What do the inhabitants of the steppes do. Steppe life. General characteristics of the steppe

Lesson on the world around in grade 3

Topic: "Peculiarities of people's life in the steppe."

The purpose of the lesson:

• to teach to draw conclusions on the basis of available data, analyze, summarize information;
• expand students' ideas about the use of the natural resources of the steppe zone, about the occupation of the population;
• to form the ability to determine the natural area according to the main features;
• develop the skill of search activity, carry out introspection;
• develop speech, the ability to compare and draw conclusions;
• cultivate love for the nature of the country and native land.

Tasks:

• generalize knowledge about the features of the steppe zone, flora and fauna, give knowledge about their interaction with humans.

Equipment:

• presentation "Steppe";
• interactive whiteboard or multimedia projector,
• handout for students “Crossword card”.

Lesson progress

1. Organizational moment.

We continue to travel through natural areas. I hope that this lesson will be interesting and fruitful for us.

(Listen to the riddle about the natural area.

What expanse and freedom is here!

Wherever you look - expanse fields.

South of the forest strip

There is a carpet of herbs and flowers.

Here is space for winds and birds,

Rodents, wolves, foxes.

Here dry winds love to sing.

And it's called...

(Steppe)

So what is this zone? What color is the steppe shown on the map of natural areas?

2. Repetition of what has been learned.

Slide 1 to 9 slides. (on click)Today we will summarize our knowledge about the life of animals and get acquainted with the peculiarity of people's life in the steppe.

On the desks you have a card with a crossword puzzle. And pictures will help us to solve it. (At the same time, there is a repetition-the knowledge of the children about animals).

What was the keyword? ANIMALS.

Conclusion : Due to the lack of high vegetation in the steppe zone, undersized animals predominate, mainly rodents: hamsters, ground squirrels, voles feeding on grain. They live in minks, hiding from predators: wolves, foxes, weasels, steppe ferrets. Since the steppes are covered with herbaceous plants, a large number of various insects live in them.

How do animals adapt to life in the steppe?

1 Coloniality

2 Herding

3 Masking color

4 Life in the underground tier

5 Use of other animal burrows

6 Storing fodder for the winter

7 Speed

8 Keen sight, smell, hearing

9 Ability to do without drinking water

The animal world has changed a lot under the influence of man. Back in the 19th century, wild horses (tarpans), tours, bison, and roe deer disappeared. Deer are pushed into the forest, and saigas into semi-deserts. In our country, a law on the protection and use of wildlife has been adopted. Under special protection are animals in the reserves. But it is necessary to protect not only rare animals, but also all the rest, because all animals are interconnected by the food chain.

3. Learning a new topic.

slide 10 (click)

- Write down the date and topic of the lesson.

- Our country has a wide variety of natural areas - natural resources have always been the decoration and pride of Russia. The steppe is the main granary of Russia, supplies the country with wheat and other agricultural crops. Engaged in livestock farming.

slide 11 (click)The population of the steppe strip is engaged in breeding cows, sheep, pigs. The steppe strip supplies many regions of the country with meat and dairy products. Lands on which feather grass, sage and other herbs used to grow are plowed up and are of interest for agriculture.

Slide 12-13 (on click)

4. Physical education minute.

5. Primary understanding and consolidation of connections and relationships in the topic under study.

slide 14 (click)

The steppe expanses have long been the habitat of tribes of nomadic pastoralists. In the steppes of the Black Sea region, there have long been herds of wild horses - tarpans. Here, apparently, the horse was domesticated. Horses and sheep became the main condition for the existence of nomadic tribes. Cattle breeding requires large spaces, so the nomads moved throughout their lives as the cattle ate the grass.

slide 15

They lived in wagons or set up yurts, which could easily be removed and loaded into the same wagon.

Unfortunately, there are no untouched virgin lands left in the steppe. Cattle trample and pluck grass. The habitat is disappearing, and so are the animals. Animals are being hunted.

slide 16

A man has come to the steppe. Man has long been interested in the fertile soils of the steppe, flora and fauna.

What environmental problems have arisen as a result of human activities?

Let's think about whether there are reasons that negatively affect nature in the steppe?

Slide 17

CAUSES AND EFFECTS

1. Cutting down forest belts 1. Dry winds.

2. Wrong plowing of the soil. 2. Destruction of the soil,

The growth of ravines, the violation of fertile soil

3. Dry winds. . 3.The wind will blow

Upper fertile layer

Dust storms.

4. Soil flushing with water 4. Soil disturbance, humus flushing ..

streams

How to help? Slide 18

Limit the plowing of the steppes:

Limit livestock grazing;

Combat poaching;

Create reserves;

Before plowing the fields, collect bustard eggs and grow them in special incubators. And then put on the field.

How did man influence the world of the steppe?

(a man erected fields, gardens. He plowed the soil, arranged pastures, hunts steppe animals. During field work, the birds themselves and their nests die.) With his arrival, everything changes, and the steppe has changed.

Why is it necessary to preserve the preserved areas of the steppe? (answers)

Conclusion: The steppes have changed their appearance. They are no longer the same as the first settlers saw them. In our time, there are practically no wild steppes left, they are all plowed up. On the territory of the former steppes, people build settlements, plow fields, grow plants, and graze cattle. But it is very important to be able to preserve the remaining untouched steppes - their unique flora and fauna. It is necessary to properly conduct agriculture in order to prevent excessive plowing of land, overgrazing of livestock, and poaching. In order to preserve rare animals, hunting for them is prohibited. Nurseries are being created where bustards, saigas, and wild asses are grown. In the reserves, areas of virgin steppes are protected.

And you and I need to learn how to protect the wealth of our land. To be caring owners so that the soil does not become impoverished, plants and animals do not disappear.

Love and take care of the nature of the country and native land!

6. Summing up the lesson

- Mark on your sheets how you evaluate your work in the lesson. (emoticons)

Reflection of activity (the result of the lesson).

7. Lesson summary.

Let's remember why the steppe is called the "breadbasket." (for the most fertile soils, agriculture)

Why is it necessary to preserve the preserved areas of the steppe?

7. Homework: pp. 102-107 read, answer questions. Workbook №54-57

Thank you for the lesson.

