View source for Bedouin

{{Short description|Nomadic Arab tribes}}
{{distinguish|Bedoon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group|
| image            = Three bedouins sheikhs, c 1867-1876 (cropped).jpg
| caption          = Three Bedouin sheikhs, {{Circa|1867–1876}}
| population       = 25,000,000<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |last1=Suwaed |first1=Muhammad |title=Historical Dictionary of the Bedouins |date=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |pages=10–11 |isbn=9781442254510 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8yhCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |access-date=23 February 2019}}</ref>
| popplace         = [[Arabian Peninsula]], [[Levant]], [[North Africa]]
| region1          = {{flag|Sudan}}
| pop1             = 10,000,000
| ref1             = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region2          = {{flag|Algeria}}
| pop2             = 2,000,000<ref name="auto1"/>–6,000,000
| ref2             = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Algeria {{!}} Flag, Capital, Population, Map, & Language {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Algeria |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
| region3          = {{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
| pop3             = 2,000,000
| ref3             = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region4          = {{flag|Iraq}}
| pop4             = 1,500,000
| ref4             = <ref name="auto1"/>{{refn|<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/Iraqi_Census_Takers_To_Focus_On_Bedouin/2041952.html|title=Iraqi Census To Focus On Bedouin|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=14 May 2010 }}</ref><ref>Bedouin Census in Iraq (2011): https://web.archive.org/web/20210401113948/https://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/content/print/185818.html</ref><ref>Ahmed Sousa, Atlas of Modern Iraq, Baghdad, 1953.</ref>}}
| region5          = {{flag|Jordan}}
| pop5             = 1,300,000
| ref5             = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region6          = {{flag|Libya}}
| pop6             = 1,000,000
| ref6             = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region7          = {{flag|Egypt}}
| pop7             = 1,000,000
| ref7             = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region8          = {{flagicon|United Arab Emirates}} [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]]
| pop8             = 800,000
| ref8             = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region9          = {{flag|Syria}}
| pop9             = 1,500,000
| ref9             = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region10         = {{flag|Yemen}}
| pop10            = 500,000
| ref10            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region12         = {{flag|Kuwait}}
| pop12            = 300,000
| ref12            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region13         = {{flag|Morocco}}
| pop13            = 250,000
| ref13            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region14         = {{flag|Oman}}
| pop14            = 250,000
| ref14            = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Bedouins in Oman |url=https://www.canvascluboman.com/blog/bedouins-in-oman |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=www.canvascluboman.com |language=en}}</ref>
| region15         = {{flag|Israel}}
| pop15            = 220,000
| ref15            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region16         = {{flag|Lebanon}}
| pop16            = 200,000
| ref16            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region17         = {{flag|Tunisia}}
| pop17            = 180,000<ref name="auto1"/>–2,600,000
| ref17            = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Tunisia {{!}} History, Map, Flag, Population, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Tunisia |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
| region18         = {{flag|Mauritania}}
| pop18            = 100,000
| ref18            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region19         = {{flag|Bahrain}}
| pop19            = 70,000
| ref19            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region20         = {{flag|Qatar}}
| pop20            = 50,000
| ref20            = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region21         = {{flag|Palestine}}
| pop21            = 30,000<ref name="auto1"/>–40,000
| ref21            = <ref name="unoptbedouins"/>
| langs            = [[Bedouin Arabic]]
| rels             = Predominantly [[Sunni Islam]]
| related          = Other [[Arabs]] and [[Afroasiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] speakers
| group            = Bedouin
| native_name      = {{native name|ar| بَدْو |italics=off}}<br/>{{small|{{transliteration|ar|DIN|badw}}}}
| native_name_lang = ar
}}
[[File:Sinai 997008872701105171.jpg|thumb|alt=Bedouins in Sinai, 1967|Bedouins in the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai Region]], 1967]]

The '''Bedouin''', '''Beduin''', or '''Bedu''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɛ|d|u|ɪ|n}} {{respell|BED-oo-in}};{{refn|{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Bedouin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322182226/https://www.lexico.com/definition/bedouin |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 March 2020 |title=Bedouin |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}} }} {{Langx|ar|بَدْو|translit=badw}}, singular {{Lang|ar|بَدَوِي}} {{transliteration|ar|badawī}}) are [[Nomadic pastoralism|pastorally nomad]]ic [[Arabs|Arab]] [[tribe]]s<ref name="Conrad1995">{{cite book |editor1-last=Conrad |editor1-first=Lawrence I. |editor1-link=Lawrence Conrad |editor2-last=Jabbur |editor2-first=Suhayl J. |year=1995 |title=The Bedouins and the Desert: Aspects of Nomadic Life in the Arab East |location=[[Albany, New York]] |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |series=SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies |isbn=9780791428528}}</ref> who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the [[Arabian Peninsula]], [[North Africa]], the [[Levant]], and [[Mesopotamia]] ([[Iraq]]/[[Kuwait]]).<ref name="Dostal1967">{{cite book |last=Dostal|first=Walter |title=Die Beduinen in Südarabien |year=1967 |publisher=Verlag Ferdinand Berger & Söhne }}</ref> The Bedouin originated in the [[Syrian Desert]]<ref name="academia.edu">{{cite journal |last1=Jallad |first1=Ahmad |title=Al-Jallad. A Manual of the Historical Grammar of Arabic. |journal=Academia.edu |date=2020 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38100372}}</ref> and [[Arabian Desert]] but spread across the rest of the [[Arab world]] in [[Western Asia|West Asia]] and [[North Africa]] after the [[spread of Islam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hays |first1=Pamela A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sBcpAAAAYAAJ |title=Culturally Responsive Cognitive-behavioral Therapy: Assessment, Practice, and Supervision |last2=Iwamasa |first2=Gayle |date=2006 |publisher=American Psychological Association |isbn=978-1-59147-360-2 |pages=147 |language=en}}</ref> The English word ''bedouin'' comes from the Arabic ''badawī'', which means "desert-dweller", and is traditionally contrasted with ''ḥāḍir'', the term for [[Sedentism|sedentary people]].<ref name="Pietruschka 2006">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Pietruschka |first=Ute |year=2006 |title=Bedouin |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān |editor-first=Jane Dammen |editor-last=McAuliffe |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQSIM_00046}}</ref> Bedouin territory stretches from the vast deserts of North Africa to the rocky ones of the [[Middle East]].<ref name=PM>{{cite book |last1= Malcolm |first1= Peter |last2= Losleben |first2= Elizabeth |title= Libya |page=64 |date= 2004 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn= 978-0-7614-1702-6 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_l87ixBRpKIC&pg=PA64 |access-date= 19 October 2015}}</ref>{{Better source needed |date=January 2024}} They are sometimes traditionally divided into tribes, or clans (known in Arabic as ''ʿašāʾir''; {{lang|ar|عَشَائِر}} or ''qabāʾil'' {{lang|ar|قبائل}}), and historically share a common culture of herding camels, sheep and goats.<ref name=PM/> The vast majority of Bedouins adhere to [[Islam]], although there are a small number of [[Arab Christians|Christian]] Bedouins present in the [[Fertile Crescent]].<ref name="loc.gov">{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mpc2004003580/PP/|title=Christian Arab Bedouin woman wearing embroidered coat|website=Library of Congress|access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref><ref name="mariamhotel.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mariamhotel.com/family.html|title=Al Twal Family Story|website=www.mariamhotel.com}}</ref><ref name="encyclopedia.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/anthropology-and-archaeology/people/bedouin|title=Bedouin &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jordanian_Bedouin_Christians_1904_2.jpg|title=English: Jordanian Bedouin Christians 1904 2|first=Father Antonin|last=Jaussen|date=1 January 1904|via=Wikimedia Commons}}</ref>

Bedouins have been referred to by various names throughout history, including ''Arabaa'' by the [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] (''ar-ba-ea''), being a [[Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba|nisba]] of the noun ''Arab'', a name still used for Bedouins today. They are referred to as the ''ʾAʿrāb'' ({{lang|ar|أعراب}}) "aɛrāb" in [[Arabic]]. While many Bedouins have abandoned their nomadic and tribal traditions for a modern urban lifestyle, others retain traditional Bedouin culture such as the traditional ''ʿašāʾir'' clan structure, [[Bedouin music|traditional music]], poetry, dances (such as ''saas''), and many other cultural practices and concepts. Some [[Urbanization|urbanized]] Bedouins often organise cultural festivals, usually held several times a year, in which they gather with other Bedouins to partake in and learn about various Bedouin traditions—from poetry recitation and traditional [[sword dance]]s to playing traditional instruments and even classes teaching traditional tent knitting. Traditions like [[camel riding]] and camping in the deserts are still popular leisure activities for urban Bedouins who live in close proximity to deserts or other wilderness areas.

