![]() ![]() Year after year, the Jochid hordes moved up and down the great rivers of their territory. Villagers sold produce at the hordes’ markets and seasonal trade fairs. Herdsmen exchanged sheep and skins for grains the Jochid elite supplemented their diets with millet and wheat from the many villages near their wintering grounds in the Volga delta and lower Don. As the cold season progressed and the animals lost weight, the nomads relied more on carbohydrates. Mongols hunted and fished throughout the year, but winters demanded special arrangements. Seasonal diets were a byproduct of mobility. Herding was always central to the operation of a horde, though over time the hordes diversified their subsistence strategies to sustain their ever-growing populations. ![]() A horde was a self-sufficient unit that moved with its supply system, which included enormous numbers of horses, goats, sheep, oxen, and camels. Everything the people of the horde needed was portable: homes, workshops, palaces, shrines, statues. When conditions were ideal, the numbers could reach a hundred thousand. ![]() A massively elongated city, a single horde could contain thousands of people. ![]() The following was excerpted from The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the Worldby Marie Favereau, which has been shortlisted for the 2021 Cundill History Prize. ![]()
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