Literature:

1. Dmitrieva N.Ya., Kazakov A.N. The world. 3rd grade. Part 1. - Samara: Educational Literature Publishing House, 2008 .
2. Dmitrieva N.Ya., Kazakov A.N. Guidelines for the course World around 3rd grade. - Samara: Educational Literature Publishing House, 2010.

This video lesson is intended for self-acquaintance with the topic "Population and economy of the forest-steppe and steppe zones." From the teacher's lecture, you will learn about what features of nature are characteristic of the forest-steppe and steppe zones. Discuss how they affect the population and economy of these regions, how people change and protect them.

Topic: Natural and economic zones of Russia

Lesson: Population and economy of the forest-steppe and steppe zones

The purpose of the lesson: to learn about the peculiarities of the nature of the steppes and forest-steppes and how they affect the life and economic activities of people.

Natural zones of forest-steppes and steppes are the most developed and modified natural zones of Russia. Forest-steppes and steppes are distinguished by the most comfortable conditions for human life.

Rice. 1. Map of the comfort of natural conditions ()

Real forest-steppes and steppes can currently only be seen in nature reserves, all other territories have been heavily modified by humans and are used mainly for agriculture due to fertile soils.

Rice. 2. Rostov Nature Reserve ()

Representatives of the peoples of the steppe zone - the steppes, led a nomadic lifestyle, were engaged in cattle breeding. The steppe peoples include Kalmyks, Tuvans, Kazakhs, Buryats, Kazakhs and others.

Steppes are open flat or hilly landscapes where herbs, cereals, and flowers grow.

In the steppes and forest-steppes, people are actively engaged in animal husbandry and agriculture. Goats and sheep, horses and camels, cattle are bred in the steppes. Some farms breed fish, fur-bearing animals, poultry.

Rice. 4. Breeding poultry ()

Rice. 5. A herd of sheep in the steppe ()

Famous goats are bred on the Yule of the Urals in the Orenburg region, their wool is so thin that an Orenburg scarf knitted from this wool can be threaded into a wedding ring. Actually, this is how some people check the authenticity of the Orenburg shawl.

In Buryatia and the foothills of the Caucasus, yaks are bred.

One of the main problems of the steppes and forest-steppes is overgrazing. Animals only eat certain plants, which in turn disappear. In addition, when overgrazing, the vegetation is trampled down.

Farming is practiced in the northern part of the steppes and forest-steppes. Steppes and forest-steppes are the main breadbaskets of Russia; wheat, corn, sunflower, sugar beets, vegetables and fruits are grown here. Windbreaks are planted along the perimeter of the fields to protect them from the wind. In some places, the steppes are plowed up by 85%!

Rice. 6. Sunflowers at sunset ()

As a result of active human economic activity, many steppe species of plants and animals disappear, the soil loses its fertility, and land is polluted with chemical fertilizers. The extraction of minerals (for example, iron ore, coal), the construction of roads, the expansion of cities and towns also have a negative impact on the nature of the steppe and forest-steppe zones. Therefore, steppes and forest-steppes need protection. To this end, nature reserves and sanctuaries are being created, and measures are being taken to rationally use the nature of these landscapes.

Rice. 7. Reserve "Black Lands" ()

The traditional dwelling of the peoples of the steppes is the yurt, which is a wooden frame lined with felt.

Homework

Section 36.

1. Give examples of human economic activity in forest-steppes and steppes.

Bibliography

Main

1. Geography of Russia: Proc. for 8-9 cells. general education institutions / Ed. A.I. Alekseeva: In 2 books. Book. 1: Nature and population. Grade 8 - 4th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, 2009. - 320 p.

2. Geography of Russia. Nature. Grade 8: textbook. for general education institutions / I.I. Barinov. - M.: Bustard; Moscow textbooks, 2011. - 303 p.

3. Geography. Grade 8: atlas. - 4th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, DIK, 2013. - 48 p.

4. Geography. Russia. nature and population. Grade 8: Atlas - 7th ed., Revised. - M.: Bustard; Publishing house DIK, 2010 - 56 p.

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books and statistical collections

1. Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia / A.P. Gorkin - M.: Rosmen-Press, 2006. - 624 p.

Literature for preparing for the GIA and the Unified State Examination

1. Thematic control. Geography. Nature of Russia. Grade 8: study guide. - Moscow: Intellect-Centre, 2010. - 144 p.

2. Tests in the geography of Russia: grades 8-9: textbooks, ed. V.P. Dronova Geography of Russia. Grades 8-9: textbook. for general education institutions”/ V.I. Evdokimov. - M.: Publishing house "Exam", 2009. - 109 p.

3. Getting ready for the GIA. Geography. 8th grade. Final testing in the format of the exam. / ed. T.V. Abramov. - Yaroslavl: LLC "Academy of Development", 2011. - 64 p.

4. Tests. Geography. Grades 6-10: Teaching aid / A.A. Letyagin. - M .: LLC "Agency" KRPA "Olimp": "Astrel", "AST", 2001. - 284 p.

Materials on the Internet

1. Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements ().

2. Russian Geographical Society ().

Research materials of the Quaternary period and numerous archaeological finds indicate that people lived in the steppe regions of Eurasia in distant prehistoric times - much earlier than in the forest zone.

Opportunities for life here for prehistoric man developed at the border of the Neogene and the Quaternary period, i.e., about 1 million years ago, when the southern steppes were freed from the sea. Since then and up to the present time, land has been spreading on the site of the Ukrainian steppes (Berg, 1952).

In the Lower Volga region, in the layers of the middle part of the so-called Khazar stage of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, the remains of the trogontherium elephant, the immediate predecessor of the mammoth, horse, modern type, donkey, bison, camel, wolf, fox, saiga, were found and carefully studied. The presence of these animals testifies to the predominantly steppe nature of the fauna related to the Dnieper-Valdai interglacial. At least, it has been proven that at that time the steppe fauna occupied the south of Eastern Europe and part of Western Siberia up to 57 ° N lat. sh., where landscapes with rich grassy vegetation prevailed.

The joint existence of prehistoric man and steppe animals in this zone led to the emergence of cattle breeding, which, in the words of F. Engels, became the "main branch of labor" of the steppe tribes. Due to the fact that the pastoral tribes produced more livestock products than others, they "stand out from the rest of the mass of barbarians - this was the first major social division of labor" (Marx K., Engels F. Soch. Ed. 2. Vol. 21, p. 160).

