Patterns in history: hunter-gatherer migrations, farmer expansions and pastoralist raids

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors settled all five continents. What exactly caused their migrations is not known. We know that hunter-gatherers tend to split up when conflicts start to occur in their bands. So, their desire for social harmony might have been one of the main drivers behind hunter-gatherer migrations beyond the need for subsistence.

Human hunter-gatherer migrations

Human history changed dramatically with farming. Farmers didn’t move much but tried to increase their productivity by expansions. In Daniel Quinn’s famous novel “Ishmael” the farmers are described as “takers” and the hunter-gatherers “leavers”. This description is probably quite accurate from a historical point of view. Wherever farming appeared, populations started to grow and their territory to expand: Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, China, Mesoamerica and Africa.

In less arable zones neighbouring farmer territory hunter-gatherer people often turned to nomadic pastoralism as a mode of subsistence. Pastoralist societies tended to become very tribal and bellicose, and often attacked their farmer neighbours who frequently were technologically more advanced, but less martial.

The Huns attacking the Roman Empire are only one of the many examples of nomadic pastoralists attacking from the Asian Steppe. Other pastoralist raiders in history included Turkic peoples, Vikings, Mongols and many of the Indo-European tribes that spread across Eurasia.

The pastoralist conquests usually didn’t establish permanent empires as pastoralist and farmer DNA are quite different: sedentary farmers prefer routine and are more organized, nomadic pastoralists are more spontaneous and tribalistic. Therefore their raids often were a bit like shooting stars in history: shining bright for a moment and then dissipating.

After all these movements of peoples most human populations nowadays are a mix of the three types. We can assume that evolution has left its marks in our genome and personality traits.

So, what do those geographic movements look like nowadays?

Farmer types: business trips to expand the company and then relaxing at the usual seaside resorts

Hunter-gatherer types: expanding their horizons by either taking a spiritual trip to India or going on an educational year abroad

Pastoralist types: finding adventures, like a Safari or raiding the nightclubs of Ibiza