Ancient people in the steppe. Population and economy of the forest-steppe and steppe zones. Topic: Natural and economic zones of Russia

The rise of the Kushan Khanate in the 2nd century seems to have awakened Altai, or rather stirred it up. And there were reasons for this.

In Altai the climate is harsher than in Central Asia. Therefore, the harvests here were poorer. The mountains, it should be noted, are everywhere stingy with land and wealth... And the Altai khans looked at the steppe. There is a lot of fertile land there, but few people could live on it.

The steppe has frightened people since ancient times. There are no trees there, which means there is no fuel for the hearth, no logs for huts and kurens... There are few rivers there, which means there is no water for livestock, for gardens, and sometimes just for drinking. “The steppe is a country of darkness,” the old people whispered.

And they were right. There are not even landmarks there, just flat land all around and the sun in the sky. Where to go? How to find your way? And the winds sometimes blow for weeks. Terrible winds. A snowstorm will instantly cover the village with snow up to the rooftops...

The steppe climate is inhospitable. Even primitive people never settled here. Avoided. They settled in the mountains, along the coasts of the seas, in forests, but not in the steppe. An unprepared person cannot survive there. For example, he will not be able to walk - his shoes cannot withstand a long walk, the hard grass wears them down to holes. And there’s no need to talk about bare feet.

But the Altai Turks had no other way. Only through the steppe did the people's road of life lead to the future. To rich pastures, generous arable land. To space, finally.

How the Altai people looked at their fate on two scales - which scale will win? It is known that hope and fear are two wings of a person. Hope took over.

The first families moved with caution to a new residence... And in Altai the word “Kypchak” came into use again, the settlers were always called Kipchaks there. This is how it happened in India, with the first Turks there. What was the meaning of this nickname? It is explained in different ways. For example, “one who is cramped.”

However, something else cannot be ruled out. “Kypchak” is the name of one of the oldest Turkic families. Perhaps he was once the first to move from Altai, and other settlers began to be called by his name.

One way or another, only a strong clan could face the harsh steppe face to face. Only strong people could settle there. The Turks decided their fate themselves, no one kicked them out of Altai, they left on their own. But they did not leave empty-handed. The people at that time had the best tools in the world - iron! Behind him was a huge experience of life in India, Central Asia and, of course, in the Urals and Ancient Altai... Unfortunately, historians seem to have forgotten about all this.

Is it any wonder that cities and villages were quickly built in the steppe?.. Roads were laid, river crossings were established, canals were dug... This is exactly what the deeds of a strong people look like, their traces remain for centuries! Today they are the lot of archaeologists.

Over the years, Semirechye, the new Turkic Khanate, has turned into a flourishing region. His cities sparkled in the steppe like stars in the sky... Although, of course, they were unlikely to amaze with their architecture and sophistication. Their purpose was different.

In our time, these cities were studied by the remarkable Kazakh archaeologist, academician Alkey Khakenovich Margulan. He first saw the ancient ruins by accident, from the window of an airplane. An experienced scientist spotted ruins of buildings in the endless steppe, overgrown with grass and sprinkled with sand. Then Alkey Khakenovich traveled to the steppe, to the sites of abandoned cities... Academician Margulan did what he could, he wrote a book about it.

But much still remains unknown. The research object is too large! Too complex... It was an extremely important time in the history of mankind: people began to settle in the steppes - a natural zone in which they had not lived before... (Of course, we are not talking about isolated settlements, but about the settlement of an uninhabited part of the planet.)

That time left many questions for science. For example, how and what did people travel on? This is very important to know. The question is only seemingly simple. You can’t walk across the steppe, you won’t bring much on your person. This means that it was necessary to come up with something that was nowhere to be found. But what?

Yes, the Turks were considered horsemen; they saddled a horse. But the rider only transports himself. How can he carry his luggage? For construction, for a hearth, for living?.. Everything had to be stocked up for future use, taken with us, everything had to be brought.

The Arabs then transported goods on camels, the Indians on elephants, the Chinese on buffaloes, the Iranians on donkeys... The Turks had a horse, and it helped the people out.

Now we know about carts, chaises. The ancient people of Altai did not know about them, they did not invent wheels: these are not the most suitable household items for life in the mountains. Simply unnecessary. The Altaians had to adapt them specifically for the steppe! Wheeled transport is how the settlement of the steppe began. An outstanding work of the mind.

Who invented the cart, chaise? Of course, Turks. Because it was they who needed these items. This means that vehicles are also a distinctive sign of Turkic culture. Another one, like brick, hut or felt.

The names of the inventors are forgotten, but the cart still serves people today. “Telegan” means “wheel” in the ancient Turkic language. In other words, “wheeled transport”.

The chaise appeared later. It's like a cart, but better. She had no equal in the steppe. A chaise drawn by two (or three) horses became high-speed transport. And there were also kadarka and tarantas. The troikas rushed across the steppe like the wind, leaving behind clouds of dust.

Roads were built for them, “pits” (as the Turks called mail) got along between cities. No one in the world drove faster at that time. Postal drivers delivered dispatches at incredible speed - two hundred and even three hundred kilometers a day were covered by a troika of coachmen.

