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|
البجا | |
|---|---|
 Beja men dancing | |
| Total population | |
| 1.9[1]–3 million[2][3] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Eastern Desert | |
 Sudan | 2,620,000 (2024)[3] |
 Eritrea | 121,000 (2022)[3] |
 Egypt | 88,000 (2023)[3] |
| Languages | |
| Arabic (Sudanese Arabic),Beja,Tigre | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Cushites,Tigre,Sudanese Arabs,Nubians, | |
TheBeja people[a] or theBejas are aCushiticethnic group[4] native to theEastern Desert, inhabiting a coastal area from southeasternEgypt through easternSudan and into northwesternEritrea.[1] They are descended from peoples who have inhabited the area since4000 BC or earlier.[1] They arenomadic[1] and live primarily in the Eastern Desert. The Beja number from 1.9 million[1] to 3 million.[3][2]
Some of the Beja speak aCushitic language calledBeja and some speakTigre, aSemitic language, while others speakArabic.[1][5] In Eritrea and southeastern Sudan, many members of theBeni-Amer grouping speak Tigre. In southeastern Egypt and northeastern Sudan mostAbabda speak Arabic.[6] Originally, the Beja did not speak Arabic, but the migration of the numerousArab tribes ofJuhaynah,Mudar,Rabi'a, and many more to the Beja areas contributed to theArabization andIslamization of them.[7][8] The Arabs did not however fully settle in the Beja areas as they looked for better climate in other areas.[8] The Beja have partially mixed with Arabs through intermarriages over the centuries,[8] and by the 15th century were absorbed intoIslam.[8] The process of Arabization led to the Beja adopting the Arabic language,[7] Arab clothing,[9] and Arab kinship organization.[6]
The Beja are traditionally Cushitic-speakingpastoral nomads native to northeast Africa, referred to asMedjay thenBlemmyes in ancient texts. The geographer Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi wrote in the tenth century that the Beja were at that timeChristians.[10] Beja territories in the Eastern desert were conquered and vassalised by theKingdom of Aksum in the third century.[11] The historianAl-Yaqubi documented fiveBeja Kingdoms in the 9th century. Originally, the Beja did not speak Arabic, however the migration of the numerousArab tribes ofJuhaynah,Mudar,Rabi'a, and many more to the Beja areas contributed to theArabization andIslamization of them,[7][8] however the Arabs did not fully settle in the Beja areas as they looked for better climate in other areas.[8] The Beja have partially mixed with Arabs through intermarriages over the centuries,[8] and by the 15th century, the Beja wereIslamized.[8] TheBalaw of the southern Red Sea coast may have come from the mixing of people from the Arab Peninsula and Beja people, but there has been significant historical dispute on this matter.[12] TheHadendoa Beja by the 18th century dominated much of eastern Sudan. In theMahdist War of the 1880s to 1890s, the Beja fought on both sides, the Hadendoa siding with the Mahdist troops, while theBisharin andAmarar tribes sided with theBritish,[13] and someBeni Amer - a subset of the Beja who live largely in Eritrea sided with the EthiopianRas Alula in certain battles, such asKufit.[14]
TheBeja Congress was formed in 1952 with the aim of pursuing regional autonomy from the government in Khartoum. Frustrated by the lack of progress, the Beja Congress joined the insurgentNational Democratic Alliance in the 1990s. The Beja Congress effectively controlled a part of eastern Sudan centered on Garoura and Hamshkoraib. The Beja Congress sabotaged the oil pipeline toPort Sudan several times during 1999 and 2000. In 2003, they rejected the peace deal arranged between the Sudanese government and theSudan People's Liberation Army, and allied with the rebel movement of the Darfur region, theSudan Liberation Movement/Army, in January 2004. A peace agreement was signed with the government of Sudan in October 2006. In the general elections in April 2010, the Beja Congress did not win a single seat in the National Assembly in Khartoum. In anger over alleged election fraud and the slow implementation of the peace agreement, the Beja Congress in October 2011 withdrew from the agreement, and later announced an alliance with the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.[citation needed]