== Society ==
A widely quoted Bedouin adage is "I am against my brother, my brother and I are against my cousin, my cousin and I are against the stranger"<ref>{{cite book |first=Emanuel|last=Marx|editor1-last=Weissleder|editor1-first=Wolfgang |title=The Nomadic alternative: Modes and models of interaction in the African-Asian deserts and steppes |publisher=Moulton|isbn=978-0202900537|page=59|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRyqfpi5BKcC&q=My+brother+and+Ime+against+my+cousin,+and+my+cousin+and+Ime+against+the+stranger.%22&pg=PA59|access-date=23 November 2016|chapter=Ecology and politics of Middle Eastern politics|year=1978}}</ref> sometimes quoted as "I and my brother are against my cousin, I and my cousin are against the stranger."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Naguib|first1=Nefissa |title=Women, Water and Memory: Recasting Lives in Palestine |date=2009 |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004167780|page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pb4pvVeLfyIC&q=My+brother+and+Ime+against+my+cousin,+and+my+cousin+and+Ime+against+the+stranger.%22&pg=PA79|access-date=23 November 2016}}</ref> This saying signifies a hierarchy of loyalties based on the proximity of some person to oneself, beginning with the [[self]], and proceeding through the immediate family as defined by male kinship, and then, in principle at least, to an entire genetic or linguistic group (which is perceived as akin to kinship in the Middle East and North Africa generally). Disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are dispensed and maintained by means of this framework, organized according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility (Andersen 14). The individual family unit (referred to as a tent or ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|bayt}}'') usually traditionally comprised three or four adults (a married couple plus siblings or parents) and any number of children.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jarzombek|first1=Mark M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuevAwAAQBAJ&dq=individual+family+unit+%22tent%22+%22bedouin%22&pg=SA12-PA78|title=Architecture of First Societies: A Global Perspective|publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]|pages=12–78|isbn=9781118421055|date=27 May 2014}}</ref>

Bedouin tribes were not controlled by a central power, like a government or empire, but rather were led by tribal chiefs. Some chiefs exercised their power from oases, where merchants would organise trade through the territory controlled by the tribe. The structure of Bedouin tribes were held together more so by shared feelings of common ancestry rather than a tribal chief atop the hierarchy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hourani |first1=Albert |title=A History of the Arab Peoples |date=2013 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=9780571288014 |pages=10–11}}</ref>[[File:A Bedouin girl in Nuweiba - Egypt.jpg|thumb|A Bedouin girl in [[Nuweiba]], Egypt (2015)]]

The Bedouins' ethos comprises courage, hospitality, loyalty to family and pride of ancestry. Bedouin society typically revolved around 
traditional [[Honor codes of the Bedouin]], and [[Bedouin systems of justice]], such as the well known ''[[bisha'a]]'', or ordeal by fire, a well-known Bedouin practice of [[lie detection]].

== Traditions ==
[[File:Bedouin_warrior.jpg |thumb|A Bedouin warrior, pictured between 1898 and 1914]]

===Herding===
[[File:Tent making.jpg|thumb|right|Weaving lengths of fabric for tent making using ground loom. Palestine, {{circa}} 1900]]
[[Livestock]] and [[herding]], principally of goats, [[sheep]] and [[Dromedary|dromedary camels]] comprised the traditional livelihoods of Bedouins. These were used for meat, dairy products, and wool.<ref name="faorapid">{{cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/y0600m/y0600m06.htm |title=Rapid lifestyle, diet and health changes among urban Bedouin Arabs of southern Israel |first1=K.|last1=Abu-Saad |first2=S.|last2=Weitzman |first3=Y.|last3=Abu-Rabiah |first4=H.|last4=Abu-Shareb |first5=D.|last5=Fraser |work=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |access-date=31 July 2015 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> Most of the staple foods that made up the Bedouins' diet were dairy products.<ref name="faorapid"/>

Camels, in particular, had numerous cultural and functional uses. Having been regarded as a "gift from God", they were the main food source and method of transportation for many Bedouins.<ref name="UNESCO-camel">{{cite web|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002240/224033e.pdf |title=The Camel From Tradition to Modern Times |first1=Marc|last1=Breulmann |first2=Benno|last2=Böer |first3=Ulrich|last3=Wernery |first4=Renate|last4=Wernery |first5=Hassan|last5=El Shaer |first6=Ghaleb|last6=Alhadrami |first7=David|last7=Gallacher |first8=John|last8=Peacock |first9=Shaukat Ali|last9=Chaudhary |first10=Gary|last10=Brown |first11=John|last11=Norton |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=31 July 2015 |name-list-style=amp}}{{rp|10}}</ref> In addition to their extraordinary milking potentials under harsh desert conditions, their meat was occasionally consumed by Bedouins.<ref>The Camel From Tradition to Modern Times.{{rp|21–24}}</ref> As a cultural tradition, camel races were organized during celebratory occasions, such as weddings or [[religious festival]]s.<ref>The Camel From Tradition to Modern Times.{{rp|25}}</ref>

Some Bedouin societies live in [[arid]] regions. In areas where rainfall is very unpredictable, a camp will be moved irregularly, depending on the availability of green pasture. Where winter rainfall is more predictable in regions further south, some Bedouin people plant grain along their migration routes. This proves a resource for the livestock throughout the winter. In regions such as western Africa, where there is more predictable rainfall, the Bedouin practice [[transhumance]]. They plant crops near permanent homes in the valleys where there is more rain and move their livestock to the highland pastures.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=mj04-000|title=Culture Summary: Bedouin|last=Chatty|first=Dawn|date=2009|publisher=Human Relations Area Files }}</ref>

=== Oral poetry ===
[[Oral poetry]] is the most popular art form among Bedouins. Having a poet in one's tribe was highly regarded in society. In addition to serving as a form of art, poetry was used as a means of conveying information and [[social control]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meisami|first1=Julie Scott |last2=Starkey|first2=Paul |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature |year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sx1bqgibKhQC&pg=PA147|publisher=Routledge|page=147|isbn=978-0415571135}}</ref> Bedouin poetry, also known as [[Nabati|nabati poetry]], is often recited in the [[varieties of Arabic|vernacular dialect]]. In contrast, the more common forms of [[Arabic poetry]] are often in [[Modern Standard Arabic]].

===Raiding or ''ghazw''===
{{See also|1757 Hajj caravan raid|Ikhwan raids on Transjordan}}
The well-regulated traditional habit of Bedouin tribes of [[Razzia (military)#Etymology|raiding]] other tribes, caravans, or settlements is known in Arabic as ''[[Ghazi (warrior)#Ghazw as raid—razzia|ghazw]]''.<ref>Eveline van der Steen, ''Near Eastern Tribal Societies During the Nineteenth Century: Economy, Society and Politics Between Tent and Town'', chapter "Raiding and robbing". Routledge, 2014 [https://books.google.com/books?id=d-_OBAAAQBAJ&dq=bedouin+raiding&pg=PT114]</ref>

== History ==
===Early history===
[[File:Sehname-i Selim Han 68a.jpg|thumb|Murder of Ma'sum Beg, the envoy of the Safavid Shah [[Tahmasp I|Tahmasp]], by Bedouins in the [[Hejaz]], 16th century]]
Historically, the Bedouin engaged in nomadic herding, agriculture and sometimes fishing in the Syrian [[steppe]] since 6000 BCE. By about 850 BCE, a complex network of settlements and camps was established. The earliest Arab tribes emerged from Bedouins.<ref name=":0"/>

By the time of the Roman Empire's establishment, the Bedouin national identity had been established and they were recognizable as a single people with often warring "families, clans, and tribes".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Patricia O'Connell |title=World History: Our Human Story |last2=Holdren |first2=John |date=May 2021 |publisher=Sheridan Kentucky |isbn=978-1-60153-123-0 |location=Versailles, Kentucky |pages=255}}</ref> A major source of income for this people was the taxation of caravans, and tributes collected from non-Bedouin settlements. They also earned income by transporting goods and people in caravans pulled by domesticated camels across the desert.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hidden History, Secret Present: The Origins and Status of African Palestinians |first=Susan|last=Beckerleg |url=http://members.tripod.com/~yajaffar/african.html |publisher=London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine}} Translated by Salah Al Zaroo.</ref> Scarcity of water and of permanent pastoral land required them to move constantly.

The Moroccan traveller [[Ibn Battuta]] reported that in 1326 on the route to [[Gaza City|Gaza]], the Egyptian authorities had a customs post at [[Katia, Egypt|Qatya]] on the north coast of [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]]. Here Bedouin were being used to guard the road and track down those trying to cross the border without permission.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Ibn Battuta]] |year=1929 |title=Travels in Asia and Africa. 1325–1354 |publisher=Low Price Publications |location=Delhi |isbn=81-7536-174-3 |page=54}} Translated and selected by [[H.A.R. Gibb]].</ref>

The [[Early Medieval]] grammarians and scholars seeking to develop a system of [[Standard language|standardizing]] the contemporary [[Classical Arabic]] for maximal intelligibility across the [[Arabophone]] areas, believed that the Bedouin spoke the purest, [[Conservative (language)|most conservative]] variety of the language. To solve irregularities of pronunciation, the Bedouin were asked to recite certain poems, whereafter consensus was relied on to decide the pronunciation and spelling of a given word.<ref name="holes12">{{cite book|last=Holes|first=Clive |title=Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions and Varieties |url=https://archive.org/details/modernarabicstru00cliv|url-access=limited |date=2004|edition=Revised|publisher=Georgetown University Press |location=Washington DC |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernarabicstru00cliv/page/n15 12]|isbn=978-1-58901-022-2}}</ref>

===Ottoman period===
[[File:Bedouin woman (1898 - 1914).jpg|thumb|[[Arab Christian]] Bedouin woman from the settled town of [[Al-Karak|Kerak, Jordan]], who probably was the wife of a sheikh. Braids were predominantly worn by Arab Christian Bedouin women of the tribes of Jordan.<ref name="loc.gov"/>]]

A [[1757 Hajj caravan raid|plunder and massacre of the Hajj caravan]] by Bedouin tribesmen occurred in 1757, led by Qa'dan al-Fayez of the [[Bani Sakher]] tribe (modern-day Jordan) in his vengeance against the Ottomans for failing to pay his tribe for their help protecting the pilgrims. An estimated 20,000 pilgrims were either killed in the raid or died of hunger or thirst as a result including relatives of the Sultan and Musa Pasha. Although Bedouin raids on Hajj caravans were fairly common, the 1757 raid represented the peak of such attacks which was also likely prompted by the major drought of 1756.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cohen|first1=Amnon|title=Palestine in the 18th century: Patterns of Government and Administration|date=1973|publisher=Magnes Press|isbn=9780196479033|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwyDAAAAIAAJ&q=1757+bedouin}} p. 20.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Abu-Rabia|first1=Aref|title=A Bedouin Century: Education and Development Among the Negev Tribes in the 20th Century|date=2001|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=9781571818324|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEJKW1IaynwC&q=1757+famous+Hajj&pg=PA2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Damascus: A History|first1=Ross|last1=Burns|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_bQTrpf62cC&q=damascus|isbn=0-415-27105-3|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Ahmad D.|last=Al-Damurdashi|editor=Abd al-Wahhāb Bakr Muḥammad|title=Al-Damurdashi's Chronicle of Egypt, 1688–1755|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nnOHEYxc6PwC&q=Amir+al+hajj&pg=PA20|publisher=BRILL|year=1991|isbn=9789004094086}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Joudah|first=Ahmad Hasan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQAdAAAAMAAJ&q=dayr+hanna|title=Revolt in Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: The Era of Shaykh Zahir Al-ʻUmar|year=1987|publisher=Kingston Press|isbn=9780940670112}}</ref>

