Transhumance

A seasonal migration among nomadic herders between regions of different elevations. Transhumance is a type of pastoralism, but is specific to topography and should not be confused with more general nomadic herding or migration with animals. In the process of transhumance, the migration of humans and animals takes place as movement between pastures located at varying altitudes. Typically, during the warmer summer months, when temperatures are warmer and vegetation is available, herds are moved to higher locales. Herders, often with their entire extended families, move with their animals and take up residence at these places, living in either temporary shelters that may be relocated from pasture to pasture, or in more permanent buildings that are used at the same location from year to year. 

In late summer or early fall, again depending on the elevation of the pasture being utilized, the herd is moved downslope to a lower elevation, where temperatures at night are still tolerable to both human and beast, and sufficient plant material is available to maintain the herd. This process may continue over several weeks or even months, as pastureland at progressively lower altitudes is used in a step-by-step fashion, until the lowest land is reached during the coldest period of the year. The animals are kept at this location until warming temperatures in the spring allow for the use of higher grazing land, at which time the cycle begins anew. The most common animals involved in the process of transhumance are sheep and cattle, but other grazing animals may also be moved between elevations. 

Many people across the globe practice transhumance, and pastoralists continue to employ this process even in technologically advanced economies—it is not strictly confined to developing regions of the world. In France and Spain sheep and goats are moved seasonally, and transhumance involving dairy cattle remains quite common in some European countries, especially Switzerland, Austria, and the Scandinavian countries. The historical record indicates that the practice of transhumance was common by the early Middle Ages and may have originated in alpine Europe as early as the Bronze Age. Some famous elements of the cultural geography of this region are connected to the use of mountain pastures, such as the use of the alphorn and yodeling, both of which almost certainly originated as means of communication between shepherds separated by wide distances. 

Only later did these forms of long-distance communication acquire artistic musical expression, with numerous melodies and songs emerging as part of the folk culture of Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and other alpine areas of Central Europe. Modern technology has altered some of the characteristics of transhumance in developed regions. For example, in some economically developed countries, those keeping flocks at high elevations during the summer are supplied via helicopter deliveries, whereas for centuries the traditional system relied on a supply system of mounted riders, who would periodically bring provisions to the herdsmen in the mountain pastures. Despite modern adaptations, the basic characteristics of transhumance remain a way of life for thousands of people across the globe.