It's not just a lot. This is very, very much. For comparison: then people moved along the roads at a speed of twenty to thirty kilometers per day. Only the Turks, not knowing the distances, rushed to the races with the wind. They conquered space and time.

The Semirechye steppe was the first to receive coachmen.

Mongolia is a country with one of the lowest population densities in the world. Less than three million people live in an area the size of two Frances, a million of whom live in the capital.

So it turns out that you can drive around Mongolia for a very long time in any direction, and only occasionally come across small clusters of whitening yurts along the way. Two-thirds of the population live in the steppe and lead a nomadic lifestyle, regularly moving to a new place in search of pastures for livestock.

Cattle breeding, whatever one may say, is a key activity for the steppe inhabitants - it provides them with meat, milk (from which, by the way, they have learned to cook a lot), wool, and skins. Typically, one family has different types of animals - it could be a herd of sheep and goats, a pen with cows and calves, or several horses.

The first time we found ourselves visiting a Mongolian family, in a yurt, was at the beginning of our trip, thanks to the people who gave us a lift and were on their way to see their friends. At that time, we had little idea of ​​how nomadic people lived, what their life was like, and what a real yurt looked like from the inside.

No matter how trivial it may sound, their way of life has remained virtually unchanged since ancient times, and even more so since the reign of Genghis Khan. But nevertheless, civilization has reached here - there is an energy-saving light bulb, a TV with a satellite dish, a motorcycle or a truck in almost every yurt.

Horses as transport are still very relevant, because in many places there is nothing else to drive, and it is convenient to herd the herd. The riders we met did not use saddles. But this is somehow dashing

We were lucky to see the process of assembling a yurt for moving to a new place literally in the very first family we found ourselves with. In the evening everything was still in place, no fuss or getting ready. But in the morning, within two hours, a well-coordinated family team completely dismantled the yurt and put it in the back of a truck along with all its belongings.

There are different sizes of yurts - they are divided according to the number of component parts of the walls (we saw from 4 to 6). You can collect more if you want.

The basic furnishings in all yurts are the same - in the center there is a stove with a chimney and a table, along the walls there are beds, most often two. There are also additional beds on the floor, because often a large family lives in one yurt, and everyone needs to fit in.

Many of the cabinets are the same, probably a traditional design.

The floor is partially or completely covered with pieces of linoleum or carpet, sometimes just dirt in parts. In yurts they don’t take off their shoes; they wear street shoes.

Be sure to have a cabinet or wall with photographs of all relatives, children, and grandchildren. Images of the Dalai Lama are also quite common :)

The doors are low, we hit our heads several times. There are no locks, not even latches, only if the yurt is located near a city or village.

You either make a yurt yourself or buy it. Translated into rubles, its cost is about 40,000.

They live, as mentioned above, by livestock farming, selling meat and dairy products. Men tend herds of sheep, cows, yaks, goats or horses. Often the animals graze on their own, and in the evening they are herded to the yurts, where they sleep.

There are small pens in which calves or foals are kept, and mothers are brought to them in the morning and evening to feed the young. After the child has eaten, the remaining milk is milked.

Women also have something to do:) They make cheese, kefir, sour cream, and butter from milk.

In each yurt we saw several basins full of milk at one or another stage of its preparation.

Meat is not prepared in large quantities; more than one carcass is not kept in a yurt.

Smoke over the stove:

Men in the steppe often wear national clothes - over jeans and a T-shirt. It’s comfortable - it doesn’t blow, you can put everything you need in your bosom, and you’ve probably gotten used to it. We saw men of different ages wearing such clothes, so these are not relics of the older generation :)

Women also wear them, but less often. Although a woman's dress has at least one important practical advantage - you can go to the toilet in the steppe anywhere. There are no bushes!

Each family keeps several dogs, which must protect them from strangers (this is unlikely, given the lack of locks), and from wolves (a very real threat, sheep are periodically dragged). All the dogs we met barked very loudly, but when we met them they turned out to be very cute creatures :)

They don’t like cats, they practically don’t even have cats in the city. We once saw, in a yurt, a cute, well-fed cat with very smooth fur. Of course, so much milk!

The people are very hospitable, you can easily enter any yurt if something happens, or you just need to ask something. They will help you in any way they can and give you some tea.

By the way, their tea is completely different - milk, a little bit of shavings and salt. Drink hot.

Since I still don’t like milk, Roma gets two servings. They also drink kumiss, which tastes like milk kvass. For a snack – bread and butter, sprinkled with sugar! As in childhood

Every yurt has artz - dried salted homemade cottage cheese. It whitens teeth very well! They also make a sweet one - arold. In the first yurt we were given a bag of artza and a large jar of homemade butter - we ate it for two weeks :)

There is also this thing - they remove the top from the basin in which sour cream is made and fold it in half. They eat it with bread.

From what we had a chance to try - sweet milk rice (my portion went to Roma), soup from horns with meat (horns for me, meat not for me:), homemade noodles with meat (similar).