Under the [[Tanzimat]] land reforms of 1858, a new Ottoman land law was issued, which offered legal grounds for the displacement of the Bedouin ([[Turkish language|Turkish]]: Bedeviler). As the Ottoman Empire gradually lost power, this law instituted an unprecedented land registration process that was also meant to boost the empire's tax base. Few Bedouin opted to register their lands with the Ottoman [[Tapu (Ottoman history)|Tapu]], due to lack of enforcement by the Ottomans, illiteracy, refusal to pay taxes and lack of relevance of written documentation of ownership to the Bedouin way of life at that time.<ref>{{cite book |first=Gershon |last=Shafir |title=Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 1882–1914 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-52135-300-7}}</ref> Some scholars, such as Nora Elizabeth Barakat, believe the displacement of the Bedouin had its roots in events even earlier than the 1858 land reforms, for example in an 1844 Anatolia-specific decree recognizing the "tribe" as a formal unit of administration. The goal of these early reforms was to weaken local Bedouin magistrates and limit what she terms as "rural mobility", the ability of these local Bedouins to, independently of the Ottoman state, accumulate wealth through the wheat trade and other means.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barakat |first=Nora Elizabeth |title=Bedouin Bureaucrats: Mobility and Property in the Ottoman Empire |date=April 2023 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9781503635630 |pages=126–132 (Ebook)}}</ref>
[[File:'A Bedaween Encampment near the Dead Sea' by Edwin Weeks.jpg|thumb|Bedouin encampment near the [[Dead Sea]]]]
At the end of the 19th century, Sultan [[Abdülhamid II]] settled Muslim populations ([[Circassians]]) from the [[Balkans]] and the [[Caucasus]] among areas predominantly populated by the nomads in the regions of modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, and also created several permanent Bedouin settlements, although the majority of them did not remain. The settlement of non Arabs in the traditionally Bedouin areas was a big cause of discontent. This became even severe because every Arab tribe, including the settled ones, have ancestry as a Bedouin.<ref name=Frantzman />

Ottoman authorities also initiated private acquisition of large plots of state land offered by the sultan to the absentee landowners ([[effendi]]s). Numerous tenants were brought in order to cultivate the newly acquired lands. Often it came at the expense of the Bedouin lands.

[[File:Tribes West.jpg|thumb|Palestine Exploration Fund list of Bedouin tribes living West of the River Jordan in 1875.]]
In the late 19th century, many Bedouin began transition to a semi-nomadic lifestyle. One of the factors was the influence of the Ottoman authorities<ref>{{cite book|last=Magness|first=Jodi |title=The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYrPd2H1cjcC&q=bedouin+negev+sedentarization+ottoman&pg=PA82 |date=2003|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1-57506-070-5|page=82}}</ref> who started a forced [[sedentarization]] of the Bedouin living on its territory. The Ottoman authorities viewed the Bedouin as a threat to the state's control and worked hard on establishing law and order in the [[Negev]].<ref name=Frantzman>{{cite journal|first1=Seth J.|last1=Frantzman|first2=Ruth|last2=Kark|title=Bedouin Settlement in Late Ottoman and British Mandatory Palestine: Influence on the Cultural and Environmental Landscape, 1870–1948|journal=New Middle Eastern Studies|issue=1|year=2011|volume=1|publisher=[[British Society for Middle East Studies]]|doi=10.29311/nmes.v1i0.2600|doi-broken-date=8 July 2025 |doi-access=free}}</ref> During the [[World War I|First World War]], the Negev Bedouin initially fought with the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] against the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]]. However, under the influence of British agent [[T. E. Lawrence]], the Bedouins switched side and fought against the Ottomans. Hamad Pasha al-Sufi (died 1923), Sheikh of the Nijmat sub-tribe of the [[Tarabin bedouin|Tarabin]], led a force of 1,500 men who joined the Ottoman [[raid on the Suez Canal]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Notes on the Bedouin Tribes of Beersheba District |first=S. |last=Hillelson |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |volume=69 |issue=4 |date=October 1937 |pages=242–252 |publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund]] |doi=10.1179/peq.1937.69.4.242}}</ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Scan EugeneRogan TheArabs AHistory BedouinsDuring ArabRevolt Colorized.jpg|thumb|Bedouins from the Arab Army in the city of [[Aqaba]] (modern Jordan) on March 28, 1918. They had raided the [[Hejaz railway]] and Ottoman desert fortresses. Photo from Eugene Rogan's The Arabs: A History.]] -->

In [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] historiography, the Negev Bedouin have been described as remaining largely unaffected by changes in the outside world until recently. Their society was often considered a "world without time".<ref name = Kurt>{{cite journal |first=Kurt|last=Goering |title=Israel and the Bedouin of the Negev |journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]] |year=1979 |volume=9 (Autumn 1979)|issue=1 |pages=3–20|doi=10.1525/jps.1979.9.1.00p0173n}}</ref> Recent scholars have challenged the notion of the Bedouin as 'fossilized,' or 'stagnant' reflections of an unchanging desert culture. [[Emanuel Marx]] has shown that Bedouin were engaged in a constantly dynamic reciprocal relation with urban centers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Marx |first=Emanuel |author-link=Emanuel Marx|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zbxF-m_am4C&q=Nomads+and+Cities:+The+Development+of+a+Conception&pg=PA31 |chapter=Nomads and Cities: The Development of a Conception |editor-first1=S. |editor-last1=Leder |editor-first2=B. |editor-last2=Streck |title=Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations |year=2005 |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag |pages=3–16 |isbn=3-89500-413-8}}</ref> Bedouin scholar Michael Meeker explains that "the city was to be found in their midst."<ref>{{cite book |last=Heidemann |first=Stefan |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/222910 |chapter=Arab Nomads and Seljuq Military |editor-first1=S. |editor-last1=Leder |editor-first2=B. |editor-last2=Streck |title=Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations |year=2005 |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag |pages=289–306 |isbn=3-89500-413-8}}</ref>

At the time of [[World War I]], a [[Qays]] Bedouin tribe from [[Harran]], not far from [[Urfa]], settled in [[Lüleburgaz]] in [[East Thrace]] under their last [[Sheikh]] Salih Abdullah. It is said that this tribe was originally from [[Tihamah]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.trakyagezi.com/luleburgazda-bir-asiret-reisi-salih-abdullah/ | title=Lüleburgaz'da Bir Aşiret Reisi; Salih Abdullah – Trakya Gezi | date=July 2016 }}</ref>

===In the 20th century===
[[File:Bedoeïnen met hun schapen, Bestanddeelnr 255-6075.jpg|thumb|Bedouins in Syria in the 1950s]]
[[Raid (military)#Bedouin ghazzu|Ghazzu]] was still relevant to the Bedouin lifestyle in the early 20th century. After a 1925 stay with Sheikh [[Mithqal Al Fayez|Mithqal Al-Fayez]] of the [[Bani Sakher]], [[William Seabrook]] wrote about his experience of a ghazzu from the Sardieh tribe on Mithqal's 500 Hejin racing camels. The ghazzu was intercepted by Mithqal when he was notified about the Sardieh tribe's intentions from a man from the Bani Hassan tribe, who rode continuously for over 30 hours to reach Mithqal before their plot matured. Mithqal, using the information, prepared a trap for them, which resulted in the imprisonment of one of the Sardieh warriors. William notes that although the warrior was a prisoner, he was nonchalant and was not treated aggressively, and that the ghazzu wasn't a war, but a game in which camels and goats were the prizes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Seabrook|first=William|title=Adventures in Arabia|publisher=George C. Harrap & Co. Ltd|year=1928|isbn=|location=Parker St. Kingsway, London, England.|pages=120–125}}</ref>

In the 1950s and 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout Midwest Asia started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of Midwest Asia, especially as hot ranges shrank and populations grew. For example, in [[Syria]], the Bedouin way of life effectively ended during a severe drought from 1958 to 1961, which forced many Bedouin to abandon herding for standard jobs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Etheredge |first=Laura |title=Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLZQrmRQafcC&q=syria+drought+1958+bedouin&pg=PA12 |date=2011 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-61530-329-8 |page=12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1=Marina |last1=Leybourne |first2=Ronald |last2=Jaubert |first3=Richard N. |last3=Tutwiler |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/5397.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171010110548/http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/5397.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 October 2017 |title=Changes in Migration and Feeding Patterns Among Semi-nomadic pastoralists in Northern Syria |date=June 1993 |publisher=Overseas Development Institute }}</ref> Similarly, governmental policies in [[Egypt]], [[Israel]], [[Jordan]], [[Iraq]], [[Tunisia]], oil-producing Arab states of the [[Persian Gulf]] and [[Libya]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Peters |first=Emrys L. |title=The Bedouin of Cyrenaica: Studies in Personal and Corporate Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1q6Slx7opyoC&q=Libyan+Bedouin&pg=PA1 |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-38561-9 |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cole |first1=Donald Powell |last2=Altorki |first2=Soraya |title=Bedouin, Settlers, and Holiday-makers: Egypt's Changing Northwest Coast |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADV09ZIKNasC&q=Libyan+Bedouin&pg=PA103 |date=1998 |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |isbn=978-977-424-484-1 |page=103 |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref> as well as a desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders.