In the history of the economic development of the steppes, two periods are distinguished - nomadic pastoral and agricultural. A reliable monument of the early emergence and development of cattle breeding and agriculture is the well-known Trypillia culture in the Dnieper region. Archaeological excavations of the Tripoli family settlements dating back to the end of the 5th millennium BC. e., it was found that the Trypillians grew wheat, rye, barley, bred pigs, cows, sheep, were engaged in hunting and fishing.

The well-known archaeologist A. Ya. Bryusov (3952) mentions climate and chernozem soils among the natural conditions favorable for the emergence of animal husbandry and agriculture among the Trypillians. According to the research of A. Ya. Bryusov, the tribes of the Yamno-Catacomb culture, who lived in the steppes between the Volga and the Dnieper, already in the 3rd millennium BC. h. master cattle breeding and agriculture. The bones of sheep, cows, horses, and millet seeds are widespread in the burials of this time.

In the studies of A. P. Kruglov and G. E. Podgaetsky (1935), as in other works on the Bronze Age, three cultures are distinguished - pit, catacomb and log. The Yamnaya culture, the most ancient, was characterized by hunting, fishing and gathering. The catacomb culture that followed it, which was most developed in the eastern part of the steppe Black Sea region, was cattle-breeding and agricultural; during the period of the Srubnaya culture - the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. e. - pastoral cattle breeding is even more intensified.

Thus, in search of new sources of life in the steppe, man came to domesticate valuable species of animals. The steppe landscapes provided a solid base for the development of cattle breeding, which is the main branch of labor for the local peoples.

Nomadic pastoralism, developed in a primitive communal tribal system, existed in the steppes from the end of the Bronze Age. This period lasted as long as improved tools made it possible to prepare food for the winter and engage mainly in cattle breeding. But already in the V century. BC e. the southern Ukrainian steppes become the main source of supply for Athens with bread and raw materials. Cattle breeding is giving way to agriculture. Fruit growing and viticulture are emerging. However, agriculture with the creation of settled settlements in the Black Sea steppes in ancient times was of a local nature and did not determine the general picture of nature management in the steppes of Eurasia.

The most ancient inhabitants of the Northern Black Sea region were the Scythian peoples. In the VII-II centuries. BC e. they occupied the territory between the mouths of the Don and Danube. Among the Scythians, several large tribes stood out. Nomadic Scythians lived along the right bank of the lower Dnieper and in the steppe Crimea. Between the Ingul and the Dnieper, Scythian farmers lived interspersed with nomads. Scythians-plowmen lived in the basin of the Southern Bug.

Some of the very first information about the nature of the steppes of Eurasia belongs to the geographers of ancient Greece and Rome. The ancient Greeks in the VI century. BC e. came into close contact with the Scythians - the inhabitants of the Black Sea and Azov steppes. As the earliest geographical source, it is customary to refer to the well-known "History of Herodotus" (about 485-425 BC). In the fourth book of the History, the ancient scholar describes Scythia. The land of the Scythians is “flat, replete with grass and well irrigated; the number of rivers flowing through Scythia is only slightly less than the number of canals in Egypt” (Herodotus, 1988, p. 324). Repeatedly Herodotus emphasized the treelessness of the Black Sea steppes. There were so few forests that the Scythians used animal bones instead of firewood. “This whole country, with the exception of the Gilei, is treeless,” Herodotus claimed (p. 312). By Gilea, apparently, they meant the richest in those days floodplain forests along the Dnieper and other steppe rivers.

Interesting information about Scythia is available in the writings of a contemporary of Herodotus - Hippocrates (460-377 BC), who wrote: "The so-called Scythian desert is a plain abounding in grass, but devoid of trees and moderately irrigated" (quoted from : Latyshev, 1947, p. 296). Hippocrates also noted that the Scythian nomads remained in one place for as long as there was enough grass for herds of horses, sheep and cows, and then moved to another part of the steppe. With this method of using the steppe vegetation, it was not subjected to detrimental slaughter.

In addition to grazing, the nomadic Scythians influenced the nature of the steppes with fires, especially on a large scale during wars. It is known, for example, that when the army of the Persian king Darius (512 BC) moved against the Scythians, they used the tactics of devastated land: they stole cattle, covered wells and springs, and burned grass.

From the 3rd century BC e. according to the IV century. n. e. in the steppes from the river. Tobol in the east to the Danube in the west settled Iranian-speaking Sarmatian tribes related to the Scythians. The early history of the Sarmatians was connected with the Sauromatians, with whom they formed large tribal alliances headed by the Roxolans and Alans.

The nature of the economy of the Sarmatians was determined by nomadic cattle breeding. In the III century. n. e. the power of the Sarmatians in the Black Sea region was undermined by the East German tribes of the Goths. In the IV century. Scythian-Sarmatians and Goths were defeated by the Huns. Part of the Sarmatians, along with the Goths and Huns, participated in the subsequent so-called "great migrations of peoples." The first of them - the Hun invasion - hit Eastern Europe in the 70s. 4th century The Huns are a nomadic people that formed from Turkic-speaking tribes, Ugrians and Sarmatians in the Urals. The steppes of Eurasia began to serve as a corridor for the Hunnic and subsequent invasions of nomads. The well-known historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that the Huns constantly “wander to different places, as if eternal fugitives... Arriving at a place rich in grass, they arrange their wagons in the form of a circle... having destroyed all the fodder for livestock, they again carry, so to speak, their cities, located on carts ... They crush everything that comes in their way ”(1906-1908, pp. 236-243). For about 100 years, the Huns made their military campaigns in southern Europe. But having suffered a series of failures in the fight against the Germanic and Balkan tribes, they gradually disappear as a people.

In the middle of the 5th century in the steppes of Central Asia arises (a large tribal union of the Avars (Russian chronicles call them images). The Avars were the vanguard of a new wave of invasions of the Turkic-speaking peoples to the west, which led to the formation in 552 of the Turkic Khaganate, an early feudal state of steppe nomads, which soon broke up into hostile each other, eastern (in Central Asia) and western (in Central Asia and Kazakhstan) parts.

