Nomads and Bukhara. A Study in Nomad Migrations, Pasture, and Climate Change (11th century CE)
Abstract:
This article takes a new look at the Seljuq migration into Transoxiana, and in doing so, discusses the theses recently put forward by Richard Bulliet in his Cotton, Climate, and Camels. In particular, it raises the question of where the Seljuq Ghuzz – pastoral nomads after all – had their pasture grounds and which animals they herded. The result is that they had only limited access to pasture (in particular summer pasture) and were looking for new places. Their herd was a mixed herd of the well-known Central Asian type, with sheep, horses, and camels; cows were largely absent. This is contrasted with one element in Bulliet’s argument about the reasons for the Ghuzz-Seljuq migration: Bulliet sees the Seljuq Ghuzz as camel breeders. In a second step, the question of the relation between this migration and climatic conditions in northern Transoxiana are discussed, in contrast to another element in Richard Bulliet’s argument. Paleoclimatic evidence is adduced, showing that there was climate change in the 10th-11th centuries, notably a cooling of the summer temperature and a marked desiccation. But winter temperatures remained more or less constant – no marked chilling of the winters took place. In all, the article rejects Bulliet’s causation chain and proposes that the Ghuzz-Seljuq migration into Transoxiana was due to political reasons rather than induced by climate change.
© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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- The Legacy and Influence of Patricia Crone (1945–2015)
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- Preface
- Rayy and the Religious History of the Seljūq Period
- The Linguistic History of Rayy up to the Early Islamic Period
- The Urbanisation of Rayy in the Seljūq Period
- From Khalaf (beginning of the 4th/10th century?) to Ḥasan al-Ṣabbāḥ (d. 518 H/1124 CE): Ismailism in Rayy before and under the Seljūqs
- Sunnism in Rayy during the Seljūq Period: Sources and Observations
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- Bibliographie raisonnée zur arabischen Papyrologie: Neuerscheinungen 2015 und Nachträge 2013–2014
- Eleazar Birnbaum, Ottoman Turkish and Çaĝatay MSS in Canada. A Union Catalogue of the Four Collections, Islamic Manuscripts and Books
- Christopher Braun, Das Kitāb Sidrat al-muntahā des Pseudo-Ibn Waḥšīya. Einleitung, Edition und Übersetzung eines hermetisch-allegorischen Traktats zur Alchemie
- Angelika Brodersen, Der unbekannte kalām. Theologische Positionen der frühen Māturīdīya am Beispiel der Attributenlehre
- Julia Gonnella / Rania Abdellatif / Simone Struth (Hrsg.), Beiträge zur Islamischen Archäologie 4
- Johannes von Segovia, De gladio divini spiritus in corda mittendo Sarracenorum
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- Amr Osman, The Ẓāhirī Madhhab (3rd/9th–10th/16th Century): A Textualist Theory of Islamic Law, Studies in Islamic Law and Society
- A.C.S. Peacock, Mediaeval Islamic Historiography and Political Legitimacy: Balʿamī’s Tārīkhnāma
- Anton Spitaler / Kathrin Müller, Erste Halbverse in der klassisch-arabischen Literatur
- Jutta Wintermann, Dichtung und Historie. Aspekte der Herrschaft Ḫosrous II. in Neẓamīs Ḫosrau-o Šīrīn
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- The Legacy and Influence of Patricia Crone (1945–2015)
- Special Issue: The Religious and Intellectual History of Rayy from 900 Through the Seljūq Period, Guest Editors: Hassan Ansari/Sabine Schmidtke/D. G. Tor
- Preface
- Rayy and the Religious History of the Seljūq Period
- The Linguistic History of Rayy up to the Early Islamic Period
- The Urbanisation of Rayy in the Seljūq Period
- From Khalaf (beginning of the 4th/10th century?) to Ḥasan al-Ṣabbāḥ (d. 518 H/1124 CE): Ismailism in Rayy before and under the Seljūqs
- Sunnism in Rayy during the Seljūq Period: Sources and Observations
- The Zaydīs and Rayy: The Path to Inclusion and Back
- Articles
- Nomads and Bukhara. A Study in Nomad Migrations, Pasture, and Climate Change (11th century CE)
- Reviews
- Bibliographie raisonnée zur arabischen Papyrologie: Neuerscheinungen 2015 und Nachträge 2013–2014
- Eleazar Birnbaum, Ottoman Turkish and Çaĝatay MSS in Canada. A Union Catalogue of the Four Collections, Islamic Manuscripts and Books
- Christopher Braun, Das Kitāb Sidrat al-muntahā des Pseudo-Ibn Waḥšīya. Einleitung, Edition und Übersetzung eines hermetisch-allegorischen Traktats zur Alchemie
- Angelika Brodersen, Der unbekannte kalām. Theologische Positionen der frühen Māturīdīya am Beispiel der Attributenlehre
- Julia Gonnella / Rania Abdellatif / Simone Struth (Hrsg.), Beiträge zur Islamischen Archäologie 4
- Johannes von Segovia, De gladio divini spiritus in corda mittendo Sarracenorum
- Linda G. Jones, The Power of Oratory in the Medieval Muslim World
- Amr Osman, The Ẓāhirī Madhhab (3rd/9th–10th/16th Century): A Textualist Theory of Islamic Law, Studies in Islamic Law and Society
- A.C.S. Peacock, Mediaeval Islamic Historiography and Political Legitimacy: Balʿamī’s Tārīkhnāma
- Anton Spitaler / Kathrin Müller, Erste Halbverse in der klassisch-arabischen Literatur
- Jutta Wintermann, Dichtung und Historie. Aspekte der Herrschaft Ḫosrous II. in Neẓamīs Ḫosrau-o Šīrīn
