The nomads

Stretching from Manchuria to Hungary, the vast Eurasian steppe is the largest expanse of flatland on earth. Although the Tien Shan, the Ural, and the Carpathian mountains intersect it at several points, numerous passes allow for relatively easy access from one end of this approximately 6000-km expanse to the other.

A distinctive pastoral way of life, based on the maintenance of herds of domesticated animals, emerged in the steppes in about 3000 BC. For roughly two millennia, while raising their herds in the Eurasian steppe, the nomads-to-be also engaged in agriculture and were semisedentary. Sometime around 1000 BC the pastoralists became true nomads and began to roam the steppe in a systematic search for pasture. In the course of this transition, the nomads developed several characteristic features. Most noteworthy was their propensity for warfare. In order to protect their herds and obtain new pastures, fighting skills became an essential requirement of their life-style. Frequent conflicts as well as the need to organize the efficient movement of many people over vast distances encouraged the development of tribal aristocracies. This meant that the relatively peaceful, self-sufficient agriculturalists would be increasingly vulnerable to these aggressive, warlike inhabitants of the steppe.

Pastoralists appeared relatively early in the Ukrainian steppes. The people of the so-called Seredost culture moved in from the east, driving herds of horses (but not yet riding them), in about 3000 BC and occupied the left bank of the Dnieper. They were followed by waves of other pastoralists for many centuries to come. These recurrent migrations, a familiar feature of early Ukrainian history, were apparently caused by overpopulation in the steppes north of the Caspian Sea. As the strongest tribes ejected weaker ones from their pastures, the latter were pushed to the periphery of the Eurasian steppes and beyond. Thus, in a domino effect, waves of pastoralists were sent westward.