In the first half of the 7th c. in the Sea of ​​Azov and the Lower Volga region, an alliance of Turkic-speaking proto-Bulgarian tribes was formed, which led to the emergence in 632 of the state of Great Bulgaria. But already in the third quarter of the 7th c. the Union of Proto-Bulgarians broke up under the onslaught of the Khazars - the Khazar Khaganate arose after the collapse of the Western Turkic Khaganate in 650.

By the beginning of the 8th century The Khazars owned the North Caucasus, the entire Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, the Caspian Sea, the western Black Sea region, as well as the steppe and forest-steppe territories from the Urals to the Dnieper. The main form of farming in the Khazar Khaganate for a long time continued to be nomadic cattle breeding. The combination of rich steppe expanses (on the Lower Volga, the Don and the Black Sea region) and mountain pastures contributed to the fact that nomadic cattle breeding acquired a transhumance character. Along with cattle breeding, the Khazars, especially in the lower reaches of the Volga, began to develop agriculture and horticulture.

The Khazar Khaganate existed for more than three centuries. During his reign in the trans-Volga steppes, as a result of the mixing of the nomadic Turks with the Sarmatian and Ugro-Finnish tribes, an alliance of tribes called the Pechenegs was formed. Initially, they roamed between the Volga and the Urals, but then, under the pressure of the Oguzes and Kipchaks, they went to the Black Sea steppes, defeating the Hungarians roaming there. Soon, the Pecheneg nomads occupied the territory from the Volga to the Danube. Pechenegs as a single people ceased to exist in XIII-XIV. b., merging partly with the Cumans, Turks, Hungarians, Russians, Byzantines and Mongols.

In the XI century. from the Trans-Volga region to the southern Russian steppes come the Polovtsy, or Kipchaks - a Mongoloid Turkic-speaking people. The main occupation of the Polovtsy, like their predecessors, was nomadic cattle breeding. Various crafts were widely developed among them. The Polovtsians lived in yurts, and in winter they camped on the banks of rivers. As a result of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, part of the Polovtsy became part of the Golden Horde, the other part migrated to Hungary.

For many centuries, the steppe has been a receptacle for nomadic Iranian-speaking, Turkic, and in some places - Mongolian and East Germanic peoples. Only the Slavs were not here. This is evidenced by the fact that in the common Slavic language there are very few words associated with the steppe landscape. The very word "steppe" appeared in the Russian and Ukrainian languages ​​only in the 17th century. Prior to this, the Slavs called the steppe a field (Wild Field, Zapolnaya River Yaik - Ural), but the word "field" had many other meanings. Such common now steppe Russian names as “feather grass”, “tipchak”, “tyrsa”, “yar”, “beam”, “yaruga”, “korsak”, “jerboa” are relatively late borrowings from the Turkic languages.

During the "great migration of peoples" the steppes of Eastern Europe were largely devastated. The blows inflicted by the Huns and their followers led to a significant decrease in the number of the settled population, in some places it completely disappeared for a long time.

With the formation of the Old Russian state with its capital in Kyiv (882), the Slavs firmly settled in the forest-steppe and steppe landscapes of Eastern Europe. Separate groups of Eastern Slavs, not constituting compact masses of the population, appeared in the steppe even before the formation of the Old Russian state (for example, in Khazaria, in the lower reaches of the Volga). During the reign of Svyatoslav Igorevich (964-972), the Russians dealt a crushing blow to the hostile Khazar Khaganate. Kiev possessions spread to the lower reaches of the Don, the North Caucasus, Taman and the Eastern Crimea (Korchev-Kerch), where the ancient Russian Tmutarakan principality arose. The composition of Russia included the lands of Yases, Kasogs, Obezes - the ancestors of modern Ossetians, Balkars, Circassians, Kabardians, etc. On the Don, near the former village of Tsimlyanskaya, the Russians settled the Khazar fortress Sarkel - the Russian White Tower.

Populating the steppe regions of Eastern Europe, the Slavs brought their specific culture here, in places assimilating the remnants of the ancient Iranian population, the descendants of the Scythians and Sarmatians, by this time already strongly Turkicized. The presence of the remains of the ancient Iranian population here is evidenced by the preserved Iranian names of the rivers, a kind of Iranian hydronymy, which is visible through the younger Turkic and Slavic layers (Samara, Usmanka, Osmon, Ropshcha, etc.).

In the first half of the 13th century, the Tatar-Mongol hordes attacked the steppes of Eurasia right up to the Danubian plains of Hungary. Their dominion lasted more than two and a half centuries. Constantly making military campaigns against Russia, the Tatars remained typical steppe nomads. So, the chronicler Pimen in 1388 met them across the river. Medveditsa (left tributary of the Don): “the herd of Tatars has seen so much, as if the mind is superior, sheep, goats, oxen, camels, horses ...” (Nikon Chronicle, p. IV, p. 162).

For several millennia, the steppe served as an arena for great migrations of peoples, nomadic nomads, and military battles. The appearance of the steppe landscapes was formed under the strong pressure of human activities: grazing of cattle, unstable in time and space, burning of vegetation for military purposes, development of mineral deposits, especially cuprous sandstones, construction of numerous burial mounds, etc.

Nomadic peoples contributed to the advance of the steppe vegetation to the north. On the plains of Europe, Kazakhstan, Siberia, for many centuries pastoral nomads not only came close to the strip of small-leaved and broad-leaved forests, but also had their summer camps in the southern part, exterminated forests and contributed to the advancement of steppe vegetation far to the north. So, it is known that the Polovtsian camps were near Kharkov and Voronezh, and even along the river. Prone in the Ryazan region. Tatar herds grazed up to the southern forest-steppe.

In dry years, the southern outposts of forest vegetation were filled with hundreds of thousands of cattle, which weakened the biological position of the forest. Cattle, trampling meadow vegetation, brought with them the seeds of steppe grasses, adapted to trampling. Meadow vegetation gave way to steppe vegetation - there was a process of steppe stepping of meadows, their "ottypchakovaniya". A typical grass of the southern steppes, resistant to trampling, - fescue - moved further and further north.

