22 A2+ on the move

CHAPTER 1 Nomads UNTIL 10,000 YEARS AGO, ALL PEOPLE ON EARTH WERE NOMADS. TODAY, THERE ARE VERY FEW LEFT. Today, many people on Earth can get food easily. They can buy it at supermarkets, on street corners, in local stores, from vending machines, and even online. Or they can grow it themselves! But not everyone on Earth can get or grow food that easily. Some people live in remote places or places with very bad weather. To find food to live, they have to be nomads. Today, there are very few nomads. Until 10,000 years ago, however, most people on Earth were hunter- gatherers. Hunter-gatherers move around to find food to eat. During warm weather they stay in one place. They gather fruits and vegetables and hunt wild animals. When the weather becomes colder, they move to warmer places to find more food.

Pastoral nomads are another kind of nomadic group. Pastoral nomads don't hunt animals. They have livestock. They drink the milk and eat the meat of these animals, and they use the skin for making clothes and building shelters. Pastoral nomads move around, too, but not as much as hunter-gatherers. These groups move their livestock to different pastures within the area where they live. Some pastoral nomads have a different pasture for each season: spring, summer, winter, and fall. Other pastoral nomads have a pasture for a wet, or rainy, season and a pasture for a dry season. Pastoral nomads have lived on Earth for a long time— perhaps for as long as 5,000 years!

CHAPTER 2 The San THE SAN OF THE KALAHARI ARE NOMADIC PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. The San were the first people to live in the southern part of Africa 20,000 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers. They hunted wild animals with bows and arrows and picked wild fruits and vegetables. The San lived completely off the land. They followed the same path every year to find food. They knew where the best fruits were in each season. They also knew where the antelope went as the seasons changed. Today, there are many fewer San, but they try to live the same life as they did many years ago.

The San travel in small groups of about 25 men, women, and children. A few times every year, these groups meet with each other to share news, give presents, and plan marriages. The San do not have one leader. If there is a problem, or if the group has to decide something, they all decide together. Everyone can share his or her ideas or opinions with the group. The San recognize that they can learn from each other's special experiences. For example, one person in the group may be the best hunter, while another is very good at helping sick people. But no one person has any more power than the others in the group. Usually it's the men who do the hunting. They hunt in groups and catch antelope, zebras, lions, and snakes, which they cook on a fire. The man who kills the animal gives out the meat to the other people in the group.

When a San boy wants to get married, he hunts a large animal, for example an antelope. Then he takes the best meat to the girl's family and asks her parents if he can marry her. A boy can't get married until he shows that he is a good hunter. The women usually gather fruits, vegetables, eggs, and wild honey. San women know over 100 kinds of edible plants. They also know which plants you should never eat! Sometimes, however, men and women need to help each other with their jobs. So, the women help with the hunting, and the men help with the gathering. In the dry season, it is difficult for the San to find water. Sometimes they have to look for water in the roots of plants. Other times, they dig holes in the sand to look for water.

For thousands of years, the San lived in peace with the land and each other. Then two thousand years ago, other groups, pastoral nomads and farmers, moved into their area. There was less land for the San. Then about 350 years ago, white people came to live in southern Africa. They had horses and guns. They killed many of the San and stole their land. Today there are about 100,000 San, but their way of life is in danger. They have less and less land. Many people study them because the San still live very much like the first people on Earth. Some people around the world want to help the San to keep their land and their traditions. They want the San to live the same way they have lived for many thousands of years.