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53-665: Some 300,000 people in northeastern Africa belong to the Beni-Amer ethnic group. They live near the Red Sea around the borders of Eritrea and Sudan. The majority having settled permanently in Sudan or mixed into the larger pastoralist communities of Eritrea. The Beni-Amer people probably emerged in the fourteenth century AD from the intermixing of the Beja and the Tigre . The Beni-Amer occupy

106-576: A Cushitic ethnic group native to the Eastern Desert , inhabiting a coastal area from southeastern Egypt through eastern Sudan and into northwestern Eritrea . They are descended from peoples who have inhabited the area since 4000 BC or earlier, although they were Arabized by Arabs who settled in the region. They are nomadic and live primarily in the Eastern Desert. The Beja number around 1,900,000 to 2,759,000. Some of

159-785: A liturgical language . Even within Northern Arabia, Arabization occurred to non-Arab populations such as the Hutaym in the northwestern Arabia and the Solluba in the Syrian Desert and the region of Mosul. On the eve of the Rashidun Caliphate conquest of the Levant, 634 AD, Syria's population mainly spoke Aramaic; Greek was the official language of administration. Arabization and Islamization of Syria began in

212-577: Is a sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arab , meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic language , culture , literature , art , music , and ethnic identity as well as other socio-cultural factors. It is a specific form of cultural assimilation that often includes a language shift . The term applies not only to cultures, but also to individuals, as they acclimate to Arab culture and become "Arabized". Arabization took place after

265-455: Is considered as the language of modernity, but it is also very low in the scale of Beja cultural values as it is a means of transgressing social prohibitions. Beja is still the prestigious language for most of its speakers because it conforms to the ethical values of the community. The Beja are divided into clans . These lineages include the Bisharin , Hedareb , Hadendowa (or Hadendoa ),

318-886: Is home to a large number of Qamhat Bisharin who were displaced by the Aswan High Dam . Jebel Uweinat is revered by the Qamhat. The Beja have been named " Blemmyes " in Roman times, Bəga in Aksumite inscriptions in Ge'ez , and " Fuzzy-Wuzzy " by Rudyard Kipling . Kipling was specifically referring to the Hadendoa , who fought the British, supporting the Mahdi , the Sudanese leader of

371-598: Is written with the Arabic script . The South Arabian alphabet which was used to write it also fell out of use. A separate branch of South Semitic , the Modern South Arabian languages still survive today as spoken languages in southern of present-day Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Dhofar in present-day Oman. Although Yemen is traditionally held to be the homeland of the Qahtanite Arabs who, according to Arab tradition, are pure Arabs; however, most of

424-1018: The Amarar (or Amar'ar ), Beni-Amer , Hallenga, Habab, Belin and Hamran, some of whom are partly mixed with Bedouins in the east. Beja society was traditionally organized into independent kingdoms. According to Al-Yaqubi , there were six such Beja polities that existed between Aswan and Massawa during the 9th century. Among these were the Kingdom of Bazin , Kingdom of Belgin , Kingdom of Jarin , Kingdom of Nagash , Kingdom of Qita'a and Kingdom of Tankish . Arabization Features Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities Arabization or Arabicization ( Arabic : تعريب , romanized :  taʻrīb )

477-690: The Arabic language . The Arab Ghassanids were the last major non-Islamic Semitic migration northward out of Yemen in late classic era. They were Greek Orthodox Christian , and clients of the Byzantine Empire . They arrived in Byzantine Syria which had a largely Aramean population. They initially settled in the Hauran region, eventually spreading to the entire Levant (modern Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan), briefly securing governorship of parts of Syria and Transjordan away from

530-560: The Bishari , this is a misconception; the Ababda do not consider themselves Beja, nor are they so considered by Beja people. The Beja are traditionally Cushitic-speaking pastoral nomads native to northeast Africa, referred to as Blemmyes in ancient texts. The geographer Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi wrote in the tenth century that the Beja were at that time Christians . Beja territories in

583-791: The Greek alphabet , was spoken in most of Egypt prior to the Islamic conquest. Arabic, however, was already being spoken in the eastern fringes of Egypt for centuries prior to the arrival of Islam. By the Mameluke era, the Arabization of the Egyptian populace alongside a shift in the majority religion going from Christianity to Islam, had taken place. Neither North Africa nor the Iberian Peninsula were strangers to Semitic culture :

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636-673: The Muslim conquest of the Middle East and North Africa , as well as during the more recent Arab nationalist policies toward non-Arab minorities in modern Arab states , such as Algeria , Iraq , Syria , Egypt , Bahrain , and Sudan . After the rise of Islam in the Hejaz and subsequent Muslims conquests , Arab culture and language spread outside the Arabian Peninsula through trade and intermarriages between members of

689-890: The Nabataeans . The Arab Lakhmid Kingdom was founded by the Lakhum tribe that emigrated from Yemen in the 2nd century and ruled by the Banu Lakhm , hence the name given it. They adopted the religion of the Church of the East , founded in Assyria / Asōristān , opposed to the Ghassanids Greek Orthodox Christianity, and were clients of the Sasanian Empire . The Byzantines and Sasanians used