The annual spring and autumn fires, arranged by nomadic and sedentary peoples, had a great impact on the life of the steppe. We find evidence of the widespread occurrence of steppe fires in the past in the writings of P. S. Pallas. “Now the entire steppe from Orenburg almost to the Iletsk fortress has not only dried up, but the Kirghists burned it naked,” he wrote in his diary in 1769. And in subsequent travels, P.S. the entire horizon on the north side of the river. Miass from the fire that has been going on for three days in the steppe is glowing ... Such steppe fires are often seen in these countries throughout the last half of April ”(Pallas, 1786, p. 19).

The significance of the fires in the life of the steppe was noted by the eyewitness of these phenomena, E. A. Eversmann (1840). He wrote: “In the spring, in May, steppe fires, or actually fell, are a wonderful sight, in which there is good, there is bad, and harm and benefit. In the evening, when it gets dark, the whole vast horizon, on even, flat steppes, is illuminated from all sides by fiery bands, which are lost in the shimmering distance and rise even, raised by the refraction of rays, from under the horizon ”(p. 44).

With the help of fires, the steppe nomadic peoples destroyed the thick dry grass and stems left over from autumn. In their opinion, the old rags did not allow young grass to break through and prevented the cattle from getting greenery. “For this reason,” Z. A. Eversmann noted, “not only nomadic peoples, but also arable peoples set fire to the steppes in early spring, as soon as the snow melts and the weather begins to warm up. Last year's grass, or rags, quickly catches fire, and the flame flows with the wind until it finds food for itself” (1840, p. 45). Observing the consequences of the fires, E. A. Eversmann noted that places not affected by fire hardly sprout grass, while scorched spaces quickly become covered with luxurious and dense greenery.

E. A. Eversmann is echoed by A. N. Sedelnikov and N. A. Borodin, speaking about the significance of spring fires in the Kazakh steppe: “The steppe after the fires presents a gloomy picture. Everywhere you can see a black, scorched surface, devoid of any life. But in less than a week (if the weather is good), it will become unrecognizable: windmills, starodubki and other early plants first turn green in islands, and then cover the steppe everywhere ... Meanwhile, unburnt places cannot overcome last year's cover until the very summer and stand deserted, devoid of green vegetation” (1903, p. 117).

The benefits of burning were also seen in the fact that the ash formed during this served as an excellent fertilizer for the soil; burning arable land and fallows, the peasant struggled with weeds; finally, the fires destroyed harmful insects.

But the harm of the fires for forest and shrub vegetation was also obvious, since the young shoots burned out to the very root. In reducing the forest cover of our steppes, it was the steppe burns that played an important role. In addition, entire villages, grain reserves, haystacks, etc., often suffered from them. Animals, and especially birds nesting in the open steppe, suffered some damage. Nevertheless, this ancient custom of the steppe nomads, consecrated for centuries, was in the conditions of extensive cattle breeding a kind of method for improving wormwood and wormwood-cereal pastures.

The steppe, with its unstable crops, was the source of new military incursions. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. in the steppes of Eurasia they learned to use horses in military affairs. Major military operations were carried out in the open steppe expanse: Numerous hordes of steppe nomads, who were well versed in the art of equestrian combat, enriched with the military experience of the conquered countries and peoples of Eurasia, actively participated in shaping the political situation and culture of China, Hindustan, Iran, Western and Central Asia, East and Southern Europe.

On the border of the forest and the steppe, hostilities constantly arose between the forest and steppe peoples. In the minds of the Russian people, the word "field" ("steppe") was invariably associated with the word "war". Russians and nomads had different attitudes towards the forest and the steppe. The Russian state tried in every possible way to preserve the forests on its southern and southeastern borders, even creating original forest barriers - "notches". For military purposes, "fields" were burned to deprive the enemy of rich grasslands for horses. In turn, the nomads exterminated forests in every possible way, made treeless passages to Russian cities. Fires both in the forests and in the steppe were a constant attribute of hostilities on the border of the forest and the steppe. The conflagrations were again covered with meadow vegetation, and a significant part with forest.

Steppes occupy an important place in the history of the Russian people. In the struggle against the steppe nomads in the first centuries of our era, the consolidation of the Slavic tribes took place. Campaigns in the steppe contributed to the creation in the VI-VII centuries. ancient Russian tribal unions. Even M. V. Lomonosov admitted that “among the ancient ancestors of the current Russian people ... the Scythians are not the last part.” Kievan Rus arose at the junction of forest and steppe. Later, the center of the Russian state moved to the forest zone, and the steppe with its indigenous Turkic population was, according to the figurative expression of the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky, “the historical scourge of Russia” until the 17th century. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the steppes became the place of formation of the Cossacks, which settled in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Don, Volga, Ural, in the North Caucasus. Somewhat later, Cossack settlements appear in the steppes of Southern Siberia and the Far East.

Steppe landscapes have played an exceptionally important role in the history of human civilizations. In the interglacial and postglacial periods, the steppe served as a universal source of food resources. The wealth of the steppe nature - fruits, berries, roots, game, fish - saved the ancient man from starvation. The domestication of ungulates became possible in the steppe. Fertile chernozem soils gave rise to agriculture. The Scythians were the first farmers in the steppes of Eurasia. They grew wheat, rye, barley, and millet. Engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding, the inhabitants of the steppes not only fully provided for their own needs, but also created reserves of plant and livestock products.

The steppe in many ways contributed to the solution of the transport problems of mankind. According to most researchers, the wheel and the cart are the invention of the steppe peoples. The expanse of the steppe awakened the need for rapid movement; domestication of the horse became possible only in the steppe, and the idea of ​​the wheel, apparently, was a gift from the steppe plants "tumbleweed".

For many centuries, people migrated along the steppe corridor stretching from Central Asia to the south of Central Europe, there was a global cultural exchange between different civilizations. Samples of everyday life and art of Egypt, Greece, Assyria, Iran, Byzantium, Urartu, China, and India are found in the burial grounds of nomadic peoples.

Powerful flows of matter and energy are moving along the steppe corridor even today. Grain and livestock products, coal, oil, gas, ferrous and non-ferrous metals are mined in the steppe landscapes and transported both in latitudinal and longitudinal directions. The world's longest railways and roads, powerful pipelines have been built in an open and accessible landscape. Human migration along the steppe roads does not stop either. Only in the current century, two powerful waves of migrations have engulfed the steppe zone.