We heard that Mongolians drink a lot. We drank moonshine vodka only once - in the evening in the yurt, in the family circle, in very moderate quantities. They prepare it themselves from milk and drink it warm.

In our understanding, there were no plates either, they eat from high saucers, and they drink tea from them.

Many products are from Russia and Ukraine - familiar labels are found everywhere - Yanta, Alenka, Zolotaya Smechka.

Few people know Russian, even the older generation. That is, meeting a person who speaks Russian is quite possible, but most likely it will not be the first person you meet, and not even the second.

In general, at first Roma was very freaked out that no one understood him. He was abroad for the first time, he had not yet learned sign language, and he sincerely tried to speak to them in Russian, slowing down the pace of speech and pronouncing the words clearly (well, so that it would be clearer for them)

Apparently his desire was so great that suddenly, quite by chance, we began to meet people who understood our language and spoke it. Almost everyone who gave us a lift, with whom we stayed, whom we met - Mongols, Poles, French, Americans - everyone could more or less clearly express themselves in the great and powerful

I would also like to say something about children. Firstly, they give birth to at least two or three, often more. It's good to be a child in Mongolia!

He has his own steppe, his own horse, his own animals. He is not forced to wash his hands before eating, he is not scolded for torn pants or spilled sugar, no “Don’t go there, you’ll fall, Don’t go there, you’ll run him over.” He can do whatever he wants. He spends his days running around the steppe, riding a bicycle, chasing sheep back and forth.

No stress, hassle or pain (good immunity, not spoiled by medications).

Simple, happy people who don’t bother with conventions and don’t sweat the small stuff. They don't need roads or internet, they have everything they need.

Traveling through the Mongolian steppe is a great place and an original way to reassess your values ​​and dispel stereotypes imposed by society. We loved it and recommend it to everyone!

How do they live in the steppes? Why do people live in the steppes? Can pastoralists live sedentary lives? What nomadic peoples do you know? What kind of home does a nomad need? What is its functionality? What material is easy for a cattle breeder to build a house from? Is furniture needed in such a house? The inhabitants of the steppes create their home from sheep's wool. It is felted into felt and made into carpets to turn them into warm walls. Such a house is called a yurt. A felt blanket is used to cover a light frame of knitted, accordion-stretched wooden bars and long thin poles forming a vault. Wooden parts are precious, they are protected and when transported they are packed in elegant felt cases. The yurt can be assembled in just one hour and transported on one camel. The yurt is decorated with ornaments... In the center of the yurt there is a fireplace, at the top there is a chimney, through which you can see the sky. The door faces south. Why is a yurt decorated? What do the ornaments decorating the yurt mean? The entire nomadic settlement was a strictly organized space. This is a circle divided by rays of roads and streets, with the main large yurt in the center. The main entrance to the settlement is from the south. Kyrgyz yurt. N. Roerich. Mongolia. Yurts.

Slide 13 from the presentation "Peoples of the mountains and steppes".

The size of the archive with the presentation is 11898 KB.

The world around us 4th grade

summary of other presentations

“Conflicts in our lives” - A collection of good advice. Types of conflicts. Last call. Which leads to conflict. Lena came up. Conflict. How conflicts are resolved. The harm of conflicts. Dispute. Collision. Speech etiquette. Telephone. Survey results. Boys. There are no uninteresting people in the world. Conflicts in our lives. You like to listen to loud music.

“House for Starlings” - Starling. Journalists. Designer. Stages of the project. Abstract of the project. What have we done to improve the situation? Theorists. Constructor. Mathematicians. Attention students. Methodological tasks. A cozy house for starlings. Sociologists. Results of research presentation. Birdhouses in the school garden. "Birds are our friends." The main question. Birdsong.

"Dinosaurs" - Dinosaurs had five fingers. The smallest dinosaurs. Dinosaurs. The first real dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are extinct animals. Predatory dinosaurs were smaller and walked on their hind limbs. Dominant lizards. Ornithomimids. The size of tyrannosaurs was a problem. Stegosaurus, which lived during the Cretaceous period, had a body length of about 9 m.

“Gems” - Jasper. Jade. Emerald beads. Aventurine. Emerald. Malachite watch. Onyx. Onyx products. Cups and castle. Corridor of the Winter Palace. Amethyst. Hematin egg. The Amber Room. Agate butterfly. Jasper frog. Chess board. Coil. Moon rock. Opal necklace. Products. Flower. Amazonite. Ring. Topaz. Hematite. Aventurine cats. Opal. Agate. Moonstone earrings. Bulls-eye. Topaz ring.

“History of Mankind” - Human Occupations. The earliest man looked like a large ape. The beginning of human history. Archeology is the science of antiquity. Life of a primitive man. Living in the community. What is history? "Father of History" Hunting. The oldest man. Primitive artists. Sciences that help us learn history. History translated from Greek means “research, a story about the events of the past.” The foreheads were low and sloping.

This video lesson is intended for independent familiarization with the topic “Population and economy of forest-steppe and steppe zones.” From the teacher's lecture you will learn about what natural features are characteristic of the forest-steppe and steppe zones. Discuss how they influence the population and economy of these regions, and how people change and protect them.