Governmental policies pressing the Bedouin have in some cases been executed in an attempt to provide service (schools, health care, law enforcement and so on—see [[Dawn Chatty|Chatty]] 1986 for examples), but in others have been based on the desire to seize land traditionally roved and controlled by the Bedouin. In recent years, some Bedouin have adopted the pastime of raising and breeding white [[dove]]s,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nataliepeart.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/bedouin-hospitality-the-beauty-of-the-white-desert |title=Bedouin hospitality & the beauty of the White Desert |first=Natalie |last=Peart |website=Part of this World |access-date=19 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804095533/https://nataliepeart.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/bedouin-hospitality-the-beauty-of-the-white-desert/ |archive-date=4 August 2016}}</ref> while others have rejuvenated the traditional practice of [[falconry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sheikhmohammed.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2bec4c8631cb4110VgnVCM100000b0140a0aRCRD |title=Falconry |website=sheikhmohammed.com |access-date=19 October 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924101206/http://www.sheikhmohammed.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2bec4c8631cb4110VgnVCM100000b0140a0aRCRD |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-travel-visiting-egypt-20130522-032,0,697845.photo |title=Falconry in the desert |agency=Reuters |date=22 May 2013 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=19 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514141531/http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-travel-visiting-egypt-20130522-032,0,697845.photo |archive-date=14 May 2014}}</ref>

==In different countries==
===Saudi Arabia===
[[File:Bedouin Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1964.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Bedouin man in [[Riyadh]], 1964.]]

The [[Arabian Peninsula]] was one of the original homes of the Bedouin. From there, they started to spread out to surrounding deserts, forced out by the lack of water and food. According to tradition, Arabian Bedouin tribes are descendants of two groups: [[Qahtanites|Qahtanis]], also known as [[Yaman (tribal group)|Yaman]], who originate from the mountains of Southwestern Arabia, and claim descent from a semi-legendary ancestral figure, Qahtan (often linked to the biblical [[Joktan]]), and [[Adnani Arabs|Adnanis]], who originate in North-Central Arabia and claimed descent from [[Adnan]], a descendant of the Biblical [[Ishmael]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.angelfire.com/az/rescon/mgcbedu.html |title=Bedouins. Origins and history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041223105052/http://www.angelfire.com/az/rescon/mgcbedu.html |archive-date=23 December 2004}}</ref>[[File:Bedouin family-Wahiba Sands.jpg|thumb|A Bedouin family in [[Sharqiya Sands]], [[Oman]].]]

A number of Bedouin tribes reside in Saudi Arabia. Among them are [[Anazzah]], [[Juhaynah]], [[Shammar]], [[Al Murrah|al-Murrah]], [[Mehri people|Mahra]], [[Dawasir]], [[Harb tribe|Harb]], [[Ghamid]], [[Mutayr]], [[Subay']], [['Utayba]], [[Bani Khalid]], [[Qahtan (tribe)|Qahtan]], [[Rashaida]], and [[Banu Yam]]. Saudi Arabia pursued a policy of sedentarization in the early 20th century, which was initially linked with the establishment of the [[Ikhwan]]. As a result of this policy and subsequent modernization, the number of Bedouin that retain their nomadic lifestyle has decreased rapidly.

According to [[Ali Al-Naimi]], the Bedouin, or Bedu, would travel in family and tribal groups, across the [[Arabian Peninsula]] in groups of fifty to a hundred. A clan was composed of a number of families, while a number of clans formed a tribe. Tribes would have areas reserved for their livestock called {{Not a typo|dirahs}}, which included wells for their exclusive use. They lived in black goat-hair tents called bayt al-shar, divided by cloth curtains into rug-floor areas for males, family and cooking. In [[Hofuf]], they bartered their sheep, goats and camels, including milk and wool, for grain and other staples. Al-Naimi also quotes Paul Harrison's observation of the Bedouin, "There seems to be no limit at all to their endurance."<ref name="Ali">{{cite book |last1=Al-Naimi |first1=Ali |title=Out of the Desert |date=2016 |publisher=Portfolio Penguin |location=Great Britain |isbn=9780241279250 |pages=5–7}}</ref>

===Syria===
[[File:Syrian Bedouin Kahlil Sarkees with family,1893 World's Columbian Exposition.jpg|thumb|Syrian bedouin, 1893]]
The Syrian Desert was the original homeland of the Arab Bedouin tribes<ref name="academia.edu"/> which have been mentioned as far back as the [[Neo-Assyrian]] era where they're referred to by [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] as being among the Syrians integrated into the Assyrian administrative system.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Graf|first=David |title=ARABS IN SYRIA: DEMOGRAPHY AND EPIGRAPHY |journal=Topoi. Orient-Occident |date=2003|volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=319–340 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/topoi_1764-0733_2003_act_4_1_2871|quote=In the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, the Arbay are included among the Syrians integrated into the Assyrian administrative system, and are located in the region between Homs, Damascus and Palmyra.}}</ref> Today there are over a million Bedouin living in Syria, making a living herding sheep and goats.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kcm.co.kr/bethany_eng/p_code/1835.html |title=The Unreached Peoples Prayer Profiles |website=kcm.co.kr |access-date=20 July 2017}}</ref> The largest Bedouin clan in Syria is called [[Ruwallah]] who are part of the [[Anazzah|'Anizzah']] tribe. Another famous branch of the Anizzah tribe is the two distinct groups of [[Hasana]] and S'baa who largely arrived from the Arabian peninsula in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite web |first=Johann |last=Buessow |url=http://www.orient-institut.org/English/researchProject.aspx?pageid=1923 |title=Bedouin Syria: 'Anaza groups between empire and nation state, 1800–1960' |work=Orient Institut Beirut |year=2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524132006/http://www.orient-institut.org/English/researchProject.aspx?pageid=1923 |archive-date=24 May 2013 }}</ref>

Herding among the Bedouin was common until the late 1950s, when it effectively ended during a severe drought from 1958 to 1961. Due to the drought, many Bedouin were forced to give up herding for standard jobs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://intercontinentalcry.org/peoples/bedouin |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415060155/http://intercontinentalcry.org/peoples/bedouin |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 April 2013 |title=Indigenous Peoples of the World: The Bedouin |work=Intercontinental Cry |access-date=19 October 2015 }}</ref> {{better source needed|date=January 2018}} Another factor was the formal annulling of the Bedouin tribes' legal status in Syrian law in 1958, along with attempts of the ruling [[Ba'ath Party]] regime to wipe out tribalism. Preferences for customary law ('urf) in contrast to state law (qanun) have been informally acknowledged and tolerated by the state in order to avoid having its authority tested in the tribal territories.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.ou.edu/mideast/Additional%20pages%20-%20non-catagory/Chatty_Tribes_of_Syria_2010_MEJpdf.pdf |first=Dawn |last=Chatty |s2cid=143487962 |author-link=Dawn Chatty |title=The Bedouin in Contemporary Syria: The Persistence of Tribal Authority and Control |journal=[[The Middle East Journal]]|publisher=[[Middle East Institute]] |volume=64 |number=1 |year=2010 |pages=29–49 |doi=10.3751/64.1.12}}</ref> In 1982 the [[al-Assad]] family turned to the Bedouin tribe leaders for assistance during the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] uprising against al-Assad government (see [[1982 Hama massacre]]). The Bedouin sheikhs' decision to support [[Hafez al-Assad]] led to a change in attitude on the part of the government that permitted the Bedouin leadership to manage and transform critical state development efforts supporting their own status, customs and leadership.

There are numerous types of Bedouins in Syria:

Hourani Bedouins, which are from the [[Daraa Governorate]] & [[Quneitra Governorate]], these Bedouins are closely related to Jordanians.

Mesopotamian Bedouins, which are from East and South of the [[Aleppo Governorate]], [[Raqqa Governorate]], [[Al-Hasakah Governorate]] & [[Deir ez-Zor Governorate]], these Bedouins are closely related to Iraqis.

There are also a few Bedouin tribes in the [[Rif Dimashq Governorate]], [[Homs Governorate]], and [[Hama Governorate]].

Many [[Syrians]] have some [[Arab]] origin if not predominantly Arab. Religion does not play a role in the genetic makeup of a Syrian. There are Christian Syrians who have a more predominant Arab origin than Muslim Syrians. Therefore many Syrians have some sort of Bedouin Arab origin, since Arabs migrated from [[Yemen]] and [[Saudi Arabia]] into [[Syria]].

As a result of the [[Syrian Civil War]], some Bedouins became [[Refugees of the Syrian civil war|refugees]] and found shelter in Jordan,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/03/20123103261649274.html |first=Nisreen |last=El Shamayleh |title=Syrian Bedouin find shelter in Jordan |website=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] |date=10 March 2012}}</ref> Turkey, Lebanon, and other states.

===Lebanon===

Bedouins are concentrated in the [[Beqaa Governorate]], although they form a minority there. Many [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] people from all over Lebanon have some [[Arab]] Bedouin origins, since [[Arabs]] migrated to Lebanon from [[Yemen]] & [[Saudi Arabia]].

In the present day, Bedouin communities, particularly in Lebanon’s southern border region, have undergone significant socio-cultural changes, shifting from a traditionally nomadic lifestyle to settled farming, including tobacco cultivation.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Khayyat |first=Munira |title=A landscape of war: ecologies of resistance and survival in South Lebanon |date=2022 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-38999-1 |location=Oakland, California}}</ref> Additionally, increased border demarcations, such as those between Lebanon and Israel, have separated many Bedouin families, although kinship ties do remain.<ref name=":3" /> ''Bedu'' have become increasingly connected to the sectarian political system. According to Munira Khayyat, "[t]oday the main identifying quality of ''bedu'', like all of the communities that inhabit the borderland (and all citizens of Lebanon), is their sectarian identity",<ref name=":3" /> with Bedouin communities being "claimed and cultivated".<ref name=":3" />