In 1906-1914. 3.3 million people moved from the central regions of Russia and Ukraine to the steppes of the Trans-Urals, Northern Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia. This movement of the rural population to permanent residence in the sparsely populated free lands was caused by agrarian overpopulation and an agrarian crisis.

In 1954-1960. in the steppe zone of the Urals, Siberia, the Far East and Northern Kazakhstan, 41.8 million hectares of virgin and fallow lands were plowed up. At least 3 million people moved to the steppes from densely populated regions of the country to develop them. Today, the natural resources of the steppe landscapes play a decisive role in the economy of Ukraine, the North Caucasus, the Central Black Earth Region, the Volga region, the South Urals, Kazakhstan, and South Siberia.

Having played an exceptional role in the history of mankind, the steppe, the first of all other types of landscape, was on the verge of a complete loss of its original appearance and anthropogenization - a radical economic restructuring and replacement with agricultural landscapes.

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Now the anthropogenic landscape has changed the face of nature and, in many respects, microclimates. That European steppe, located in the strip between 52 and 48 ° north latitude, which will be discussed below, no longer exists, but unlike the Golden Horde, the cenosis of the steppe was studied in detail by biologists, and in general terms it appears
to twist its features is not difficult.

In the steppe in antiquity and the Middle Ages, it was not by chance that only nomads lived, but not farmers. It is no coincidence that in the Middle Ages the Great Steppe before the Golden Horde was not a country of cities. The climate of the steppes of Eurasia is harsh and poorly adapted not only for agriculture, but also for human life.
The steppe is characterized by seasonal and diurnal contrast of temperatures with strong overheating of the earth in summer and sharp cooling in winter, a large diurnal difference between day and night temperatures. “The steppe climate differs from the climate of other landscape zones primarily by its striking inconstancy,” writes Vyacheslav Mordkovich, “Life between drought and flood, heat and cold is the usual state of steppe-type ecosystems. Climatic contrasts are also manifested by the alternation of frosty days and thaws in winter, a sudden cooling in summer or the same unexpected warming (up to 30 ° C) in early spring in April, when the snow has not yet completely melted. In summer, “cold showers” ​​are replaced by exhausting heat and drought. “Even in the middle of summer there are cold snaps like in the tundra. The average daily air temperature in July can suddenly drop from 30 to 7°C ... It takes only 2-3 hours for the surface temperature of the steppe soil to jump from 16 to 42°C. The daily amplitude of air temperatures in the steppe even in the middle of summer reaches 31°С” (The Fate of the Steppes, pp. 129, 140, 142).
Almost all atmospheric moisture falling out (80%) in the steppe occurs in the summer months, and it is extremely uneven: in June-July from Moldova to the Don there is a drought. Since the third decade of September, all the Eurasian steppes are immersed in hibernation, either due to a lack of heat, or water, or both. Sometimes all the moisture can fall out in one big summer downpour and quickly evaporate due to the heat, and the rest of the time it is dry, because of which trees do not grow in the steppe, there are few juicy herbs and people's tongues dry up in their mouths. Plants can use no more than one-fifth of the moisture that falls in the steppe. Severe droughts recur every 3-4 years in the steppe. It is no coincidence that nomadic farming was reduced to spring sowing and leaving the field, returning to it only in autumn, harvesting a meager harvest, if any.
The steppe climate of our mainland is determined by the area of ​​high pressure, which stretches in a narrow tongue to the west from the Siberian anticyclone, passing along a conditional line connecting the cities of Kyzyl - Uralsk - Saratov - Kharkov - Chisinau - Szekesfe -
hervar. This conditional line is called the Great climatic axis of Eurasia. The axis serves as a windshed on the mainland. In winter, to the north of it, where the zone of forest-steppe and forest is located, where farmers lived in the Middle Ages, warm winds blow from the west and south-west, carrying precipitation. To the south, where there are steppes, semi-deserts and deserts, where dry and cold northeast and east winds prevail, only nomads lived in the Middle Ages.
“The narrow tongue from the area of ​​high atmospheric pressure and the steppes, closely associated with this peculiar climatic phenomenon, pierce Europe like a cold blade. In countries with a mild climate, rich, vibrant landscapes and comfortable human life, the steppes allow frosts, droughts, plant and animal species that can endure harsh external conditions, and in the 7th-12th centuries. - armies of nomads,” writes Vyacheslav Mordkovich.
The direction of the winds is dictated by the movement of air currents in anticyclones in a clockwise direction, from the center, where atmospheric pressure is high, to the outskirts, where it is lower. In January, a strong pressure drop between the Atlantic and Siberia creates a powerful air draft from the center of Asia to the Atlantic Ocean. This frosty “draft” chooses its way between hills, mountains, and even low spaces.
Territories north of the Eurasian Great Climatic Axis receive more precipitation in winter than south of it. Deep snow cover protects the soil from excessive freezing. In spring, there is not just a lot of water here, but the peculiarity of the flood is that the water does not immediately run into the rivers, but gradually seeps into the soil, moistening it. To the south of the Eurasian Great Climatic Axis, water quickly evaporates in spring, before it seeps into the frozen soil. Steppes receive no less water than forest ecosystems in spring when snow melts, and in summer from heavy rains. However, the period of abundant moisture in the steppes is quickly replaced by drought (The fate of the steppes, pp. 27-28, 30, 33-35).
We can say that life in the steppe depends on water. As Igor Ivanov clearly stated in a special report at the seminar “Man and Nature - Problems of Socionatural History”, the richness of species and the intensity of life of the steppe throughout its history - from the Pleistocene to the Holocene - was determined not so much by cooling and warming and the thickness of the humus layer, but by the level of moisture (see also Ivanov 1997-1). It is no coincidence that the steppe cities of the Golden Horde grew up on rivers.

