nomad

Person whose way of life involves freely moving from place to place according to the state of pasturage or food availability. Nomads believe that land is not an object of property. Nomads fall into two main groups: herders (see nomadic pastoralism) and hunter-gatherers. Those who move from place to place selling their skills or trading are also nomads; for example, the Romany people.

Both hunter-gatherers and pastoralists are threatened by enclosure of land and by habitat degradation and destruction, as well as by the social and economic pressures of a money economy. Remaining examples of hunter-gatherers are the Australian Aborigines, many Amazon Indian peoples, and the Kung and San of the Kalahari Desert in South Africa.