Topic: Natural and economic zones of Russia

Lesson: Population and economy of forest-steppe and steppe zones

Purpose of the lesson: to learn about the features of the nature of steppes and forest-steppes and how they affect the lives and economic activities of people.

Natural zones of forest-steppes and steppes are the most developed and modified natural zones in Russia. Forest-steppes and steppes have the most comfortable conditions for human life.

Rice. 1. Map of comfort of natural conditions ()

True forest-steppes and steppes can currently be seen only in nature reserves; all other territories have been heavily modified by humans and are used mainly for agriculture due to their fertile soils.

Rice. 2. Rostov Nature Reserve ()

Representatives of the peoples of the steppe zone - steppe dwellers - led a nomadic lifestyle and were engaged in cattle breeding. The steppe peoples include Kalmyks, Tuvans, Kazakhs, Buryats, Kazakhs and others.

Steppes are open flat or hilly landscapes where grasses, grains, and flowers grow.

In the steppes and forest-steppes, people are actively involved in animal husbandry and agriculture. In the steppes they raise goats and sheep, horses and camels, and cattle. Some farms raise fish, fur-bearing animals, and poultry.

Rice. 4. Breeding poultry ()

Rice. 5. A flock of sheep in the steppe ()

On the Yule of the Urals in the Orenburg region, famous goats are bred; their wool is so thin that an Orenburg scarf knitted from this wool can be threaded into a wedding ring. Actually, this is how some people check the authenticity of the Orenburg scarf.

In Buryatia and the foothills of the Caucasus, yaks are bred.

One of the main problems of steppes and forest-steppes is overgrazing. Animals eat only certain plants, which in turn disappear. In addition, overgrazing causes the vegetation to be trampled.

In the northern part of the steppes and forest-steppes they engage in farming. Steppes and forest-steppes are the main breadbaskets of Russia; wheat, corn, sunflowers, sugar beets, vegetables and fruits are grown here. To protect from the wind, shelterbelts are planted along the perimeter of the fields. In some places the steppes are 85% plowed!

Rice. 6. Sunflowers at sunset ()

Due to active human economic activity, many steppe species of plants and animals are disappearing, the soil is losing its fertility, and land is being polluted with chemical fertilizers. Mining of minerals (for example, iron ore, coal), road construction, and expansion of cities and towns also have a negative impact on the nature of the steppe and forest-steppe zones. Therefore, steppes and forest-steppes need protection. For this purpose, nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries are being created, and activities are being carried out aimed at the rational use of the nature of these landscapes.

Rice. 7. Reserve "Black Lands" ()

The traditional dwelling of the peoples of the steppes is the yurt, which is a wooden frame covered with felt.

Homework

Paragraph 36.

1. Give examples of human economic activity in forest-steppes and steppes.

Bibliography

Main

1. Geography of Russia: Textbook. for 8-9 grades. general education institutions / Ed. A.I. Alekseeva: In 2 books. Book 1: Nature and population. 8th grade - 4th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, 2009. - 320 p.

2. Geography of Russia. Nature. 8th grade: textbook. for general education institutions/ I.I. Barinova. - M.: Bustard; Moscow textbooks, 2011. - 303 p.

3. Geography. 8th grade: atlas. - 4th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, DIK, 2013. - 48 p.

4. Geography. Russia. Nature and population. 8th grade: atlas - 7th ed., revision. - M.: Bustard; Publishing house DIK, 2010 - 56 p.

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books and statistical collections

1. Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia / A.P. Gorkin - M.: Rosman-Press, 2006. - 624 p.

Literature for preparing for the State Exam and the Unified State Exam

1. Thematic control. Geography. Nature of Russia. 8th grade: textbook. - Moscow: Intellect-Center, 2010. - 144 p.

2. Tests on Russian geography: grades 8-9: textbooks, ed. V.P. Dronov “Geography of Russia. 8-9 grades: textbook. for general education institutions”/ V.I. Evdokimov. - M.: Publishing house "Exam", 2009. - 109 p.

3. Getting ready for the State Examination. Geography. 8th grade. Final testing in exam format./auth.-comp. T.V. Abramova. - Yaroslavl: Development Academy LLC, 2011. - 64 p.

4. Tests. Geography. 6-10 grades: Educational and methodological manual / A.A. Letyagin. - M.: LLC "Agency "KRPA "Olympus": "Astrel", "AST", 2001. - 284 p.

Materials on the Internet

1. Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements ().

2. Russian Geographical Society ().

Research materials from the Quaternary period and numerous archaeological finds indicate that people lived in the steppe regions of Eurasia in distant prehistoric times - much earlier than in the forest zone.

Opportunities for prehistoric man to live here arose at the border of the Neogene and Quaternary periods, that is, about 1 million years ago, when the southern steppes became free from the sea. From then until the present time, land has been spreading on the site of the Ukrainian steppes (Berg, 1952).

