Bedouin

Bedouin, derived from the Arabic badawi بدوي, a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the eastern coast of the Arabian desert. It is occasionally used to refer to non-Arab groups as well, notably the Beja of the African coast of the Red Sea.

Bedouin tribes and populations

There are a number of Bedouin tribes, but the total population is often difficult to determine, especially as many Bedouin have ceased to lead nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyles (see above) and joined the general population. Some of the tribes and their historical population:

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• Rwala live in Saudi Arabia, but extend through Jordan into Syria and Iraq, in the 1970s, according to Lancaster, there were 250,000-500,000 Rwala
• Awlad Ali live in Egypt and Cyrenica, in 1971 Mohsen estimated that there were 100,000 or so members of the tribe in the desert.
• Bdul Bedouin live around Petra in Jordan.
• Ammarin North of Petra
• Howeitat in Wadi Araba, Jordan
• Beni Sakhr in Syria and jordan
• Al Murrah in Saudi Arabia
• Sardiyyah in Jordan
• Beni Khalid in Jordan, Palestine and Syria
• Anayzah
• Shammar
• Baggara of Sudan and Chad
• Chaamba of Algeria
• Beni Hassan of Mauritania.

See also: Bedouin music

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