Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 10.5 A nomadic Gaddi pasto-ralist and his flock returning from summer high pastures in the
Pir Panjal Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh, India. (Photo by J. S. Gardner.)
In a different category are prospectors, miners, loggers, and, today, workers in sec-
ondary or tertiary forms of employment, who live their entire lives in the mountains
but continually shift location within the mountains. The gold and silver rush era of the
nineteenth century in the mountains of western North America provides examples. Pro-
spectors examined a promising area, staked claims, maybe worked the site for a short
period, and then moved on. Miners likewise tended to move from place to place, follow-
ing the new finds and “rushes.” More recently, the same pattern of shifting to sites of
exploitation has existed within the community of loggers, tree planters, and construc-
tion workers. With the advent of more rapid and reliable transportation, such resource
exploitation can take place from distant permanent homes, usually in established and
diversified mountain communities.
It is not uncommon for some members of mountain families and settlements to have
employment outside the mountains. Just as the Swiss and Scottish Highlanders were
once the mercenaries of Europe, the Gurkha of the Indian and Nepal Himalaya have
sought employment elsewhere as professional soldiers for several generations. Large
numbers of young people in mountain areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Ne-
pal have gained employment as far away as the Gulf States, providing cash remittances
to family members remaining in the mountain home. This pattern also is common in
parts of the Andes, where males move annually to work on agricultural plantations on
the coastal plains of Peru and Ecuador to harvest sugar cane, rice, bananas, and other
products, or to work in the oilfields of the Amazon lowlands adjacent to the Cordilleras.
The same pattern can be observed among residents of the Andes who work in the Un-
ited States, Spain, and other European countries. They may periodically visit their home
villages for fiestas or family events, and they also send remittances to family members
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