Alani also called Alans, were an ancient nomadic pastoral people that occupied the steppe region Northeast of the Black Sea. The Alans were the most easterly of the Sarmation nations and the most durable, differing from the other Sarmations in being blonde instead of dark. They inhabited this area from 50 AD to 1500 AD and were still charging desperately against the Catalan company in the 14th century.
The Alani were first mentioned in Roman literature in the 1st century AD and were described later as a warlike people that specialised in horse breeding. They frequently raided the Parthian Empire and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire. About AD 370, however, the Huns overwhelmed them and many fled westward, crossing into Gaul with the Vandals and Suevi.
Although some of the Alani settled near Orléans and Valence, most went to North Africa with the Vandals, causing the official title of the Vandal kings in Africa to be "kings of the Vandals and the Alani." The Khazars and Mongols later subjugated those that remained under the rule of the Huns.
Although not themselves especially aggressive as a nation, they frequently sent contingents to help others that were, leading to various short lived settlements of conquerors or foederati scattered over the later Roman west and in due course absorbed by neighboring cultures. They are typified by Claudian as the "restless Alans".