The biocenosis of the steppe is arranged in such a way as to preserve moisture and phytomass as much as possible during dry periods. Stanislav Mordkovich and Sergey Balandin write the following about the structure of soils, the vital activity of plants and animals in this direction.
Mordkovich: “A typical mature chernozem profile looks like this. From the surface lies a three- to four-centimeter layer of steppe felt. Its basis is formed by dead, but not yet decomposed, above-ground parts of steppe plants... Under the steppe felt there is sod - a horizon 3-7 cm thick, densely penetrated by living and dead roots... It is very dense and elastic, like a trampoline. Even a very strong digger finds it difficult to pierce it with a shovel. When plowing up, the sod horizon is completely destroyed... Below the sod there is a black humus horizon proper with a thickness of 35 to 130 cm.”
Balandin: “Moderate human intervention, whether it be grazing or mowing for the purpose of making hay, leads to the flourishing of plant communities.” Steppe felt (litter) reduces evaporation and improves the water regime of the upper soil horizons. “Steppe felt inhibits the development of soddy grasses, and at the same time promotes the settlement and growth of rhizomatous grasses. In conditions of weakened competition from soddy grasses, there is an opportunity for the development of shrubs and even some tree species. In addition, steppe felt retains the seeds of fruit-bearing plants, which literally “hang” in its thickness and, before reaching the soil, die ... Under natural conditions, the accumulation of a powerful layer of litter is prevented by the eating of part of the plants by numerous animal phytophages and random steppe fires caused by lightning strikes . ... The litter is constantly disturbed, broken by hooves. At the same time, the seeds of many plants have the opportunity to penetrate the soil; some of them are simply trampled into the ground, which greatly facilitates their germination ... Before human settlement of the Eurasian steppes, herds of saigas and wild horses - tarpans grazed in them ... In addition, rodents, as well as some insects, made their contribution.”
Mordkovich: “Continuous migrations are a necessary condition for the survival of a large animal in a steppe-type landscape ... Prairies and steppes cannot be completely eaten by ungulates,
due to their constant movement. On the move, herbivores do not have time to eat all the grass at once, but only bite the tops of plants ...
Migrations do not occur randomly, but in accordance with the main vectors of environmental conditions in the steppe landscape zone, i.e. from north to south and vice versa, or in the direction from west to east. In winter, heavy snowfalls in the north of the steppe zone make dry grass (rags) inaccessible, which ungulates eat at this time of the year. Therefore, they are forced to move to the south, where dry grass standing on the vine is more accessible. In summer, drought forces herbivores, followed by predators, to migrate to the northern or western regions of the steppe zone.:.
The herd lifestyle makes it easier to get food, especially in winter, when the herd marches in a column, the strongest males are in front, who break the snow crust with their strong hooves. From these diggers, young members of the herd easily get grass rags ... If ungulates, with their huge population density, were evenly distributed throughout the entire expanse of the steppe or prairie, they would eat the entire above-ground mass of plants in a few days, preventing it from growing ”(Fate steppes, pp. 43, 75-76, 87-88, 90).
But ungulates were not distributed evenly throughout the steppe, this was prevented in natural conditions by predators. They forced the herds to constantly move, they forced the strong males to be located on the periphery of the herd in order to protect the young, females and weak individuals. They regulated the number of mammals through natural selection.
Before man, the steppe was in a state of stable homeostasis. As Sergei Balandin figuratively writes, “The steppe, like a good Turkmen carpet, needs to be trampled on” (The Fate of the Steppes, p. 76). The more ungulates trample the steppe, the more grass there is. But trampling on the steppe is not unlimited, although the recreational possibilities of the steppe biome are amazingly great: “the surface of the steppe, rammed by cattle to a state resembling an asphalt coating, restores its original shape already three years after the removal of the pasture load ...” (The fate of the steppes, p. 134 ).
The appearance of man made steppe homeostasis less stable for a number of reasons. Steppe cities were created from scratch. The people who settled them did not know how to behave in the steppe, did not
knew that the skills developed by ancestors in other natural conditions could do a disservice in a new place. Often nomads did not know the new steppe either. It seemed to them incomparably richer than their former native places, but they did not know the limits of its possibilities, followed by an ecological crisis or a local ecological catastrophe.
These boundaries are determined primarily by a general universal pattern: the physical mass of livestock in a completely anthropogenic landscape or the total mass of domestic and wild animals in a not completely anthropogenic landscape cannot exceed the mass of wild ungulates that were here before humans. In addition, in order to maintain the ecological balance of the steppe biocenosis, the ratio of individual animal species in their total number is of great importance. From time to time, as was the case in Ryn-sands in the 19th century. or today's Mongolia, pastoralists fall into the ecological "trap" of exceeding the proportion of sheep and goats in the total livestock.
Man protected the weakest ungulates - sheep - from predators. And sheep exert the strongest pressure on the ground, both literally and figuratively. A sheep, unlike large ungulates, moves slowly and tramples the ground thoroughly. In sheep pens, unlike cow pens, you will not see even a blade of grass. The pressure of small sheep's hooves per unit area is four times the pressure of the caterpillars of a medium tank (Fate of the Steppes, p. 164). If large ungulates only bite the grass, then the sheep, according to the popular Buryat expression, “shears”.
In modern Buryatia, the reduction in the number of sheep immediately resulted in a decrease in the rate of soil degradation (Panarin, p. 100). As evidenced by the study of the ecological catastrophe in the Volga-Ural interfluve in the 19th-20th centuries, carried out by Igor Ivanov, the crisis phenomena there were provoked by a sharp increase in the number of livestock (from 200 thousand to 5 million heads), in which 77% were sheep (Ivanov 1995, p. 181). In the Caspian region, the steppe is preserved at a density of less than 0.7 sheep per hectare, with more than one desert (Miroshnichenko, p. 40). For Kalmykia, the following ratio is accepted: with a population of 300 thousand people, 1 million sheep (69%),
200 thousand horses (13.8%), 200 thousand cows (13.8%), 50 thousand camels (3.4%) (Vinogradov et al., p. 103).
The ecological catastrophe in the Caspian region clearly shows that traditional pastoralism is not guaranteed against crises, although most often it does not come to a crisis. Another thing is if the steppe is overgrown with cities that attract nomads with their herds. Here, the same phenomenon is possible as in watering holes, near which nothing grows.
In other words, even medieval urbanization is fraught with disruption of at least the local ecological balance in the steppes. However, the very existence of the Golden Horde - taking into account its borders, the characteristics of climatic zones, the underdevelopment of medieval infrastructure, objectively required a local concentration in the steppes - the geographical center of the state, not only administrative and economic management, but livestock and industry, which placed an additional burden on the biocenosis of the steppe.

Mongolia is a country with one of the lowest population densities in the world. Less than three million people live in an area the size of two France, a million of whom live in the capital.