=== Palestine ===
{{Main|Palestinian Bedouin}}
[[File:Bedouin tribes West bank.gif|thumb|right|Bedouin tribes in the West Bank]]
[[Palestinian Bedouins]] were originally from the [[Negev Desert]]. In the course of the [[1948 Palestine war]], they fled or were displaced from their land.<ref name="unoptbedouins">{{Cite web |title=Bedouins in the occupied Palestinian territory - UNDP report |url=https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-195392/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=Question of Palestine |language=en-US}}</ref> Other Bedouins were expelled from the Negev in 1953 and had relocated to the [[West Bank]], which at the time was under the administration of [[Jordan]].<ref name="minorityrights-palestine"/> Today, there are 40,000 Bedouins in the whole of the West Bank, including 27,000 people under Israeli military control in [[Area C (West Bank)|Area C]].<ref name="minorityrights-palestine">{{Cite web |date=2015-06-19 |title=Palestine - World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples |url=https://minorityrights.org/country/palestine/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=Minority Rights Group |language=en-GB}}</ref> Unlike [[Negev Bedouins]], West Bank Bedouins are not [[Israeli citizenship law|Israeli citizens]].<ref name="minorityrights-palestine"/> Bedouin communities in the West bank have been targeted with forcible relocations to townships to accommodate the growth of illegal [[Israeli settlement]]s on the outskirts of [[East Jerusalem]].<ref name="minorityrights-palestine"/> Bedouins also live in the [[Gaza Strip]], including 5,000 in [[Om al-Nasr]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hamas' use of excessive force to displace Bedouins angers Gazans - Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/06/hamas-use-excessive-force-displace-bedouins-angers-gazans |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=www.al-monitor.com |date=20 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref> However, the number of nomadic Bedouins is shrinking and many are now settled.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hammad |first=Tarneem |date=2017-06-07 |title=The Bedouins of Gaza |url=https://wearenotnumbers.org/bedouins_of_gaza/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=We Are Not Numbers |language=en-US}}</ref>

==={{anchor|Israel}} Israel===
{{Main|Israeli Bedouin}}
[[File:Bedouin squatter compound.png|thumb|Bedouin encampment in the Negev Desert]]Prior to the 1948 [[Israeli Declaration of Independence]], an estimated 65,000–90,000 Bedouins lived in the [[Negev]] desert. According to ''[[Encyclopedia Judaica]]'', 15,000 Bedouin remained in the Negev after 1948; other sources put the number as low as 11,000.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Khalidi |editor-first=Walid |year=1992 |title=All That Remains. The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 |publisher=[[Institute for Palestine Studies]] |location=Washington, DC |isbn=0-88728-224-5 |page=582}}</ref> Another source states that in 1999 110,000 Bedouins lived in the Negev, 50,000 in the Galilee and 10,000 in the central region of Israel.<ref name="Bedouin Demographics">{{Cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfaarchive/1990_1999/1999/7/the%20bedouin%20in%20israel |title=The Bedouin in Israel: Demography |website=[[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] |date=1 July 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026125647/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfaarchive/1990_1999/1999/7/the%20bedouin%20in%20israel |archive-date=26 October 2007}}</ref> All of the Bedouins residing in Israel were granted Israeli citizenship in 1954.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.moch.gov.il/SiteCollectionDocuments/odot/doch_goldberg/Doch_Vaada_Shofet_Goldberg.pdf |title=Report of the Commission to Propose a Policy for Arranging Bedouin Settlement in the Negev (a.k.a. the Goldberg Report) |website=[[Ministry of Construction (Israel)|Ministry of Construction]] |pages=6–13 |language=he |access-date=8 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204154143/http://www.moch.gov.il/SiteCollectionDocuments/odot/doch_goldberg/Doch_Vaada_Shofet_Goldberg.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As of 2020, there are 210,000 Bedouins in Israel: 150,000 in the Negev, 50,000 in [[Galilee]] and the [[Jezreel Valley]], and 10,000 in the central region of Israel.<ref name="jvl2020">{{Cite web |title=The Bedouin in Israel |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-bedouin-in-israel |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> [[Galilee Bedouins]] have been living in the northern part of Israel for four centuries. Today, they live in 28 settlements in the north. They also live in mixed villages with other non-Bedouin Arabs.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Zevulun |first=D. |date=2008 |title=Home Is Where The Hatred Is? Sense of belonging and exclusion of Galilee Bedouins with regard to the Jewish state, Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Arab citizens. |url=https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/1736 |type=Master Thesis |language=en |archive-date=1 November 2022 |access-date=1 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101085808/https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/1736 |url-status=dead }}</ref>[[File:"Bedouin Wedding Procession" in the Jerusalem section of the Pike at the 1904 World's Fair.jpg|thumb|Bedouin wedding procession in the Jerusalem section of the pike at the [[1904 World's Fair]].]]The Bedouin who remained in the Negev belonged to the [[Tiyaha bedouin|Tiaha]] confederation<ref>{{cite book |last=Lustick |first=Ian |title=Arabs in the Jewish State |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1980 |location= Austin, TX |pages=57, 134–6 |author-link=Ian Lustick}}</ref> as well as some smaller groups such as the [['Azazme]] and the [[Jahalin Bedouin|Jahalin]]. After 1948, some [[Negev Bedouins]] were displaced. The [[Jahalin Bedouin|Jahalin]] tribe, for instance, lived in the [[Tel Arad]] region of the Negev prior to the 1950s. In the early 1950s, the Jahalin were among the tribes that, according to [[Emanuel Marx]], "moved or were removed by the military government".<ref>{{cite book |title=Bedouin Society in the Negev |last=Marx |first=Emanuel |year=1974 |publisher=Rashafim |location=Tel Aviv |page=17 |language=he}}</ref> They ended up in the so-called [[E1 (Jerusalem)|E1]] area East of [[Jerusalem]].

Famously, Bedouin shepherds were the first to discover the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], a collection of Jewish texts from antiquity, in the [[Judean]] [[Qumran|caves of Qumran]] in 1946. Of great religious, cultural, historical and linguistic significance, 972 texts were found over the following decade, many of which were discovered by Bedouins. [[File:Badawit naqib.jpg|thumb|A [[Negev]] Bedouin man.]]In September 2011, the Israeli government approved a five-year [[economic development]] plan called the [[Prawer Commission|''Prawer plan'']].<ref name="Prawer">{{Cite web |url=http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/spokenegev110911.aspx |title=Cabinet Approves Plan to Provide for the Status of Communities in, and the Economic Development of, the Bedouin Sector in the Negev |website=Prime Minister's Office |date=11 September 2012}}</ref> One of its implications is a relocation of some 30.000-40.000 Negev Bedouin from areas not recognized by the government to government-approved [[township]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/09/2011912151231223454.html |title=Bedouin transfer plan shows Israel's racism |website=Al Jazeera |date=13 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/03/bedouin-plight-traditions-threat-israel |title=Bedouin's plight: "We want to maintain our traditions. But it's a dream here" |first=Harriet |last=Sherwood |newspaper=The Guardian |date=3 November 2011}}</ref> In a 2012 resolution the European Parliament called for the withdrawal of the Prawer plan and respect for the rights of the Bedouin people.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/european-parliament-condemns-israel-s-policy-toward-bedouin-population-1.449687 |title=European Parliament condemns Israel's policy toward Bedouin population |first=Jack |last=Khoury |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |date=8 July 2013 |quote=The European Parliament Calls for the protection of the Bedouin communities of the West Bank and in the Negev, and for Israeli authorities to respect their rights and condemns any violations (e.g., house demolitions, forced displacements, and public service limitations). It calls also, in this context, for the withdrawal of the Prawer Plan by the Israeli Government.}}</ref> In September 2014, [[Yair Shamir]], who heads the Israeli government's ministerial committee on Bedouin resettlement arrangements, stated that the government was examining ways to lower the birthrate of the Bedouin community in order to improve its standard of living. Shamir claimed that without intervention, the Bedouin population could exceed half a million by 2035.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.618119 |title=Minister: Israel Looking at Ways to Lower Bedouin Birthrate |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/to-raise-bedouin-living-standards-minister-tackles-birth-rate/ |title=To up Bedouin living standards, minister tackles birth rate |newspaper=The Times of Israel |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>

In May 2015, the [[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] and the [[UNRWA|United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees]] have combined forces. Both organizations called on Israel to stop its plans to relocate Bedouin communities currently living in the [[West Bank]] to land outside of [[Jerusalem]] for better access to infrastructure, health, and education. Officials stated that a "forcible transfer" of over 7000 Bedouin people would "destroy their culture and livelihoods."<ref>{{Cite news|title=U.N. agencies urge israel to halt palestinian bedouin relocation plans|last=EFE News Service|date=20 May 2015|id={{ProQuest|1681936677}}}}</ref>

===Jordan===
[[File:Bedouinnasserwadirum.jpg|thumb|A young Bedouin lighting a camp fire in [[Wadi Rum]], Jordan]]
[[File:Hijazeen.jpg|thumb|A significant percentage of Jordanian Christians are ethnically Bedouin. The picture shows a Bedouin Christian family belonging to the Hijazeen tribe in [[Karak Governorate|Karak]] in 1895]]

Most of the Bedouin tribes migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to what is [[Jordan]] today between the 14th and 18th centuries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jordanbeauty.com/Nomads.html|title=Bedouin Culture in Jordan|access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref> They are often referred to as a backbone of the Kingdom,<ref name= UNHCR>[https://archive.today/20130416022509/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,MRGI,,JOR,4954ce4ec,0.html World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Jordan : Overview. Peoples], [[UNHCR]] report, 2007</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brendasjordan.com/about/general-information/bedouin|title=Brenda's Jordan|access-date=19 October 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101163014/http://www.brendasjordan.com/about/general-information/bedouin/|archive-date=1 November 2015}}</ref> since Bedouin clans traditionally support the monarchy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14636308|title=Jordan profile - Leaders|work=BBC News|date=3 February 2015|access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>

Most of Jordan's Bedouin live in the vast wasteland that extends east from the Desert Highway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/people1.html |title=The People of Jordan |website=kinghussein.gov.jo |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref> The eastern Bedouin are camel breeders and herders, while the western Bedouin herd sheep and goats. Some Bedouin in Jordan are semi-nomads, they adopt a nomadic existence during part of the year but return to their lands and homes in time to practice agriculture.

