The Bedouins are a desert nomadic people among the Arabs who live mainly in the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East and North Africa. Most are Sunni Muslims; Some are Shia Muslims
The Bedouins considered themselves true Arabs and "heirs of glory." They are mainly found in Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Egypt.
Bedouin warriors
Bedouin means "desert man". The term "Bedouin" is an Englishization of the Arabic word "bedu". Traditionally, it has been used to distinguish between nomadic peoples (Bedouins) who raise livestock for a living and nomadic peoples who work on farms or live in towns.
Tents in the Bedouin desert
Most Bedouins are herders who migrate to the desert during the rainy winters and back to arable land during the dry summers. Traditionally, Bedouin tribes have been classified according to the animal species that are the basis of their livelihoods. Camel nomads occupy large tracts of land and are large organized tribes in the Sahara, Syrian and Arab deserts. Sheep and goat nomadic peoples have a smaller distribution range, mainly near cultivated areas in Jordan, Syria and Iraq. Cattle ranching is mainly distributed in southern Arabia and Sudan.
Total population (21 million): areas with a large population; 1 Sudan: 10 million; 2 Algeria: 230,000; 3 Iraq: 1 million; 4 Jordan: 380,000; 5 Libya 91 million; 6 Egypt: 900,000; 7 Syria: 620,000; 8 Israel: 250,000; 9 Mauritania: 54,000; 10 Palestine: 30,000; 11 Ethiopia: 2 thousand
Bedouin feast
History of the Bedouins
Since 6000 BC, farmers and herders have lived on the southern edge of the arid Syrian steppe. By around 850 BC, a people known as the "A'raab" – the ancestors of modern Arabs – had established a community of oasis settlements and pastoral camps. They were one of the many pastoral communities that inhabited the area at the time and distinguished them from their Assyrian neighbors in the north through their Arabic language and trade and wars using domesticated camels.
Bedouin old man
The Bedouins were once the main inhabitants of the Holy Land. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may have been Bedouins. Many elements of Bedouin culture have not changed much since biblical times. The Bedouins were called Qedarites in the Old Testament and arabara by the Assyrians. They are called "A'rab" in the Quran.
By the first century BC, the Bedouins had moved westward into Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula and southwest along the Red Sea coast. In the 7th century, the Bedouins were among the first to convert to Islam. Muhammad was not a Bedouin. He was a town dweller from a merchant family. During the Muslim conquest, many of the thousands of Muslims were Bedouins – after leaving the Arabian Peninsula , settled in newly conquered lands nearby , which later spread throughout much of the Middle East and North Africa.
The Bedouins are traditionally settled Arabs who raise livestock. They raised camels, horses and donkeys as transport animals, and sheep and goats as a source of food and clothing. They acquired camels around 1,100 BC, and the Bedouins used camels for caravan trade between Arabia and Syria. Damascus relied on the Bedouins to guide its caravans across the desert.
As traders, Bedouins trafficked goods between villages and towns by supplying food to towns and household goods to villages.
After the Mongol conquest, irrigation systems in the Middle East were severely damaged. Settled Arabs became increasingly dependent on livestock and forged closer ties with the Bedouins, in some cases joining their tribes.
The Bedouins of the modern world
The number of truly nomadic Bedouins is decreasing. Many have now settled down. Most Bedouins no longer depend on animals. Centralized power, borders, and monetary systems undermined their traditional way of life. Roads reduce isolation from the outside world and increase contact with the outside world. Radio and television brought new ideas and an understanding of the outside world.
Bedouin family
Adapted to the modern world, the Bedouins retained their tribal traditions of loyalty and honor. Today, many Of Oman's Bedouins travel between their desert camps and oil fields in pickup trucks and SUVs; Transporting water by truck to their camps; The children go to school. Although the Bedouins continue to move their camel and goat herds to new pastures several times a year, they no longer depend on animals for survival.
Bedouins in the desert watch televisions powered by batteries or fuel engines. Wealthy people have cars, mobile phones and satellite TV. A Bedouin man from Oman said: "Before, life was very difficult. We didn't have enough food. We only eat the animals we catch in the desert. We had no water and only drank camel milk or goat milk. Now we have cars, water, rice noodles - we live well!