742-766: The Phoenicians and later the Carthaginians dominated parts of the North African and Iberian shores for more than eight centuries until they were suppressed by the Romans and by the following Vandal and Visigothic invasions, and the Berber incursions. From the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the 7th century, Arabs began to migrate to the Maghreb in several waves. Arab migrants settled in all parts of

795-571: The Qedarite Kingdom , extended into these regions. Inscriptions and other archeological remains, such as bowls bearing inscriptions identifying Qedarite kings and Nabatean Arabic inscriptions, affirm the Arab presence in the region. Egypt was conquered from the Romans by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century CE. The Coptic language , which was written using the Coptic variation of

848-810: The Visigothic or Mozarabic Rite . Most of the Mozarabs were descendants of Hispano – Gothic Christians and were primarily speakers of the Mozarabic language under Islamic rule. Many were also what the Arabist Mikel de Epalza calls "Neo-Mozarabs" , that is Northern Europeans who had come to the Iberian Peninsula and picked up Arabic, thereby entering the Mozarabic community. Besides Mozarabs, another group of people in Iberia eventually came to surpass

901-672: The largest imperial expanses in history . South Arabia is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it also included Najran, Jizan, and 'Asir, which are presently in Saudi Arabia, and the Dhofar of present-day Oman. Old South Arabian was driven to extinction by the Islamic expansion, being replaced by Classical Arabic which

954-590: The 1880s. During World War II, the Beni Amer ruling class supported the Italians. The defeat of Italy led to a regional power shake up and reduction in the military powers of the Beni Amer. The Beni Amer people have a highly stratified social structure. The ruling caste, that consider themselves to be true descendants of Amer or Nabtab , have controlled the economic and political decisions. They constitute less than 10% of their total population. The others members of

1007-755: The 18th century dominated much of eastern Sudan. In the Mahdist War of the 1880s to 1890s, the Beja fought on both sides, the Hadendoa siding with the Mahdist troops, while the Bisharin and Amarar tribes sided with the British , and some Beni Amer - a subset of the Beja who live largely in Eritrea sided with the Ethiopian Ras Alula in certain battles, such as Kufit . The Beja Congress

1060-479: The 7th century, and it took several centuries for Islam, the Arab identity, and language to spread; the Arabs of the caliphate did not attempt to spread their language or religion in the early periods of the conquest, and formed an isolated aristocracy. The Arabs of the caliphate accommodated many new tribes in isolated areas to avoid conflict with the locals; caliph Uthman ordered his governor, Muawiyah I , to settle

1113-665: The Arabization of Christians was completed before the First Crusade . By the thirteenth century, Arabic language achieved dominance in the region and its speakers became Arabs. Prior to the Islamic conquests, Arabs had been inhabiting the Sinai Peninsula , the Eastern desert and eastern Delta for centuries. These regions of Egypt collectively were known as "Arabia" to the contemporary historians and writers documenting them. Several pre-Islamic Arab kingdoms, such as

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1166-514: The Arabs did not fully settle in the Beja areas as they looked for better climate in other areas. The Beja have partially mixed with Arabs through intermarriages over the centuries, and by the 15th century, the Beja were Islamized . The Balaw of the southern Red Sea coast may have come from the mixing of people from the Arab Peninsula and Beja people, but there has been significant historical dispute on this matter. The Hadendoa Beja by

1219-687: The Arabs to migrate to the Maghreb in search of security and stability. After establishing Cairo in 969, the Fatimids left rule over Tunisia and eastern Algeria to the local Zirid dynasty (972–1148). In response to the Zirids later declaring independence from the Fatimids, the Fatimids dispatched large Bedouin Arab tribes, mainly the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym , to defeat the Zirids and settle in

1272-553: The Beja areas as they looked for better climate in other areas. The Beja have partially mixed with Arabs through intermarriages over the centuries, and by the 15th century were absorbed into Islam . The process of Arabization led to the Beja adopting the Arabic language, Arab clothing, and Arab kinship organization. While many secondary sources identify the Ababda as an Arabic-speaking Beja tribe because of their cultural links with

1325-597: The Beja speak a Cushitic language called Beja and some speak Tigre , an Ethiopian Semitic language ; most speak Arabic . 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. The Arabs did not however fully settle in

1378-743: The Berber, Arab, and other ( Saqaliba and Zanj ) Muslims who became collectively termed in Christian Europe as " Moors ". The Andalusian Arabic was spoken in Iberia during Islamic rule. A similar process of Arabization and Islamization occurred in the Emirate of Sicily ( as-Siqilliyyah ), Emirate of Crete ( al-Iqritish ), and Malta ( al-Malta ), during this period some segments of the populations of these islands converted to Islam and began to adopt elements of Arabic culture , traditions , and customs . The Arabization process also resulted in

1431-462: The Eastern desert were conquered and vassalised by the Kingdom of Aksum in the third century. The historian Al-Yaqubi documented five Beja Kingdoms in the 9th century. Originally, the Beja did not speak Arabic, however 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, however

