Arid-zone pastoral populations’ material and cultural needs presuppose cities

Evidence

It is not entirely clear whether this is inherent in ecology or in culture. The standard of living to which the populations in the arid zone have long become accustomed, in the course of the last three millennia perhaps, is such that it assumes artisan production and trade. Unlike, say, East African nomads, the pastoral and rural populations of the arid zone are habituated to a certain level of equipment, from saddles and stirrups and tent equipment to decorations and carpets. But cultural equipment also counts; they also recognize, revere, and internalize a religion which involves literacy. Their entire military, productive, and cultural machinery presupposes large clusterings of artisans, plus some scribes, and the complementation of ecological diversity by trade. In brief, it presupposes cities. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1968

Categorization

• QUESTION: Ibn Khaldun explicitly leaves open whether the dependence is ecological or cultural — a generative ambiguity worth pursuing.