The largest nomadic groups of Jordan are the Bani Hasan (Mafraq, Zarqa, Jarash, Ajloun and parts of Amman) [[Bani Sakher|Bani Ṣakher]] (Amman and Madaba) Banū Laith (Petra), and [[Howeitat|Banū al-Ḥuwayṭāt]] (they reside in [[Wadi Rum]]).{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} There are numerous lesser groups, such as the al-Sirḥān, Banū Khālid, Hawazim, ʿAṭiyyah, and Sharafāt. The Ruwālah (Rwala) tribe, which is not indigenous, passes through Jordan in its yearly wandering from Syria to Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jordan |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |date=6 May 2024 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/306128/Jordan/256320/Languages#toc23343}}</ref> The region encompassing [[Wadi Musa]] and Petra is inhabited by the prominent [[Liyathnah]] tribe alongside the smaller [[Bedul]] community, believed to have [[Jews|Jewish]] or [[Nabataeans|Nabataean]] ancestry.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Simms |first=Steven |date=1996 |title=The Bedul Bedouin of Petra, Jordan: Traditions, tourism, and an uncertain future |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287496244 |journal=Cultural Survival Quarterly |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=22–25}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Peake |first=Frederick Gerard |url=https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_isl_history-trans-jordan-tribes_DS1544B551934_vol1-5254/page/n117/mode/2up |title=A history of Trans-Jordan and its tribes |year=1934 |volume=1 |publisher=Unknown publisher|location=Amman |pages=109}}</ref><ref name=":322">{{Cite book |last=Ben-Zvi |first=Itzhak |author-link=Yitzhak Ben-Zvi |title=שאר ישוב: מאמרים ופרקים בדברי ימי הישוב העברי בא"י ובחקר המולדת |publisher=none |year=1967 |location=תל אביב תרפ"ז |pages=374–378 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=She'ar Yeshuv}}</ref> The Hijazeen are a [[Christian Bedouin]] tribe located in Jordan with roots in the [[Hejaz]] of present-day Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite web|title=تقرير خاص لقناة العربية نيوز يتعلق بتاريخ عشيرة الحجازين و الطابع البدوي للعشيرة قبل إعلان إمارة شرق الاردن (المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية) .| website=[[Facebook]] |url=https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1626225610747190|access-date=24 April 2025}}</ref>

The Jordanian government provides the Bedouin with different services such as education, housing and health clinics. However, some Bedouins give it up and prefer their traditional nomadic lifestyle.

In the recent years, there is a growing discontent of the Bedouin with the ruling monarch [[Abdullah II of Jordan]]. In August 2007, police clashed with some 200 Bedouins who were blocking the [[Highway 15 (Jordan)|main highway]] between Amman and the port of Aqaba. Livestock herders were protesting the government's lack of support in the face of the steeply rising cost of animal feed and expressed resentment about government assistance to refugees.<ref name="UNHCR" />

[[Arab Spring]] events in 2011 led to demonstrations in Jordan, and Bedouins took part in them. But the [[Hashemites]] did not see a revolt similar to turbulence in other Arab states. The main reasons for that are the high respect to the monarch and contradictory interests of different groups of the Jordanian society. The King Abdullah II maintains his distance from the complaints by allowing blame to fall on government ministers, whom he replaces at will.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/world/middleeast/05jordan.html |title=Jordan Faces a Rising Tide of Unrest, but Few Expect a Revolt |first=Ethan |last=Bronner |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=4 February 2011}}</ref>

===Egypt===
[[File: Bedouins making bread.jpg|thumb|Bedouins making bread in [[Egypt]].]]
Bedouins in Egypt mostly reside in the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] Peninsula, [[Matrouh Governorate|Matruh]], [[Red Sea Governorate|Red Sea]] governate, eastern parts of [[Sharqia Governorate|Sharqia]] governate, [[Suez]], [[Ismailia]] and in the suburbs of the Egyptian capital of Cairo.<ref name=DNE>{{cite news |first=Tamim |last=Elyan |url=http://www.masress.com/en/dailynews/122312 |title=Metropolitan Bedouins: Tarabin tribe living in Cairo between urbanization and Bedouin traditions |newspaper=[[Daily News Egypt]] |date=20 August 2010 }}</ref> Traditional Bedouin culture was affected by the establishment of resort towns on the Red Sea coast, such as [[Sharm el-Sheikh]]. In the wake of urbanization and educational opportunities, many Bedouins now marry outside their tribe, a practice that once was frowned upon.<ref name="DNE" />

Bedouins living in the Sinai Peninsula did not benefit much from the construction boom due to the low wages offered. Sudanese and Egyptian workers were brought in as construction workers instead. When the tourist industry started to bloom, local Bedouins became cab drivers, tour guides and managers of campgrounds and coffee shops. Tarabin and other Bedouin tribes living along the border between Egypt and Israel have been  involved in inter-border smuggling of drugs and weapons,<ref name="DNE" /> as well as infiltration of prostitutes and [[Illegal immigration from Africa to Israel|African labour workers]].
[[File:Schmidt-Encampment.jpg|thumb|Bedouin encampment outside [[Cairo]], 1849]]
In most countries in the Middle East, the Bedouin have no land rights, only users' privileges,<ref name=BenDavid>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1999/7/The+Bedouin+in+Israel.htm |first=Yosef |last=Ben-David |title=The Bedouin in Israel |publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs |date=1 July 1999}}</ref> and it is especially true for Egypt. Since the mid-1980s, the Bedouins who held desirable coastal property have lost control of much of their land as it was sold by the Egyptian government to hotel operators. The Egyptian government did not see the land as belonging to Bedouin tribes, but rather as state property.

In the summer of 1999, the Egyptian army bulldozed Bedouin-run tourist campgrounds north of Nuweiba as part of the final phase of hotel development overseen by the Tourist Development Agency (TDA). The director of the Tourist Development Agency dismissed Bedouin rights to most of the land, saying that they had not lived on the coast prior to 1982. Their traditional semi-nomadic culture has left Bedouins vulnerable to such claims.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allsinai.info/sites/beduines.htm |title=Sinai Beduines |first=Konstantin |last=Abercron |website=allsinai.info |access-date=19 October 2015 |archive-date=8 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208015717/http://allsinai.info/sites/beduines.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Egyptian Revolution of 2011]] brought more freedom to the Sinai Bedouin, but since they were  
involved in drug smuggling into Gaza, the Egyptian army demolished over 120 tunnels that were used as smuggling channels, compelling them to cooperate with state troops and officials. After negotiations, the military campaign ended with a new agreement between the Bedouin and Egyptian authorities.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-halts-sinai-anti-terror-campaign-will-open-talks-with-bedouin-1.461262 |title=Egypt Halts Sinai Anti-terror Campaign, Will Open Talks With Bedouin |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>

===Maghreb===
[[File:Chief of Mascara.jpg|thumb|Commander and Amir of [[Mascara, Algeria|Mascara]] in [[Algeria]], [[Banu Hilal]].]]
[[File:Bedouins in Libya.tif|thumb|A group of Bedouins with their [[tent]] in [[Libya]], 1950s]]
The [[Arab migration to the Maghreb]] had been a centuries-long process that continuously occurred since the 7th century. The initial waves of migration from the 7th to the 10th centuries mostly involved sedentary Arabs who established communities in cities, towns and surrounding rural areas. However, the Arab migrations from the 11th to the 15th centuries involved a significant influx of a great amount of nomadic Bedouin tribes to the region.<ref name="ReferenceC" />

In the 11th century, the Bedouin tribes of [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]], who originated from central and north Arabia respectively,<ref name="ReferenceC">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_75PBQAAQBAJ&q=Moroccan+Bedouin&pg=PT288 |title=The Arabic Language |first=Kees |last=Versteegh |date=31 May 2014 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9780748694600 |access-date=20 July 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref> living at the time in a desert between the [[Nile]] and the [[Red Sea]], moved westward into the Maghreb areas and were joined by the Bedouin tribe of [[Maqil|Ma'qil]], which had its roots in South Arabia, as well as other Arab tribes.<ref name="ReferenceC" />

The 11th century witnessed the most significant wave of Arab migration, surpassing all previous movements. This event unfolded when the [[Zirid dynasty]] of Ifriqiya proclaimed its independence from the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] of Egypt. In retribution against the Zirids, the Fatimids dispatched large Bedouin Arab tribes, mainly the [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]], to defeat the Zirids and settle in the Maghreb. These tribes followed a [[nomad]]ic lifestyle and were originally from the [[Hejaz]] and [[Najd]].<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=el-Hasan |first=Hasan Afif |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zr2XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |title=Killing the Arab Spring |date=2019-05-01 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-1-62894-349-8 |pages=82 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceC" /> They were later joined by the Bedouin tribe of [[Maqil|Ma'qil]], which had its roots in South Arabia, as well as other Arab tribes.<ref name="ReferenceC" />

According to [[Ibn Khaldun]], they were accompanied by their wives, children and stock. They settled in the Maghreb after repeatedly fighting battles against the Berbers, such as the [[Battle of Haydaran]]. They heavily transformed the culture of the Maghreb into [[Arab culture]], and spread nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant.<ref name=":13"/> It played a major role in spreading Bedouin Arabic to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as the southern areas near the [[Sahara]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Duri |first=A. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32sBxqIgcZMC&pg=PA71 |title=The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation (RLE: the Arab Nation) |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-62286-8 |pages=70–74 |language=en}}</ref> In addition, they destroyed the Berber Zirid state and most of its cities, sparing only the Mediterranean coastal strip at [[Mahdia|al-Mahdiyya]], and deeply weakened the neighboring [[Hammadid dynasty]] and the [[Zenata]]. Their influx was a major factor in the linguistic, cultural, genetic and ethnic [[Arabization]] of the [[Maghreb]].<ref name=":13" /> According to Ibn Khaldun, the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become [[Desertification|desertified]] and turned into completely arid desert. The journey of Banu Hilal is recounted in the Arabic oral poem of [[Sirat Bani Hilal]].<ref name=":13" />