The Beja people inhabit a general area between theNile River and theRed Sea in Sudan, Eritrea and Egypt known as theEastern Desert. Most of them live in the Sudanese states ofRed Sea aroundPort Sudan,River Nile,Al Qadarif andKassala, as well as inNorthern Red Sea,Gash-Barka, andAnseba Regions in Eritrea, and southeastern Egypt in theRed Sea,Aswan,Luxor andQena governorates specifically from the Sudanese border toQena on the Nile andHurghada on the Red Sea.[15] TheKharga Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert is home to a large number of Qamhat Bisharin who were displaced by theAswan High Dam.Jebel Uweinat is revered by the Qamhat.[citation needed]
The Beja have been named "Medjay" in ancient Egyptian times then "Blemmyes" in Roman times,[16] Bəga inAksumite inscriptions inGe'ez,[11] and "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" byRudyard Kipling. Kipling was specifically referring to theHadendoa, who fought the British, supporting theMahdi, the Sudanese leader of the war againstTurkish-Egyptian rule, supported by theBritish Imperial administration.[13]
Many of the Beja speakArabic, while some speak theBeja language,[1] known asBidhaawyeet orTubdhaawi in that language. It belongs to theCushitic branch of theAfroasiatic family.[3] Cohen noted that the Beja language is the Cushitic language with the largest proportion ofSemitic roots, and stated that they are in majority ofArabic origin.[17]
The French linguist Didier Morin (2001) has made an attempt to bridge the gap between Beja and another branch of Cushitic, namelyLowland East Cushitic languages and in particularAfar andSaho, the linguistic hypothesis being historically grounded on the fact that the three languages were once geographically contiguous.[18] Most Beja speak the Beja language, but certain subgroups use other lingua franca. The Beni Amer speak a variety ofTigre, whereas most of the Halenga and Ababda speak Arabic.[18]
Although there is a marked Arabic influence, the Beja language is still widely spoken. The very fact that the highest moral and cultural values of this society are in one way or the other linked to their expression in Beja, that Beja poetry is still highly praised, and that the claims over the Beja land are only valid when expressed in Beja, are very strong social factors in favour of its preservation. True enough Arabic is considered as the language of modernity, but it is also very low in the scale of Beja cultural values as it is a means of transgressing social prohibitions. Beja is still the prestigious language for most of its speakers because it conforms to the ethical values of the community.[18]
The Beja are divided intoclan groups. These lineages include theBishareen,Hedareb,Hadendoa, theAmarar (orAtmaan),Ababda,Beni Amer, Hallenga, Habab, Belin and Hamran, some of whom are partly mixed withBedouins in the east.[19] The Beni Amer are Beja-Tigre tribe who speakTigre. The Ababda are an arabized Beja subtribe who currently speak Arabic but previously spoke the Beja language.[20]
Beja society was traditionally organized into independent kingdoms. According toal-Ya'qubi, there were six such Beja polities betweenAswan andMassawa in the 9th century. Among these were theKingdom of Bazin,Kingdom of Belgin,Kingdom of Jarin,Kingdom of Nagash,Kingdom of Qita'a andKingdom of Tankish.[21]
Beja speakers number about 1 million – but ethnic Beja people may be as many as 2 or 3 million.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)the 'Ababda, occupy the whole of the eastern deserts of Egypt south of a line joining Qena to the oilfields of " Hurghada " (Gharqada) as far as the frontier of the Sudan.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)The language of the Ababdeh, strange to say, is the Arabic. When they speak with strangers they always— even the children — express themselves very well in Arabic. Among themselves, however, they speak a jargon almost unintelligible to strangers. Many words and expressions in it are decidedly Arabic, although twisted about so as to be unrecognizable; others, however, as well as many names of places, seem to belong to a language of their own, which may be a branch of the Bedya tongue spoken by the Bisharin, so closely allied to them.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
