Eurasian / Asian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppes stretches across parts of central Europe as far as Mongolia in the Far East. It is made up of scrublands, savannah, and grassland, all of which is temperate. It is above the Himalayas and sometimes known as the Great Steppe. It mirrors the Silk Road, and many tribal groups live here, especially mounted peoples like the Kurgan peoples. Others also are from here, and many tribal confederations have existed also. The horse to many of them is important. The most well-known at this point are: Xiongnu, Scythia, Cimmeria, Sarmatia, Hunnic Empire, Chorasmia, Transoxiana, Sogdiana, and Xianbei.
It stretches far enough from near the mouth of the Danube, right away across to the Pacific. The most western part is the Pannonian Steppe. This area is found in Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The biggest extant of the western steppe is the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, which touches parts of the Caspian Sea, and includes forests. The next main part is the Kazakh Steppe which covers the area south of the Urals to the Dzungaria. The latter is a part of North-West China. The furthest steppe is the Mongolian - Manchurian Steppe. This takes in Mongolia, and North-East China.
Many grazers live ion the lands of the Steppe, such types of deer, wild horses, wild camels, and goats to name a few. Wolves and wild cats are common types of predatory animals that hunt these animals. Along the edges & parts of grasslands can, at least, periodically be farmed, and a few places it is done by peoples conquered by the nomad tribes as an extra source of food. The languages spoken depends on tribal groups, some speaking a Indo-European dialect, others Uralic, Turkic, or Iranian, all depending on the ancestors of the tribes.
Forms of Christianity (primarily Nestorianism), Buddhism, Animist, Manichaeism, or Tengrism is the main religions found. Again, this is dependent on the tribe and where they are based. Raids are common by many tribes, and the main form of warfare, used to gather items needed, slaves, and gold to name a few. Sometimes groups, like the early Rus, pay tribute to the tribes to be left alone, and divert raids from their lands.
Comments