To persuade the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym to migrate to the Maghreb, the Fatimid caliph gave each tribesman a camel and money and helped them cross from the east to the west bank of the [[Nile|Nile river]]. The severe drought in Egypt at the time also persuaded these tribes to migrate to the Maghreb, which had a better economic situation at the time. The Fatimid caliph instructed them to rule the Maghreb instead of the Zirid emir [[Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis|Al-Mu'izz]] and told them "I have given you the Maghrib and the rule of al-Mu'izz ibn Balkīn as-Sanhājī the runaway slave. You will want for nothing." and told Al-Mu'izz "I have sent you horses and put brave men on them so that God might accomplish a matter already enacted".<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Hareir |first1=Idris El |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C |title=The Spread of Islam Throughout the World |last2=Mbaye |first2=Ravane |date=2011-01-01 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-104153-2 |pages=409 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Beduin mothers carrying their children on their shoulders.jpg|thumb|Bedouin mothers carrying their children on their shoulders. Hand-coloured print of a late 19th century black-and-white photo taken by French photographer [[Félix Bonfils]].]]
[[Berbers|Berber]] armies were defeated in trying to protect the walls of [[Kairouan]].<ref name=":1" /> The [[Zirids]] abandoned [[Kairouan]] to take refuge on the coast where they survived for a century. [[Ifriqiya]], the [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]] spread is on the high plains of [[Constantine, Algeria|Constantine]] where they gradually choked the [[Beni Hammad Fort|Qal'a of Banu Hammad]], as they had done [[Kairouan]] few decades ago. From there, they gradually gained the upper [[Algiers]] and [[Oran]] plains, some were taken to the [[Moulouya]] valley and in [[Doukkala]] plains by the [[Almohads|Caliph]] of [[Marrakesh]] in the second half of the 12th century.<ref name=":1" /> [[Ibn Khaldun]], a [[Muslim]] [[historian]] wrote: "Similar to an army of locusts, they destroy everything in their path."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |first=François |last=Decret |title=Les invasions hilaliennes en Ifrîqiya |date=September 2003 |url=https://www.clio.fr/BIBLIOTHEQUE/les_invasions_hilaliennes_en_ifriqiya.asp |website=www.clio.fr |access-date=21 November 2015 |language=fr}}</ref> As Arab nomads spread, the territories of the local Berber tribes were moved and shrank. The [[Zenata]] were pushed to the west and the [[Kabyle people|Kabyles]] were pushed to the north. The Berbers took refuge in the mountains whereas the plains were Arabized.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Farida |first1=Benouis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmaWEAAAQBAJ |title=An Architecture of Light. Islamic Art in Algeria. |last2=Houria |first2=Chérid |last3=Lakhdar |first3=Drias |last4=Amine |first4=Semar |date=30 August 2022 |publisher=Museum With No Frontiers, MWNF (Museum Ohne Grenzen) |isbn=978-3-902966-14-8 |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref> The arrival of the Banu Hilal, followed by the Banu Sulaym in the 12th century, broke the balance between nomads and [[Sedentary lifestyle|sedentary]] populations in favor of the nomads. For strategic reasons, the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]] gave over the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] plains of the western Maghreb to them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Africa |first=Unesco International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwV2a-lPB70C&pg=PA44 |title=UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century |date=1998-05-10 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06699-1 |pages=44 |language=en}}</ref>

Sources estimated that the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb only in the 11th century was at around 1 million Arabs.<ref name=":22"/>

The [[Maqil|Ma'qilis]] also entered the Maghreb during this wave of Arabian tribal immigration in the 11th century. They later allied with the Banu Hilal and entered under their protection.<ref name="pp77">{{cite book |last=Ibn Khaldun |first=Abderahman |title=تاريخ ابن خلدون: ديوان المبتدأ و الخبر في تاريخ العرب و البربر و من عاصرهم من ذوي الشأن الأكبر |publisher=دار الفكر |year=1377 |volume=6 |page=77 |author-link=Ibn Khaldun}}</ref> They adapted to the climatic desert conditions of the Maghreb, discovering the same way of life as in the Arabian Peninsula.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last1=Sabatier |first1=Diane Himpan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjpvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |title=Nomads of Mauritania |last2=Himpan |first2=Brigitte |date=2019-03-31 |publisher=Vernon Press |isbn=978-1-62273-410-8 |pages=110–111 |language=en}}</ref> In the 13th century, they occupied southern [[Algeria]] and dominated the oases of [[Tuat]] and Gourara. For some authors, at this point, the Maqil group had already disintegrated into different populations in the Maghreb and had given rise to the [[Beni Ḥassān|Beni Hassan]] along with other related groups.<ref name=":05">{{Cite web |title=Diccionario histórico-etnográfico de los pueblos de África {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/835983739 |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.worldcat.org |pages=153, 350 |language=en}}</ref> The Beni Hassan expanded southwest and occupied [[Sanhaja]] lands in the 13th century after invading and defeating the Berber confederation.<ref name=":05"/> The Sanhaja has long had to pay tribute to the nomadic Bedouin Hassani invaders.<ref name=":05" /> This took place during the [[Char Bouba war|Char Bouba War]] in modern-day [[Western Sahara]] and [[Mauritania]] from 1644 to 1674, which after decades of confrontations ended up completely Arabizing the native Berber population, destroying their language and culture and giving rise to the contemporary [[Sahrawis|Sahrawi people]].<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of African history and culture {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/647901896 |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.worldcat.org |page=237 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of the peoples of Africa and the Middle East {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/166382606 |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.worldcat.org |page=470 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":222">{{Cite journal |last=Velázquez Elizarrarás |first=Juan Carlos |date=December 2014 |title=Orígenes de la identidad del pueblo saharaui |journal=Humania del Sur |issue=17 |pages=13–31 |url=http://erevistas.saber.ula.ve/index.php/humaniadelsur/article/view/6245}}</ref> Harry Norris noted "the Moorish Sahara is the western extremity of the Arab World. Western it certainly is, some districts further west than Ireland, yet in its way of life, its culture, its literature and in many of its social customs, it has much in common with the heart lands of the Arab East, in particular with the Hijaz and Najd and parts of the Yemen".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ould-Mey |first=Mohameden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWxZ9JV-UOEC&pg=PA69 |title=Global Restructuring and Peripheral States: The Carrot and the Stick in Mauritania |date=1996 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8226-3051-7 |pages=69 |language=en}}</ref>

These Bedouin tribes emerged into several contemporary sub-tribes. The most well known Bedouin tribes in [[Algeria]] include [[Awlad Sidi Shaykh]], [[Ouled Naïl|Ouled Nail]], [[Chaamba]], [[Doui-Menia]] and [[Hamyan]], who primarily live in the [[Algerian Desert]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weissleder |first=Wolfgang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRyqfpi5BKcC&pg=PA13 |title=The Nomadic Alternative: Modes and Models of Interaction in the African-Asian Deserts and Steppes |date=2011-06-15 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-081023-3 |pages=13 |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Greater Maghreb|Maghrebi]] Bedouin dialects, often called [[Hilalian dialects]], are used in the regions of Morocco Atlantic Coast, in regions of [[Hautes Plaines|High Plains]] and [[Sahara Desert|Sahara]] in [[Algeria]], in regions of [[Sahel, Tunisia|Tunisian Sahel]] and in regions of [[Tripolitania]]. The Bedouin dialects has four major varieties:<ref name="tme">{{cite web |first=Kees |last=Versteegh |url=http://acc.teachmideast.org/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=113&sequence=5 |title=Dialects of Arabic: Maghreb Dialects |website=TeachMideast.org |access-date=4 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715181940/http://acc.teachmideast.org/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=113&sequence=5 |archive-date=15 July 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Barkat">{{cite book |first=Mélissa |last=Barkat |chapter=Les dialectes Maghrébins |chapter-url=http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/documents/lyon2/2000/barkat_m#p=24&a=top |title=Détermination d'indices acoustiques robustes pour l'identification automatique des parlers arabes |publisher=Université Lumière Lyon 2 |year=2000}}</ref>
* Sulaym dialects, [[Libya]] and southern [[Tunisia]];
* Eastern Hilal dialects, central [[Tunisia]] and eastern [[Algeria]];
* Central Hilal dialects, south and central [[Algeria]], especially in border areas of [[Sahara]];
* Western Hilal dialects, Atlantic plains of western [[Morocco]]
* Maqil dialects, western [[Algeria]] and [[Morocco]];

In [[Morocco]], Bedouin Arabic dialects are spoken in plains and in recently founded cities such as [[Casablanca]]. Thus, the city Arabic dialect shares with the Bedouin dialects ''gal'' 'to say' (qala); they also represent the bulk of modern urban dialects ([[Koiné]]s), such as those of [[Oran]] and [[Algiers]].<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

