|
|
Article: The - best place - last; Nomadism in Mongolia.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- December 21, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A giant steppe for a man; a small steppe for a horde
As Mongolia shows, nomadic pastoralism and private land just don't mix
IT IS what is underfoot that counts. Very roughly, between the Ural mountains in the west and the Amur river on the Sino-Russian border, and between the latitudes of Lake Baikal in the north and the Chang Tang plateau of Tibet to the south, lies a land too arid usually for forest or even field. Some of it is mountain and much is desert, but most of it is steppe: the vast grasslands of Inner Asia.
The foot or so of soil below the steppe's deceptive surface holds tens of thousands of years' worth of fertility, the product of ...