So it turns out that you can travel around Mongolia for a very long time in any direction, and only occasionally meet small clusters of whitening yurts on the way. Two-thirds of the population live in the steppe and lead a nomadic lifestyle, regularly moving to a new place in search of pastures for livestock.

Cattle breeding, whatever one may say, is a key activity for the steppe inhabitants - it gives them meat, milk (from which, by the way, they just didn’t learn how to cook here), wool, skins. Usually in one family there are different types of animals - it can be a herd of sheep and goats, a paddock with cows and calves, several horses.

The first time we were visiting a Mongolian family, in a yurt at the beginning of our journey, thanks to the people who drove us to their friends. At that time, we had little idea of ​​how nomadic people live, what their life is like, what a real yurt looks like from the inside.

No matter how trite it may sound, their way of life has not changed much since ancient times, and even more so since the reign of Genghis Khan. But nevertheless, civilization has reached here too - an energy-saving light bulb, a TV with a satellite dish, a motorcycle or a truck are in almost every yurt.

Horses as transport are still very relevant, because in many places there is nothing else to drive on, and it is convenient to graze the herd. The horsemen we met did not use saddles. And here it is somehow famously

We were lucky to see the process of assembling a yurt for moving to a new place literally in the very first family in which we found ourselves. In the evening, everything was still in its place, no fuss and fees. But in the morning, a well-coordinated family team in two hours completely dismantled the yurt and folded it into the back of a truck along with all the things.

There are different sizes of yurts - they are divided according to the number of component parts of the walls (we saw from 4 to 6). You can collect more if you wish.

The main furnishings in all yurts are the same - in the center there is a stove with a chimney and a table, along the walls there are beds, most often two. There are additional beds on the floor, because often a large family lives in one yurt, and everyone needs to fit.

Many cabinets are the same, probably - the traditional design.

The floor is partially or completely covered with pieces of linoleum or carpet, sometimes parts are simply earthen. In yurts they do not take off their shoes, they walk in street shoes.

Be sure to have a locker or wall with photographs of all relatives, children, grandchildren. Images of the Dalai Lama are also quite common :)

The doors are low, the head was banged several times. There are no locks, not even latches, only if the yurt stands near a city or village.

A yurt is either made by oneself or bought. Translated into rubles, its value is about 40,000.

They live, as mentioned above, by animal husbandry, selling meat and dairy products. Men tend herds of sheep, cows, yaks, goats or horses. Often the animals graze themselves, in the evening they are herded to the yurts, where they sleep.

There are small pens where calves or foals are kept, and mothers are brought to them in the morning and in the evening to feed the cubs. After the child has eaten, the remaining milk is removed.

Women also have something to do :) They make cheese, kefir, sour cream, butter from milk.

In each yurt, we saw several basins full of milk at one stage or another of its preparation.

Meat is not harvested in large quantities, more than one carcass is not kept in a yurt.

Smoked over the stove:

Men in the steppe often wear national clothes - over jeans and a T-shirt. It is convenient - it does not blow through, you can put everything you need in your bosom, and you are probably used to it. We saw men of different ages in such clothes, so these are not relics of the older generation :)

Women also wear it, but less often. Although a woman's dress has at least one important practical plus - you can go to the toilet in the steppe anywhere. There are no bushes!

Each family keeps several dogs, which are supposed to protect from strangers (this is unlikely, given the lack of castles), and from wolves (a very real threat, sheep are periodically dragged). All the dogs we met barked very loudly, but when we met, they turned out to be very cute creatures :)

They don’t like cats, even in the city they practically don’t start. We saw once, in a yurt, a cute well-fed cat with a very smooth coat. Still, so much milk!

People are very hospitable, you can safely enter any yurt if something happens, or you just need to ask something. They will help you in any way they can and give you tea.

By the way, their tea is completely different - milk, some kind of shavings and salt. Drink hot.

Since I still have not fallen in love with milk, Roma gets two servings. They also drink koumiss, which tastes like milk kvass. As a bite - bread and butter, sprinkled with sugar! As in childhood

Each yurt has arts - dried salted cottage cheese. It whitens teeth very well! They also make sweet - arold. In the first yurt, we were presented with a bag of arts and a large jar of homemade butter - we ate it for two weeks :)

There is also such a thing - they remove the top from the basin, in which they make sour cream, and fold it in half. They eat with bread.

From what we had a chance to try - sweet milk rice (my portion went to Roma), soup from horns with meat (horns - for me, meat - not for me :), homemade noodles with meat (similarly).

We heard that the Mongols drink a lot. With us, moonshine vodka was drunk only once - in the evening in a yurt, in a family circle in very moderate quantities. They cook themselves from milk, drink it warm.

Plates in our understanding are also not noticed, they eat from tall saucers, they also drink tea from them.

Many products from Russia and Ukraine - familiar labels are found everywhere - Yanta, Alenka, Zolotaya Smechka.

Little is known about the Russian language, even by the older generation. That is, meeting a person who speaks Russian is quite realistic, but most likely it will not be the first person you meet, and not even the second.

In general, at first Roma was very psyched that no one understood him. It was the first time he was abroad, he had not yet learned sign language, and sincerely tried to speak Russian with them, slowing down the pace of speech and clearly pronouncing the words (well, to make it clearer)

Apparently, his desire was so great that we suddenly, quite by accident, began to meet people who understood our language and spoke it. Almost everyone who gave us a ride, with whom we stayed, whom we met - the Mongols, Poles, French, Americans - everyone could more or less clearly express themselves in the great and powerful

Separately, I want to say about the children. Firstly, they give birth at least two or three, often more. It's good to be a kid in Mongolia!

He has his own steppe, his own horse, his own animals. They don’t force him to wash his hands before eating, they don’t scold him for torn pants or spilled sugar, no “Don’t go there, you will fall, Don’t go there - they will crush you.” He can do whatever he wants. He runs around the steppe all day long, rides a bicycle, drives sheep back and forth.

No stress, hassle and sores (good immunity, not spoiled by drugs).

Simple, happy people who do not bother with conventions and do not worry about trifles. They do not need roads and the Internet, they have everything they need.

Traveling across the Mongolian steppe is a great place and an original way to reassess your values ​​and dispel the stereotypes imposed by society. We got it, we recommend it to everyone!