In the Lower Volga region, in the layers of the middle part of the so-called Khazar stage of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, the remains of the elephant Trogonteria - the immediate predecessor of the mammoth, horse, modern type, donkey, bison, camel, wolf, fox, saiga - were found and carefully studied. The presence of these animals indicates the predominantly steppe nature of the fauna belonging to the Dnieper-Valdai interglacial. At least, it has been proven that at this time the steppe fauna occupied the south of Eastern Europe and part of Western Siberia up to 57° N. sh., where landscapes with rich herbaceous vegetation predominated.

The coexistence of prehistoric man and steppe animals in this zone led to the emergence of cattle breeding, which, in the words of F. Engels, became the “main branch of labor” of the steppe tribes. Due to the fact that the pastoral tribes produced more livestock products than others, they “stood out from the rest of the barbarian masses; this was the first major social division of labor” (Marx K., Engels F. Soch. Ed. 2. T. 21, p. 160).

In the history of the economic development of the steppes, two periods are distinguished - nomad-pastoral and agricultural. A reliable monument of the early emergence and development of cattle breeding and agriculture is the famous Trypillian culture in the Dnieper region. Archaeological excavations of the tribal settlements of Trypillians dating back to the end of the 5th millennium BC. e., it was established that the Trypillians grew wheat, rye, barley, raised pigs, cows, sheep, and were engaged in hunting and fishing.

Among the natural conditions favorable for the emergence of animal husbandry and agriculture among the Trypillians, the famous archaeologist A. Ya. Bryusov (3952) names climate and chernozem soils. According to research by A. Ya. Bryusov, the tribes of the Pit-Catacomb culture, who lived in the steppes between the Volga and Dnieper, already in the 3rd millennium BC. h. master cattle breeding and agriculture. The bones of sheep, cows, horses, and millet seeds are widespread in the burials of this time.

In the studies of A.P. Kruglov and G.E. Podgaetsky (1935), as well as in other works on the Bronze Age, three cultures are distinguished - the Yamnaya, the Catacomb and the Timber. The Yamnaya culture, the most ancient, was characterized by hunting, fishing and gathering. The next catacomb culture, which was most developed in the eastern part of the steppe Black Sea region, was pastoral and agricultural; during the period of the Timber-frame culture - the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. e. - pastoralism is further intensifying.

Thus, in search of new sources of life in the steppe, man came to domesticate valuable animal species. The steppe landscapes provided a solid basis for the development of cattle breeding, which among the local peoples was the main branch of their labor.

Nomadic cattle breeding, developed in a primitive communal tribal system, existed in the steppes since the end of the Bronze Age. This period lasted until improved tools made it possible to prepare food for the winter and engage mainly in cattle breeding. But already in the 5th century. BC e. the southern Ukrainian steppes become the main source of supplying Athens with bread and raw materials. Cattle breeding is giving way to agriculture. Fruit growing and viticulture appeared. However, agriculture with the creation of settled settlements in the Black Sea steppes in ancient centuries was of a local nature and did not determine the overall picture of environmental management in the steppes of Eurasia.

The most ancient inhabitants of the Northern Black Sea region were the Scythian peoples. In the 7th-2nd centuries. BC e. they occupied the territory between the mouths of the Don and Danube. Among the Scythians, several large tribes stood out. Scythian nomads lived along the right bank of the lower Dnieper and in the steppe Crimea. Between Ingul and the Dnieper, Scythian farmers lived interspersed with nomads. Scythian plowmen lived in the Southern Bug basin.

Some of the earliest information about the nature of the Eurasian steppes belongs to the geographers of ancient Greece and Rome. The ancient Greeks back in the 6th century. BC e. came into close contact with the Scythians - inhabitants of the Black Sea and Azov steppes. It is customary to refer to the famous “History of Herodotus” (about 485-425 BC) as the earliest geographical source. In the fourth book of “History” the ancient scientist describes Scythia. The Scythians' land is “flat, abundant in grass and well watered; the number of rivers flowing through Scythia is perhaps only slightly less than the number of canals in Egypt” (Herodotus, 1988, p. 324). Herodotus repeatedly emphasized the treelessness of the Black Sea steppes. There were so few forests that the Scythians used animal bones instead of firewood. “This whole country, with the exception of Hyleia, is treeless,” Herodotus claimed (p. 312). By Hylea, apparently, they meant the richest floodplain forests along the Dnieper and other steppe rivers at that time.

Interesting information about Scythia is available in the works of Herodotus’s contemporary, Hippocrates (460-377 BC), who wrote: “The so-called Scythian desert is a plain, abundant in grass, but devoid of trees and moderately irrigated” (quoted from : Latyshev, 1947, p. 296). Hippocrates noted that the Scythian nomads remained in one place for as long as there was enough grass for herds of horses, sheep and cows, and then moved to another section of the steppe. With this method of using steppe vegetation, it was not subject to harmful livestock slaughter.

In addition to grazing, the Scythian nomads influenced the nature of the steppes with fires, especially on a large scale during wars. It is known, for example, that when the army of the Persian king Darius moved against the Scythians (512 BC), they used the tactics of a devastated land: they stole cattle, filled up wells and springs, and burned out grass.

