NCERT CLASS 9 HISTORY CHAPTER 5: PASTORALISTS IN THE MODERN WORLD

Pastoralists in the Modern World

• In this chapter, you will read about nomadic pastoralists. Nomads are people who do not live in one place but move from one area to another to earn their living.
• The Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir are great herders of goat and sheep.
•  Moved annually between their summer and winter grazing grounds.
• By the end of April, they began their northern march for their summer grazing grounds.
• By end September the Bakarwals were on the move again
• Gaddi shepherds of Himachal Pradesh had a similar cycle of seasonal movement.
• This continuous movement also allowed the pastures to recover; it prevented their overuse.
• Not all pastoralists operated in the mountains. They were also to be found in the plateaus, plains, and deserts of India.
• Also in the semi-arid region with low rainfall and poor soil.
• During monsoon seasons, the sheep could not tolerate the wet monsoon conditions. In search of good pastureland for their cattle, they moved over long distances, selling plough cattle and other goods to villagers in exchange for grain and fodder.
• They had to judge how long the herds could stay in one area, and know where they could find water and pasture. They had to set up a relationship with farmers on the way so that the herds could graze in harvested fields and manure the soil. They combined a range of different activities – cultivation, trade, and herding – to make their living.
• Under colonial rule, the life of pastoralists changed dramatically. Their grazing grounds shrank, their movements were regulated, and the revenue they had to pay increased. Their agricultural stock declined and their trades and crafts were adversely affected. How?
• First, transform all grazing lands into cultivated farms, increased its revenue collection, produced more jute, cotton, wheat and other agricultural produce that were required in England.
• Forest was seen as ‘wasteland’.
• Uncultivated lands were taken over and given to select individuals.
• Expansion of cultivation inevitably meant the decline of pastures.
• Second, Forest Acts were introduced.
• No pastoralist was allowed access to these forests. Other forests were classified as ‘Protected’.
• The colonial officials believed that grazing destroyed the saplings.
• The number of days they could spend in the forest was limited.
• If they overstayed they were liable to fines.
• Third, the colonial government wanted to rule over a settled population.
• Fourth, to expand its revenue income, the colonial government looked for every possible source of taxation. So the tax was imposed on land, on canal water, on salt, on trade goods, and even on animals. When restrictions were imposed on pastoral movements, grazing lands came to be continuously used and the quality of pastures declined.
• Pastoralists reacted to these changes in a variety of ways. Some reduced the number of cattle in their herds since there was not enough pasture to feed large numbers.
• Over the years, some richer pastoralists began buying land and settling down, giving up their nomadic life.
• Many poor pastoralists, on the other hand, borrowed money from moneylenders to survive. At times they lost their cattle and sheep and became labourers.
• How did pastoral communities elsewhere cope with these changes in the modern world?
• We will discuss some of these changes by looking at one pastoral community – the Maasai – in some detail.
• Before colonial times, Maasailand stretched over a vast area from north Kenya to the steppes of northern Tanzania.
• The best grazing lands were gradually taken over for white settlement.
• The Maasai lost about 60 percent of their pre-colonial lands. They were confined to an arid zone with uncertain rainfall and poor pastures.
• The British colonial government in east Africa also encouraged local peasant communities to expand cultivation. As cultivation expanded, pasturelands were turned into cultivated fields.
• Pastoralists were not allowed to enter these reserves; they could neither hunt animals nor graze their herds in these areas. Very often these reserves were in areas that had traditionally been regular grazing grounds for Maasai herds.
• Continuous grazing within a small area inevitably meant deterioration of the quality of pastures.
• From the late nineteenth century, the colonial government began imposing various restrictions on their mobility.
• Pastoralists were also not allowed to enter the markets in white areas.
• Earlier, pastoralists not only looked after animal herds but traded in various products.
• But they were now subject to various restrictions.
• When rains fail and pastures are dry, cattle are likely to starve unless they can be moved to areas where forage is available. That is why, traditionally, pastoralists are nomadic; they move from place to place.
• As the area of grazing lands shrank, the adverse effect of the droughts
• increased in intensity.
• In pre-colonial times Maasai society was divided into two social categories – elders and warriors.
• The British imposed various restrictions on raiding and warfare. Consequently, the traditional authority of both elders and warriors was adversely affected.
• The chiefs appointed by the colonial government often accumulated wealth over time.
• But the life history of the poor pastoralists who depended only on their livestock was different.
• In times of war and famine, they lost nearly everything. They had to go looking for work in the towns.