Nomadic peoples of Europe

File:Стойбище ненцев.jpg in Russia, 2014]]

Nomadism has rarely been practiced in Europe in the modern period, being restricted to the margins of the continent, notably Arctic peoples such as the (traditionally) semi-nomadic Saami people in the north of Scandinavia,{{Cite web |last=Solbakk |first=John T. |title=Reindeer husbandry – an exclusive Sámi livelihood in Norway |url=http://www.galdu.org/govat/doc/eng_reindeer.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927172745/http://www.galdu.org/govat/doc/eng_reindeer.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=10 August 2007 |website=www.galdu.org}} or the Nenets people in Russia's Nenets Autonomous Okrug.{{Cite journal |last1=Forbes |first1=Bruce C. |last2=Stammler |first2=Florian |last3=Kumpula |first3=Timo |last4=Meschtyb |first4=Nina |last5=Pajunen |first5=Anu |last6=Kaarlejärvi |first6=Elina |date=2009-12-29 |title=High resilience in the Yamal-Nenets social–ecological system, West Siberian Arctic, Russia |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=106 |issue=52 |pages=22041–22048 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0908286106 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=2791666 |pmid=20007776}} In ancient and early medieval times, Eurasian nomads dominated the eastern steppe areas of Europe, such as the Scythians, Huns, Avars, Pechenegs, Cumans or Kalmyk people in Russia's Kalmykia.{{Cite book |last=Tikhomirov |first=Andrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHsVEAAAQBAJ&dq=Povos+N%C3%B4madas+da+Europa&pg=PT14 |title=Povos românicas. Migrações indo-européias |date=2022-05-15 |publisher=Litres |isbn=978-5-04-229976-6 |language=en}}

Historically, at least until the Early Middle Ages, nomadic groups were much more widespread, especially in the Pontic steppe of Eastern Europe (part of Europe in the contemporary geographical definition, but as part of the Eurasian Steppe historically considered part of Asian Scythia).{{Cite book |last=Costa |first=Wanderley Messias da |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-jzvfubTYkC&dq=Povos+N%C3%B4madas+da+Europa&pg=PA80 |title=Geografia Política e Geopolítica:Discursos sobre o Território e o Poder |date=2008 |publisher=EdUSP |isbn=978-85-314-1074-1 |language=pt-BR}} The last nomadic populations of this region (such as the Kalmyk people, Nogais, Kazakhs and Bashkirs) became mostly sedentary in the Early Modern period under the Russian Empire. Seasonal migration over short distance is known as transhumance (as e.g. in the Alps or Vlachs in the Balkans) and is not normally considered "nomadism".{{Cn|date=February 2024}}

Sometimes also described as "nomadic" (in the figurative or extended sense) is the itinerant lifestyle of various groups subsisting on craft, trade or seasonal labour rather than on livestock.Oxford English Dictionary: "nomad, n.: "A member of a people that travels from place to place to find fresh pasture for its animals, and has no permanent home. Also (in extended use): an itinerant person; a wanderer." (emphasis not in original) Romani people and Irish Travellers are the best known of these.{{Cite book |last=Nogueira |first=Adeilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0KkDwAAQBAJ&q=Povos+N%C3%B4madas+da+Europa |title=Ciganos, A História De Um Povo |date=2019 |publisher=Clube de Autores |language=pt-PT}} See itinerant groups in Europe for those.