From the 3rd century. BC e. to the 4th century n. e. in the steppes from the river From Tobol in the east to the Danube in the west, Iranian-speaking Sarmatian tribes related to the Scythians settled. The early history of the Sarmatians was connected with the Sauromatians, with whom they formed large tribal alliances led by the Roxolani and Alans.

The nature of the Sarmatian economy was determined by nomadic cattle breeding. In the 3rd century. n. e. The power of the Sarmatians in the Black Sea region was undermined by the East German tribes of the Goths. In the 4th century. The Scythian-Sarmatians and Goths were defeated by the Huns. Some of the Sarmatians, together with the Goths and Huns, participated in the subsequent so-called “great migrations of peoples.” The first of them - the Hun invasion - struck Eastern Europe in the 70s. IV century The Huns are a nomadic people who formed from Turkic-speaking tribes, Ugrians and Sarmatians in the Urals. The steppes of Eurasia began to serve as a corridor for the Hun and subsequent invasions of nomads. The famous historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that the Huns constantly “wander around different places, as if eternal fugitives... Having arrived at a place abundant with grass, they arrange their wagons in the form of a circle... having destroyed all the food for the livestock, they again bring, so to speak, their cities, located on carts... They crush everything that gets in their way” (1906-1908, pp. 236-243). The Huns carried out their military campaigns across southern Europe for about 100 years. But having suffered a series of failures in the fight against the Germanic and Balkan tribes, they gradually disappear as a people.

In the middle of the 5th century. in the steppes of Central Asia, a large tribal union of the Avars arises (Russian chronicles call them obra). The Avars were the vanguard of a new wave of invasions of Turkic-speaking peoples to the west, which led to the formation in 552 of the Turkic Khaganate - an early feudal state of steppe nomads, which soon broke up into hostile each other, the eastern (in Central Asia) and western (in Central Asia and Kazakhstan) parts.

In the first half of the 7th century. in the Azov region and the Lower Volga region, a union of Turkic-speaking proto-Bulgarian tribes formed, which led to the emergence in 632 of the state of Great Bulgaria. But already in the third quarter of the 7th century. the union of the Proto-Bulgarians collapsed under the onslaught of the Khazars - the Khazar Khaganate arose after the collapse of the Western Turkic Khaganate in 650.

By the beginning of the 8th century. The Khazars owned the Northern Caucasus, the entire Azov region, the Caspian region, the western Black Sea region, as well as steppe and forest-steppe territories from the Urals to the Dnieper. For a long time, nomadic cattle breeding continued to be the main form of farming in the Khazar Kaganate. The combination of rich steppe expanses (in the Lower Volga, Don and the Black Sea region) and mountain pastures contributed to the fact that nomadic cattle breeding acquired a transhumance character. Along with cattle breeding, the Khazars, especially in the lower reaches of the Volga, began to develop agriculture and horticulture.

The Khazar Khaganate lasted for more than three centuries. During his reign in the Trans-Volga steppes, as a result of the mixing of nomadic Turks with Sarmatian and Ugro-Finnish tribes, a union of tribes called the Pechenegs was formed. Initially, they wandered between the Volga and the Urals, but then, under the pressure of the Oguzes and Kipchaks, they went to the Black Sea steppes, defeating the Hungarians who wandered there. Soon the Pecheneg nomads occupied the territory from the Volga to the Danube. The Pechenegs as a single people ceased to exist in XIII-XIV. b., partially merging with the Cumans, Turks, Hungarians, Russians, Byzantines and Mongols.

In the 11th century The Polovtsians, or Kipchaks, a Mongoloid Turkic-speaking people, come from the Volga region to the southern Russian steppes. The main occupation of the Polovtsians, like their predecessors, was nomadic cattle breeding. Various crafts were widely developed among them. The Polovtsians lived in yurts and camped on the banks of rivers in winter. As a result of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, part of the Cumans became part of the Golden Horde, while the other part migrated to Hungary.

For many centuries, the steppe was home to nomadic Iranian-speaking, Turkic, and in some places Mongolian and East Germanic peoples. Only the Slavs were not here. This is evidenced by the fact that in the common Slavic language there are very few words associated with the steppe landscape. The word “steppe” itself appeared in the Russian and Ukrainian languages ​​only in the 17th century. Before this, the Slavs called the steppe a field (Wild Field, Zapolnaya River Yaik - Ural), but the word “field” had many other meanings. Such now common steppe Russian names as “feather grass”, “fescue”, “tyrsa”, “yar”, “beam”, “yaruga”, “korsak”, “jerboa” are relatively late borrowings from Turkic languages.

During the “Great Migration,” the steppes of Eastern Europe were largely devastated. The blows inflicted by the Huns and their followers caused a significant decrease in the size of the settled population, in some places it completely disappeared for a long time.