== Tribes and populations ==
[[File:Bedouin map.jpg|thumb|right|Map of the Bedouin tribes in 1908]]
[[File:Close of the 1930 locust campaign. Bedouins racing and feasting at Beersheba on June 30th, 1930. Bedouin types of the desert. Watching the races LOC matpc.15606.jpg|thumb|Bedouins racing and feasting at [[Beersheba]] in 1930]]
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. Below is a partial list of Bedouin tribes and their historic place of origin.
[[File:Syrian Bedouin Shepherd.jpg|thumb|Bedouin shepherd in [[Syrian Desert]]]]
[[File:Bedouins on Horseback.tif|thumb|Bedouins on [[horseback]], 1950s]]
[[File:Bedouin Camp 1 by Tom And Linda Anderson 3841041338.jpg|thumb|Bedouin camp in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s]]
*[[Otaibah]], located in [[Najd]] and [[Hejaz|Hijaz]], found mainly in the [[Arabian Peninsula]] in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
*[[Harb (tribe)|Harb]], located in the [[Arabian Peninsula]].
*[[Beni Sakhr|Beni Sakher]], located in Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. Families in the tribe such as the [[Al-Fayez]], Al-Zaben, Al Hgeish, Al-Jboor, and the Al-Khreisheh represent the tribe in Jordan and wield significant political power in the country after the [[Hashemites]]. There are other families that are smaller in size including Al-Mteirat, Al-Hamed, Al-Badarin, and Al-Othman. 
*[[Banu Hilal]], located in [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Morocco]], [[Algeria]], [[Tunisia]] and [[Libya]]. The tribe originated in [[Najd]], but migrated in the 11th century to North Africa in what is famously known as [[Taghribat Bani Hilal]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last=Versteegh |first=Kees |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_75PBQAAQBAJ&q=Moroccan+Bedouin&pg=PT288 |title=The Arabic Language |date=31 May 2014 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-9460-0 |page=288 |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>
*[[Banu Sulaym]], located in [[Libya]], [[Tunisia]], [[Algeria]], [[Morocco]] and [[Syria]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.chaamba.net/ |title=Le site de la tribu des Chaâmba Algériens |work=chaamba.net |language=fr}}</ref>
* [['Anizzah]], some of the clans of this tribe are Bedouins, they live in northern Saudi Arabia, western Iraq, the Gulf states, [[Syrian steppe]] and in [[Bekaa]].
* '[[Azazima]], [[Negev desert]] and [[Egypt]].
* [[Bani Hamida|Beni Hamida]], east of Dead Sea, Jordan.
* [[Banu Yam]] centered in [[Najran Province]], Saudi Arabia and Iraq and is divided into Bedouins and urban
* [[Al Bu Shamis]] (Tribe), Buraimi, Sultanate Of Oman - Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, UAE<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=1954-12-06 |orig-date=1917 |title=Statement of 'Ali Aba al-Rus [Bedouins Tribes Of Buraimi] |url=https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fo/464/38/n/243 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241106045805/https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fo/464/38/n/243 |archive-date=2024-11-06 |website=Arabian Gulf Digital Archives |language=en |quote=We spent about six months with Su'ayyid Al Faisal and went from Buraimi with seventy-six riding-camels as gifts from all the Bedouins: Nu'aim, Al Bu Shamis, Bani Kitab [Qitab], Bani Ka'b, The Balush, ...}}</ref>
* [[Na'im]] (Tribe), Buraimi, Sultanate Of Oman - Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, UAE<ref name=":2" />
* [[Nu'aym]] (Tribe), southern and central Syria, particularly [[Golan Heights]], [[Hauran]] and [[Homs]]
* [[Balush (tribe)|Balush]] (Tribe), Buraimi, Sultanate Of Oman - Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, UAE<ref name=":2" />
* [[Bani Qitab]] (Tribe), Buraimi, Sultanate Of Oman - Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, UAE<ref name=":2" />
* [[Bani Kaab]] (Tribe), Buraimi, Sultanate Of Oman - Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, UAE<ref name=":2" />
* [[Khawatir]] (Tribe), Buraimi, Sultanate Of Oman - Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, UAE<ref name=":2" />
* Ghafalah (Tribe), Buraimi, Sultanate Of Oman - Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, UAE<ref name=":2" />
* [[Dulaim]], a very large and powerful tribe in [[Al Anbar]], Western [[Iraq]].
* al-Amad (alAmad, Al Amad, Al-Amad family) of al-Umdah clan ("The Mayors Tribe"), one of the smaller yet prominent tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. Mostly scattered across Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Palestine and United Arab Emirates. This tribe is also associated with Samaritan<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/samaritan/surnames | title=FamilyTreeDNA - Genetic Testing for Ancestry, Family History & Genealogy }}</ref> ancestry ([[Samaritans]]).
* al-Abadi "Abadi clan" mostly based in Jordan. Very well respected across the country with influential positions in the Army and national services. 
*[[al-Duwasir]], also known as al-Dousari located in central Saudi Arabia, especially [[Wadi Al-Dawasir]], as well as Eastern Arabia in the [[Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia|Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia]], Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.
* [[Ghamid]], large tribe from [[Al-Bahah Province]], Saudi Arabia, mostly settled, but with a small Bedouin section known as ''Badiyat Ghamid''.
* [[al-Hadid]], large Bedouin tribe found in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Now mostly are settled in cities such as Haditha in Iraq, Homs & Hama in Syria, and Amman in Jordan.
* al-[[Howeitat]], one of the largest tribes in Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia, and eastern Egypt. The descends from [[Banu Judham|Judham]], an ancient north Arabian Qahtanite tribe.
* [[Qahtan]], one of the largest tribes in the Arabian Peninsula. The Bedouin portion of the tribe roamed an area extended from the South of Najd to the Southwest of Saudi Arabia.
* [[Al-Dhafeer]] in Northeast Saudi Arabia, Southern Iraq, and Kuwait.
* [[Mawali (tribe)|Mawali]], central and northern Syria
* [[Mutayr]] in Central and Eastern Saudi Arabia.
* [[Bani Khalid]], some of its clans are Bedouins in Eastern Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and Syria.
* [[Al Murrah]] are one of the largest and powerful tribes of the Arabian Peninsula covering Southeastern Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. The tribe historically roamed the [[Empty Quarter]] desert.
* [[Ajman (tribe)|Ajman]] of Eastern Saudi Arabia.
* [[al-Mawasi]], a group living on the central [[Gaza Strip]] coast.
* [[Maqil|Ma'qil]], a Bedouin tribe of Yemeni origin, located in Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, and west Algeria.
* [[Muzziena tribe]] in [[Dahab]] and South Sinai (Egypt).
* [[Shahran]] (al-Ariydhah), a very large tribe residing in the area between Bisha, Khamis Mushait and Abha. Al-Arydhah 'wide' is a famous name for Shahran because it has a very large area, in Saudi Arabia.
* [[Shammar]], a very large and influential tribe. The Bedouins of this tribe live in Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan. Descended from the ancient tribe of [[Tayy]] from [[Najd]].
* [[Subay']], Some of the clans of this tribe are bedouins and live in the far south of the Najd region.
* [[Tarabin bedouin|Tarabin]]—one of the largest tribes in [[Egypt]] ([[Sinai peninsula|Sinai]]) and [[Israel]] ([[Negev]]). 
* [[Tuba-Zangariyye]], [[Israel]] near the [[Jordan river]] cliff in the Eastern [[Galilee]].
* [[Al Wahiba]], a large tribe in Oman residing in the [[Sharqiya Sands]], also known as the Wahiba Sands
* [[Rashaida people|Al Rashaida]] is originally a tribe from the Hejaz, but large portions of it have migrated to Eritrea and Eastern Sudan. Although bedouins from other tribes have migrated with them as well, the name has come to refer to all of them.

== See also ==
* [[Arab (etymology)]]
* [[Ardah]]
* [[Bedawi Arabic]]
* [[Ghinnawa]]
* [[Qedarites]]
* [[Koheilan]]
* [[Tribes of Arabia]]
* [[Tribes of Yemen]]
* [[Jaghbub]]
* [[Bedoon]], stateless people in some Middle Eastern countries
* [[Faz'ah]]
{{Clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Asher|first= Michael|author-link=Michael Asher (explorer)|title= The Last of the Bedu: In Search of the Myth|publisher= Penguin Books |year=1997|isbn= 0140147500}}
* {{cite book |last=Bitar |first=Amer |date=2020 |title=Bedouin Visual Leadership in the Middle East: The Power of Aesthetics and Practical Implications |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4oBEAAAQBAJ |publisher=[[Springer Nature]] |isbn=9783030573973}}
* Brous, Devorah. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070715192513/http://bustan.org/Intl%20Perspectives%20on%20Indigenous%20Ed%20-%20Brous.pdf "The 'Uprooting:' Education Void of Indigenous 'Location-Specific' Knowledge, Among Negev Bedouin Arabs in Southern Israel"]. ''International Perspectives on Indigenous Education.'' (Ben Gurion University 2004)
* [[Dawn Chatty|Chatty, D]] ''Mobile Pastoralists'' 1996. Broad introduction to the topic, specific focus on women's issues.
* [[Dawn Chatty|Chatty, Dawn]]. ''From Camel to Truck. The Bedouin in the Modern World''. New York: Vantage Press. 1986
* Cole, Donald P. "Where have the Bedouin gone?" ''Anthropological Quarterly''. Washington: Spring 2003.Vol.76, Iss. 2; pg. 235
* Falah, Ghazi. "Israeli State Policy Towards Bedouin Sedentarization in the Negev", ''Journal of Palestine Studies'', 1989 Vol. XVIII, No. 2, pp.&nbsp;71–91
* Falah, Ghazi. "The Spatial Pattern of Bedouin Sedentarization in Israel", ''GeoJournal'', 1985 Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.&nbsp;361–368.
* Gardner, Andrew. "The Political Ecology of Bedouin Nomadism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". In ''Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales and Social Groups'', Lisa Gezon and Susan Paulson, eds. Rutgers: Rutgers University Press.
* Gardner, Andrew. "The New Calculus of Bedouin Pastoral Nomadism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". ''Human Organization'' 62 (3): 267–276.
* Gardner, Andrew and Timothy Finan. "Navigating Modernization: Bedouin Pastoralism and Climate Information in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". ''MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies'' 4 (Spring): 59–72.
* Gardner, Ann. "At Home in South Sinai." ''Nomadic Peoples'' 2000.Vol.4, Iss. 2; pp.&nbsp;48–67. Detailed account of Bedouin women.
* [[Claude Scudamore Jarvis|Jarvis, Claude Scudamore]]. ''Yesterday and To-day in Sinai''. Edinburgh/London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1931; ''Three Deserts''. London: John Murray, 1936; ''Desert and Delta''. London: John Murray, 1938. Sympathetic accounts by a colonial administrator in Sinai.
* [[William Lancaster (anthropologist)|Lancaster, William]]. ''The Rwala Bedouin Today'' 1981 (Second Edition 1997). Detailed examination of social structures.
* S. Leder/B. Streck (ed.): ''Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations.'' Nomaden und Sesshafte 2 (Wiesbaden 2005)
* Lithwick, Harvey. "An Urban Development Strategy for the Negev's Bedouin Community". Center for Bedouin Studies and Development and Negev Center for Regional Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, August 2000
* Mohsen, Safia K. ''The quest for order among Awlad Ali of the Western Desert of Egypt''.
* [[Wilfred Thesiger|Thesiger, Wilfred]] (1959). ''Arabian Sands''. {{ISBN|0-14-009514-4}} (Penguin paperback). British adventurer lives as and with the Bedu of the [[Empty Quarter]] for 5 years

==External links==
* [https://vacationsinegypt.com/bedouin/ Bedouin] travel guide from vacationsinegypt
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