want to use modern technology like the Internet and cell phones and may have to choose between the life of their ancestors and a more sedentary life, says National Geographic.

NEXT: Rebels fighting for freedom

Tuareg - Sahara Desert

Girls from a nomadic Tuareg tribe dressed in traditional clothes attend the 16th International Ghat Festival, in the ancient city of Ghat in the heart of the southwestern Libyan desert on February 15, 2010. (MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Known for their indigo blue robes and the men wearing veils across their face, the Tuareg are nomadic pastoralists whose lives have traditionally revolved around traveling through the Sahara Desert. According to the Smithsonian Institute, Tuareg society is stratified, with a noble class and a tributary class, and the society's economy is mainly based on livestock, trade and agriculture, though their lives have changed drastically with the upheavals of the 20th century (including repeated droughts, rebellions, and political marginalization). While most of the 1.5 million Tuaregs are Muslim, they allow more flexibility in the practice of their faith because of their nomadic lifestyle, and it is the men who don veils rather than the women, says the Global Post. Recently the Tuareg have appeared in the media for their role in the Mali conflict, in which the Tuareg rebel group (the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) allied with Al-Qaeda in the fight for their independence, reported the BBC. The alliance quickly fell apart, however, and in June 2013 the Tuareg rebels signed a peace agreement with Mali government officials.

NEXT: They developed a system for predicting droughts

Qashqai - Iran

An elderly woman from the Qashqai tribe sits inside a tent in Eghlid in the southern Iranian province of Fars on July 8, 2008. Little has changed for the modern-day descendants of those who lived 2,500 years ago in what is now Iran. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

The nomadic pastoralists of Iran, known as the Qashqai, have spent generations developing systems to deal with seasonal weather changes, from drought to floods. The Qashqai mostly live in southwestern Iran, and they have traditionally kept a variety of livestock, including sheep, goats, camels, donkeys and horses, according to GloballyImportant Agricultural Heritage Systems. Not only did the Qashqai learn not to overhunt wildlife in the area, they also developed methods for identifying the early signs of a drought and adequately preparing for it. Although they enjoyed a nomadic life for hundreds of years, many Qashqai people now live in villages rather than traveling, says travel writer Peter Steyn. Today the Qashqai are probably best known for their beautiful rugs, which feature geometric patterns in vibrant colors.

NEXT: The desert nomads

Bedouin - African and Middle Eastern Deserts

Bedouins shepherd their camels along the beach from Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip towards Gaza City on March 25, 2013. The camels are driven to fertile fields to graze and return home at the end of the day. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

The nomadic Bedouins, who have traditionally lived in and around the desert, are spread across numerous countries, from those in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and Israel to countries of Africa like Libya and Egypt. Although Bedouins once roamed the deserts with herds of animals, forced by scarcity of water to be constantly moving. In the 20th century, however, more and more and Bedouins have settled into villages and towns. In Egypt, for example, the government provided subsidized food and animal feed in an attempt to encourage Bedouin sedentarization, says Cultural Survival.

It's not only in Egypt that Bedouins have faced damaging government policies -- a bill currently under discussion in Israel would evict unrecognized villages of Bedouins from their home in the Negev Desert, making refugees of about 30,000 to 40,000 people.According to Al Jazeera, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, "If this bill becomes law, it will accelerate the demolition of entire Bedouin communities, forcing them to give up their homes, denying them their rights to land ownership, and decimating their traditional cultural and social life in the name of development."

NEXT: A people known for colorful body adornments and beads

Pokot- Kenya/Uganda

Pokot tribeswomen look on at the Gallmann nature conservancy near Kinamba, Laikipia, Northern Kenya on March 4, 2012. High Priest Shinso Ito and a group of Shinnyo-en priests arrived in Kenya to perform a Buddhist fire and water ceremony for the first time ever in Africa. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)

The nomadic Pokot people of Kenya, whose livelihood depends mainly on cattle, are perhaps best known for the intricate body ornamentation and beadwork they wear. According to the nonprofit organization Good Friends of the Pokot, the Pokot people are divided into Hill Pokot and Plains Pokot based on where they live, and the majority are cattle herders regardless of group. The Pokot people number about 700,000, says Ethnologue, and continue to follow a traditional religion.

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