Page 8
Part 5
Read the following text for questions 30-35.
MIGRATORY LIFESTYLE
Out of a world population of 7.5 billion, around 30 million people currently lead a migratory lifestyle.
Every
continent has nomadic groups, leading a life very different from the sedentary communities they
come into contact with. Almost all migratory communities are in steady decline for a wide range of
reasons: climate change,
political unrest, forced resettlement and armed conflict have all impacted on
these traditional communities, diminishing their numbers year on year. However, the lure of the
travelling lifestyle is as strong as ever. The 'gypsy lifestyle' continues to inspire people - especially the
young - who crave the freedom of unstructured movement. Backpacking
has become almost a rite of
passage for the young. 'Gap years' between school and university often stretch to two years, or even
more, as young people become addicted to the culture of travelling light and moving on.
Traditional nomads may be seen as 'wanderers', but their movement is not as unstructured as it may
appear. Most nomadic communities are, or were, herdsmen, leading their animals across fixed routes
based
on
pastures.
Their
societies
were
based
on
strong
bonds
of
kinship.
According to 14th-century
social historian lbn Khaldun, the Bedouin community owed their success in
battle to
osobiyyo
or 'group feeling', which enhanced their ability to protect the group from outsiders.
This, along with excellent horsemanship and the rigours of a harsh lifestyle,
based around constant
alertness needed to protect livestock, made them formidable adversaries in war when compared to
their more settled counterparts.
Far from the desert-dwelling Bedouin live a different kind of nomad: the Moken, or sea gypsies, of the
Mergui Archipelago between Myanmar and the islands of Thailand's North Andaman coast. During the
dry season, they
live on traditional houseboats, and during the monsoon season they build temporary
villages on sheltered stretches of beach. Theirs is a culture of sharing and giving, to the extent that their
language contains no words for individual possessions. These indigenous people have a great
understanding of and respect for their environment, making use of over 80 plant species for food and
more than 100
for shelter, handicrafts and other purposes. However, the Moken's lifestyle has more
recently been affected by government restrictions on their hunter-gathering activities,
and legal
disputes over ownership of their traditional lands. Somewhat inevitably, they have become a focus for
tourism in the area, which they have embraced to some extent as they try to adapt to the modern
world. Nomadic communities exist in Europe too. In the tundras and taigas of northern Scandinavia live
a reindeer-herding community, the Sami. Originally travelling freely across the areas which now belong
to Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, this subculture has had its traditional lifestyle curtailed by the
creation of national borders.
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