Chapter 11

In Chapter 11 we look at the pastoral peoples of the world with a focus on those of the Eurasian steppe. Pastoral people by definition nomadic and draw their living from managing herds of animals. This lifestyle was a harsh one, filled with tough tasks, and war. War however enabled many pastoral peoples to become empires. From the early Assyrians who co-opted their pastoral neighbors use of chariots or the mongols whose superior riding ability was able to shock most contemporary armies. The culture of the pastoral people simply bred better warriors of the era, and their culture in fact may have produced more modern people.

The pastoral life, draws few parallels to anything resembling modernity. Those who grew up in a rural area on a farm are the closest thing to it, as they learned the "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle associated with livestock. However when that lifestyle is nomadic, and takes places within a semi permanent camp, life is abundantly more difficult. This is the lifestyle that gave birth to the great Mongol empire. It is a lifestyle that also afforded infinite more opportunities for women. As their positions within the family as craftsmen were highly regarded. This is due to the fact that the division of labor in pastoral societies is different from those of agrarian societies. As the "productive" labor is done by both men and women, their is not time or need to assign value to work as masculine or feminine. This lifestyle also created a type of women who were equally gifted on horseback or in archery as their male counterparts, affording military roles too. Meaning that while property law still favored men, pastoral women, specifically Mongol women were the most empowered of their era.