With the formation of the Old Russian state with its capital in Kyiv (882), the Slavs firmly settled in the forest-steppe and steppe landscapes of Eastern Europe. Separate groups of Eastern Slavs, without forming compact masses of the population, appeared in the steppe even before the formation of the Old Russian state (for example, in Khazaria, in the lower reaches of the Volga). During the reign of Svyatoslav Igorevich (964-972), the Russians dealt a crushing blow to the hostile Khazar Kaganate. Kyiv possessions spread to the lower reaches of the Don, the North Caucasus, Taman and Eastern Crimea (Korchev-Kerch), where the ancient Russian Tmutarakan principality arose. Rus' included the lands of the Yasses, Kasogs, Obes - the ancestors of modern Ossetians, Balkars, Circassians, Kabardians, etc. On the Don, near the former village of Tsimlyanskaya, the Russians settled the Khazar fortress of Sarkel - the Russian White Vezha.

Populating the steppe regions of Eastern Europe, the Slavs brought their specific culture here, in some places assimilating the remnants of the ancient Iranian population, the descendants of the Scythians and Sarmatians, who by this time were already heavily Turkified. The presence of remnants of the ancient Iranian population here is evidenced by the preserved Iranian names of the rivers, the peculiar Iranian hydronymy, which is visible through the younger Turkic and Slavic layers (Samara, Usmanka, Osmon, Ropsha, etc.).

In the first half of the 13th century, Tatar-Mongol hordes fell on the steppes of Eurasia right up to the Danube plains of Hungary. Their rule lasted for more than two and a half centuries. Constantly making military campaigns against Rus', the Tatars remained typical steppe nomads. Thus, the chronicler Pimen met them across the river in 1388. Bear (the left tributary of the Don): “there are so many Tatar herds, as if the mind is superior, sheep, goats, oxen, camels, horses...” (Nikon Chronicle, p. IV, p. 162).

For several millennia, the steppe served as an arena for great migrations of peoples, nomads, and military battles. The appearance of steppe landscapes was formed under the strong pressure of human activity: unstable grazing of livestock in time and space, burning of vegetation for military purposes, development of mineral deposits, especially cuprous sandstones, construction of numerous burial mounds, etc.

Nomadic peoples contributed to the movement of steppe vegetation to the north. In the flat areas of Europe, Kazakhstan, and Siberia, for many centuries, nomadic pastoralists not only came close to the strip of small-leaved and broad-leaved forests, but also had their summer nomads in the southern part, destroyed forests and contributed to the advancement of steppe vegetation far to the north. Thus, it is known that Polovtsian nomads were near Kharkov and Voronezh and even along the river. Prone in the Ryazan region. Tatar herds grazed to the southern forest-steppe.

In dry years, the southern outposts of forest vegetation were filled with hundreds of thousands of livestock, which weakened the biological position of the forest. Cattle, trampling meadow vegetation, brought with them the seeds of steppe cereals, adapted to trampling. Meadow vegetation gave way to steppe vegetation - a process of steppeification of the meadows, their “fescubization,” took place. A typical grass of the southern steppes, resistant to trampling, fescue, moved further and further to the north.

The annual spring and autumn fires set by nomadic and sedentary peoples had a great impact on the life of the steppe. We find evidence of the widespread distribution of steppe fires in the past in the works of P. S. Pallas. “Now the entire steppe from Orenburg almost to the Iletsk fortress has not only dried up, but also the Kyrgyz people have burned it bare,” he wrote in his diary in 1769. And in subsequent travels, P. S. Pallas repeatedly describes steppe fires: “The night before my departure it was visible throughout the horizon on the northern side of the river. Miass is glowing from the fire that has been going on for three days in the steppe... Such steppe fires are often visible in these countries throughout the last half of April” (Pallas, 1786, p. 19).

The importance of fires in the life of the steppe was noted by E. A. Eversmann, an eyewitness to these phenomena (1840). He wrote: “In the spring, in May, steppe fires, or fires themselves, are a wonderful sight, in which there is good and bad, both harm and benefit. In the evening, when it gets dark, the entire vast horizon, on the flat, flat steppes, is illuminated from all sides by fiery stripes that are lost in the flickering distance and even rise, raised by the refraction of rays, from under the horizon” (p. 44).

With the help of firewood, the steppe nomadic peoples destroyed the thick dry grass and stems left over from the autumn. In their opinion, old rags did not allow young grass to emerge and prevented livestock from reaching the greens. “For this reason,” noted Z. A. Eversmann, “not only nomadic peoples, but also agricultural peoples light the steppes in early spring, as soon as the snow melts and the weather begins to warm up. Last year’s grass, or rags, quickly catches fire, and the flame flows with the wind until it finds food” (1840, p. 45). Observing the consequences of fires, E. A. Eversmann noted that places not affected by fire have difficulty sprouting grass, while scorched areas are quickly covered with luxurious and dense greenery.

E. A. Eversmann is echoed by A. N. Sedelnikov and N. A. Borodin, speaking about the significance of spring fires in the Kazakh steppe: “The steppe presents a gloomy picture after the fires. Everywhere one can see a black, scorched surface, devoid of any life. But in less than a week (if the weather is good) it will become unrecognizable: windflowers, oldworts and other early plants first turn green in islands, and then cover the steppe everywhere... Meanwhile, unburned places cannot overcome last year’s cover until the summer and stand deserted, deprived of green vegetation" (1903, p. 117).

