The term nomadism is used to designate a lifestyle that implies the permanent transfer from one place to another and the non-permanent establishment in any space in terms of habitat. Although nomadism is much more characteristic of some types of animals than of the human being, this has also been known to be a nomadic animal for a long time in its history. Nomadism exists today as a critical phenomenon related to the different complexities of today's society, with the excess of population over the spaces available to live, with cultural issues and with attitudes of discrimination and conflict between diverse peoples.
The period in which the human being was characterized by being exclusively nomadic was the one that began Prehistory and which became known as Paleolithic. At this time, the human being had not yet developed the means that would allow him to provide himself with his own food without depending on the availability of the environment that surrounded him. In this way, it had to move and move permanently whenever the resources of the space in which it was found were exhausted. Their homes were therefore very precarious and perhaps even simple natural forms that served as a refuge (caves, holes, etc.). Such a situation would end with the invention of agriculture and the emergence of the sedentary lifestyle.
We can say that a large part of the current population maintains sedentary life traits. This means that man no longer needs to move from one space to another other than for voluntary reasons: modern life allows him to have in his own fixed home with all the services and basic elements to carry out his daily life.
However, the different political, economic and cultural crises continue to generate in many peoples the need to move permanently from one place to another in search of protection, security or means to live. Refugees are today the clearest representatives of such a situation since their lifestyle does not allow them to have a fixed home or to provide themselves with those basic food items. This situation is reproduced especially in a large part of the African continent, in the Middle East and in some countries of South Asia.
