transhumance

views updated May 29 2018

transhumance The seasonal movement of herd animals, together with the herding population, between regions, as pasture becomes available (often between highlands and lowlands). Transhumant populations, such as the Saami of arctic Scandinavia and the Nuer of Southern Sudan, differ from nomadic peoples in that their movement is regular, annual, and seasonal, rather than migrational.

transhumance

views updated May 29 2018

transhumance Seasonal moving of livestock from one region to another. It occurs in societies that live in zones with extensive climatic changes, such as in the mountainous terrain of the Arctic regions or the deserts of Central Africa. See also nomad