The benefit of fires was also seen in the fact that the resulting ash served as an excellent fertilizer for the soil; burning out arable lands and fallow lands, the peasant fought with weeds; finally, fires destroyed harmful insects.

But the harm of fires to forest and shrub vegetation was also obvious, since young shoots burned out to the very roots. In reducing the forest cover of our steppes, steppe fires played an important role. In addition, entire villages, grain reserves, haystacks, etc. often suffered from them. Some damage was caused to animals, and primarily to birds nesting in the open steppe. Nevertheless, this ancient, centuries-honored custom of the steppe nomads was, in conditions of extensive cattle breeding, a unique method of improving wormwood and wormwood-grass pastures.

The steppe, with its unstable harvests, was a source of new military invasions. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. in the steppes of Eurasia they learned to use horses in warfare. Large military operations were carried out in the open expanse of the steppe: Numerous hordes of steppe nomads, well versed in the art of equestrian combat, enriched by the military experience of the conquered countries and peoples of Eurasia, actively participated in shaping the political situation and culture of China, Hindustan, Iran, Western and Central Asia, Eastern and Southern Europe.

On the border of forest and steppe, hostilities constantly arose between forest and steppe peoples. In the minds of the Russian people, the word “field” (“steppe”) was invariably associated with the word “war”. Russians and nomads had different attitudes towards the forest and steppe. The Russian state tried in every possible way to preserve forests on its southern and southeastern borders, even creating unique forest barriers - “zaseks”. For military purposes, “fields” were burned to deprive the enemy of rich grassy areas for horses. In turn, the nomads destroyed forests in every possible way and made treeless passages to Russian cities. Fires both in forests and in the steppe were a constant attribute of military operations on the border of forest and steppe. The fires were again covered with meadow vegetation, and a significant part with forest.

The steppes also occupy an important place in the history of the Russian people. In the fight against steppe nomads in the first centuries of our era, the consolidation of Slavic tribes took place. Campaigns in the steppe contributed to the creation in the VI-VII centuries. ancient Russian tribal unions. Even M.V. Lomonosov admitted that “among the ancient ancestors of the current Russian people... the Scythians are not the last part.” Kievan Rus arose at the junction of forest and steppe. Later, the center of the Russian state moved to the forest zone, and the steppe with its indigenous Turkic population was, in the figurative expression of the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky, “the historical scourge of Russia” until the 17th century. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The steppes became the place of formation of the Cossacks, which settled in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Don, Volga, Ural, and the North Caucasus. Somewhat later, Cossack settlements appeared in the steppes of Southern Siberia and the Far East.

Steppe landscapes played an extremely important role in the history of human civilizations. During the interglacial and postglacial periods, the steppe served as a universal source of food resources. The wealth of steppe nature - fruits, berries, roots, game, fish - saved ancient man from starvation. In the steppe, domestication of ungulates became possible. Fertile chernozem soils gave rise to agriculture. The Scythians were the first farmers in the steppes of Eurasia. They grew wheat, rye, barley, and millet. By engaging in agriculture and cattle breeding, the inhabitants of the steppes not only fully provided for their own needs, but also created reserves of plant and livestock products.

The steppe has largely contributed to solving humanity's transport problems. According to most researchers, the wheel and cart are the invention of the steppe peoples. The expanse of the steppe awakened the need for rapid movement; domestication of the horse became possible only in the steppe, and the idea of ​​the wheel was apparently a gift from the steppe plants “tumbleweeds.”

For many centuries, along the steppe corridor stretching from Central Asia to the south of Central Europe, people migrated and there was a global cultural exchange between various civilizations. In the burial grounds of nomadic peoples, examples of the life and art of Egypt, Greece, Assyria, Iran, Byzantium, Urartu, China, and India are found.

Powerful flows of matter and energy move along the steppe corridor even today. Grain and livestock products, coal, oil, gas, ferrous and non-ferrous metals are mined in steppe landscapes and transported in both latitudinal and longitudinal directions. The world's longest railways, highways and powerful pipelines were built in an open and accessible landscape. Human migrations along the steppe roads do not stop either. Only in this century two powerful waves of migrations swept the steppe zone.

In 1906-1914. 3.3 million people moved from the central regions of Russia and Ukraine to the steppes of the Trans-Urals, Northern Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia. This movement of the rural population to permanent residence in sparsely populated free lands was caused by agrarian overpopulation and the agrarian crisis.

In 1954-1960 In the steppe zone of the Urals, Siberia, the Far East and Northern Kazakhstan, 41.8 million hectares of virgin and fallow lands were plowed. To develop them, at least 3 million people moved from densely populated areas of the country to the steppes. Nowadays, the natural resources of steppe landscapes play a decisive role in the economy of Ukraine, the North Caucasus, the Central Black Earth Region, the Volga region, the Southern Urals, Kazakhstan, and Southern Siberia.

Having played an exceptional role in the history of mankind, the steppe was the first of all other types of landscape to be on the verge of complete loss of its original appearance and anthropogenization - a radical economic restructuring and replacement with agricultural landscapes.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.