nomad 1. A member of a people or tribe who move from place to place to find pasture and food. 2. Nomads include gypsies, desert tribes such as the Bedouin and the many primitive tribes in the Americas, Asia and Australia. Herding survives as a way of life around the Sahara, in the Middle East, in Asia as far east as western India, and in the Asian parts of the USSR. The end of pastoral nomadism would be regrettable not merely on account of the independence and distinctiveness of this way of life but because this type of economy may be a more rational means of raising large numbers of animals under arid conditions than is capital-intensive ranching['nəumæd]Sub.
