Cushitic ethnic group native to Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea
Beja
البجا
Beja men dancing
Total population
1,900,000[1]–2,759,000[2]
Regions with significant populations
Eastern Desert
Sudan
2,620,000 (2024)[2]
Eritrea
121,000 (2022)[3]
Egypt
88,000 (2023)[4]
Languages
Arabic (Sudanese Arabic), Beja, Tigre
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Cushites, Tigre, Sudanese Arabs, Nubians
The Beja people (Arabic: البجا, Beja: Oobja, Tigre: በጃ) are a Cushitic ethnic group[5] native to the Eastern Desert, inhabiting a coastal area from southeastern Egypt through eastern Sudan and into northwestern Eritrea.[1] They are descended from peoples who have inhabited the area since 4000 BC or earlier,[1] although they were Arabized by Arabs who settled in the region.[6] They are nomadic[1] and live primarily in the Eastern Desert. The Beja number around 1,900,000[1] to 2,759,000.[2]
Some of the Beja speak a Cushitic language called Beja and some speak Tigre, an Ethiopian Semitic language; most speak Arabic.[1][7] In Eritrea and southeastern Sudan, many members of the Beni-Amer grouping speak Tigre. Originally, the Beja did not speak Arabic, but the migration of the numerous Arab tribes of Juhaynah, Mudar, Rabi'a, and many more to the Beja areas contributed to the Arabization and Islamization of them.[6][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 into Islam.[8] The process of Arabization led to the Beja adopting the Arabic language,[6] Arab clothing,[9] and Arab kinship organization.[1]
While many secondary sources identify the Ababda as an Arabic-speaking Beja tribe because of their cultural links with the Bishari, this is a misconception; the Ababda do not consider themselves Beja, nor are they so considered by Beja people.[10]
^ abcdefg"Beja | people | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
^ abc"Bedawiyet". Ethnologue. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
^"Bedawiyet". Ethnologue. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
^"Bedawiyet". Ethnologue. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
^Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. 2010-04-06. ISBN 9780080877754. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
^ abcFreamon, Bernard K. (2019-05-20). Possessed by the Right Hand: The Problem of Slavery in Islamic Law and Muslim Cultures. BRILL. p. 191. ISBN 978-90-04-39879-5.
^"Beja". Ethnologue. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
^ abcdZáhořík, Jan. "The Islamization of the Beja until the 19th century" (PDF). p. 4.
^Omer, Mohamed Kheir (2020). The Dynamics of an Unfinished African Dream: Eritrea: Ancient History to 1968. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-68471-649-4.
^ضرار, محمّد صالح (2012). تاريخ شرق السودان. Khartoum: مكتبة التوبة. p. 36.
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Beja (Bidhaawyeet or Tubdhaawi) is an Afroasiatic language of the Cushitic branch spoken on the western coast of the Red Sea by the Bejapeople. Its speakers...
romanized: al-ʿabābdah or Arabic: العبّادي, romanized: al-ʿabbādī) are an Arab or Beja tribe in eastern Egypt and Sudan. Historically, most were Bedouins living...
Look up Beja or Béja in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Beja may refer to: Bejapeople, an ethnic group in northeast Africa Blemmyes, historical name...
there were six Beja kingdoms that were established. These kingdoms stretched from the lowlands of Eritrea to Aswan in Egypt. The Beja kingdoms occupied...
speak the Beja language or Tigre language as a mother tongue. In addition to their variety of Beja, known as Hedareb or T’badwe, most Hedareb people also speak...
identification with the Bejapeople who have inhabited the same region since the Middle Ages is generally accepted. Around 1000 BC a group of people, referred to...
nomadic and pastoralist people, related to the Tigrinya and to the Bejapeople. They are a predominantly Muslim nomadic people who inhabit the northern...
Cushitic speaking tribe, or more likely a subdivision of the Medjay/Bejapeople, which is attested in Napatan and Egyptian texts from the 6th century...
Hadendoa (or Hadendowa) is the name of a nomadic subdivision of the Bejapeople, known for their support of the Mahdiyyah rebellion during the 1880s to...
one of the major divisions of the Beja people. Apart from local dialects of Arabic, the Bishari speak the Beja language, which belongs to the Afroasiatic...
related to the modern Beja language. Less certain are hypotheses which propose that Cushitic languages were spoken by the people of the C-Group culture...
with the Bejapeople, a minority ethnic group inhabiting parts of Sudan, Egypt, and Eritrea. The inferred ethnogenesis of the Tuareg people happened within...
together with a group of Beja intellectuals, as a political platform for the politically and economically marginalized Bejapeople. According to the "Black...
between Sudan and Egypt. The original inhabitants of the state are the Bejapeople who constitute more than 65% of the total population, with lower wealth...
name zaqqum has been applied to the species Euphorbia abyssinica by the Bejapeople in eastern Sudan. In Jordan, it is applied to the species Balanites aegyptiaca...
being Other African ethnic groups such as the Beja, Fur, Nuba, and Fallata. When counted as one people Sudanese Arabs are by far the largest ethnic group...
represented by Bedawiye (with several dialects), spoken by the largely nomadic Bejapeople. Nevertheless, some of them speak the Semitic Tigre language. Chadic...
texts rather than ancient ones. Egypt portal Sa'idi people Nubian peopleBejapeople Siwi people Religion in Egypt List of Egyptians Egyptian Americans...
Amarar (or Amenreer Wagerda’ Amarer) is a nomadic tribe of the Bejapeople inhabiting the mountainous country on the west side of the Red Sea Suakin northwards...
Reinisch [de] in 1895 proposed that it derived from bálami "desert people" in the Bedauye tongue (Beja language). Although this theory had long been neglected,...
Cushitic speaking tribe, or more likely a subdivision of the Medjay/Bejapeople, which is attested in Napatan and Egyptian texts from the 6th century...
Port Sudan (Arabic: بور سودان, romanized: Būr Sūdān, Beja: Bar'uut) is a city and port on the Red Sea in eastern Sudan, and the capital of Red Sea State...
father was a Kurd and his mother hailed from the Hadendoa tribe of the Bejapeople. His birthplace is not documented, but Suakin was said to be the town...
Global Information
Sudan
Eritrea
Egypt