ABSTRACT
Nomads had the greatest historical impact on sedentary peoples when they used their political and military power to dominate them. Ironically the most effective way to do this was to abandon the nomadic life for a sedentary one as a ruling elite. Indeed most of what could be considered 'nomad influence' on sedentary societies historically involved the imposition of a certain number of the nomadic elite's values, tastes, and styles of political organization on sedentary populations that then permeated the larger society.