1484-628: The Ghassanids and Lakhmids to fight proxy wars in Arabia against each other. The most significant wave of "Arabization" in history followed the early Muslim conquests of Muhammad and the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates . These Arab empires were the first to grow well beyond the Arabian Peninsula, eventually reaching as far as Iberia in the West and Central Asia to the East, covering 11,100,000 km (4,300,000 sq mi), one of

1537-453: The Halenga speak Arabic. Although there is a marked Arabic influence, the Beja language is still widely spoken. The very fact that the highest moral and cultural values of this society are in one way or the other linked to their expression in Beja, that Beja poetry is still highly praised, and that the claims over the Beja land are only valid when expressed in Beja, are very strong social factors in favour of its preservation. True enough Arabic

1590-413: The Maghreb by Maqil and Beni Hassan in the 13th-15th century and by Andalusi refugees in the 15th-17th century. The migration of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym in the 11th century had a much greater influence on the process of Arabization of the population than did the earlier migrations. It played a major role in spreading Bedouin Arabic to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as

1643-472: The Maghreb, coming as peaceful newcomers who were welcomed everywhere, establishing large Arab settlements in many areas. In addition to changing the population's demographics, the early migration of Arab tribes resulted in the Arabization of the native Berber population. This initial wave contributed to the Berber adoption of Arab culture . Furthermore, the Arabic language spread during this period and drove local Latin ( African Romance ) into extinction in

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1696-415: The Maghreb. The invasion of Ifriqiya by the Banu Hilal, a warlike Arab Bedouin tribe, sent the region's urban and economic life into further decline. The Arab historian Ibn Khaldun wrote that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert. The Fatimid caliph instructed the Bedouin tribes to rule the Maghreb instead of the Zirid emir Al-Mu'izz and told them "I have given you

1749-402: 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". Sources estimated that the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century was at around 1 million Arabs. There were later Arab migrations to

1802-412: The Mozarabs both in terms of population and Arabization. These were the Muladi or Muwalladun , most of whom were descendants of local Hispano-Basques and Visigoths who converted to Islam and adopted Arabic culture, dress, and language. By the 11th century, most of the population of al-Andalus was Muladi, with large minorities of other Muslims, Mozarabs, and Sephardic Jews . It was the Muladi, together with

1855-687: The Nabtab family belong to the Hedarab , Hadendowa , and Tigre . During the British occupation, author James C. Olson claimed the other descendants of the Nabtab line played a subservient role to the Beni Amir and were relegated to a serf caste. Major subdivisions of Tigre , which at 35%, are the second largest group in Eritrea were occupationally isolated, such as the Almada and Asfada could produce and supply milk, but Hamasein, Abhasheila and Wilinnoho were not allowed to. The Nabtabs also levied taxes and collected periodic tributes from his serfs. According to Paul, ever since Amer Kunu came to power, intermarriage between Nabtab and Tigre castes were forbidden and

1908-434: The borders between much of Eritrea's Barka valley, Port Sudan Tokar , and the Kassala areas of eastern Sudan. The Beni-Amer people became politically significant in the 16th-century when their founder Amer Kunu – the son of a Muslim holy man named Ali Nabit – joined forces with the Funj and the Ja'alin to defeat the Belew rulers of Eritrea and the surrounding region. Amer's descendants, or Beni-Amer in Arabic, became

1961-470: The caste distinctions were strictly enforced. This was successfully accomplished by the small elite, states Paul, through the "force of arms". They lead a tribal pastoral life, with those in the northern territories raising camels, and the southerners raising cattle. In contemporary era, many have adopted a farming lifestyle and become migrant wage labor providers. Beja people The Beja people ( Arabic : البجا , Beja : Oobja , Tigre : በጃ ) are

2014-420: The cities. The Arabization took place around Arab centres through the influence of Arabs in the cities and rural areas surrounding them. Arab political entities in the Maghreb such as the Aghlabids , Idrisids , Salihids and Fatimids , were influential in encouraging Arabization by attracting Arab migrants and by promoting Arab culture. In addition, disturbances and political unrest in the Mashriq compelled

2067-409: The development of the now extinct Siculo-Arabic language, from which the modern Maltese language derives. By contrast, the present-day Sicilian language , which is an Italo-Dalmatian Romance language , retains very little Siculo-Arabic, with its influence being limited to some 300 words. Contacts between Nubians and Arabs long predated the coming of Islam, but the Arabization of the Nile Valley

2120-430: The formal language of the state prompted the cultural and linguistic assimilation of Syrian converts. Those who remained Christian also became Arabized; it was probably during the Abbasid period in the ninth century that Christians adopted Arabic as their first language; the first translation of the gospels into Arabic took place in this century. Many historians, such as Claude Cahen and Bernard Hamilton, proposed that

2173-400: The gap between Beja and another branch of Cushitic, namely Lowland East Cushitic languages and in particular Afar and Saho , the linguistic hypothesis being historically grounded on the fact that the three languages were once geographically contiguous. Most Beja speak the Beja language, but certain subgroups use other lingua franca. The Beni Amers speak a variety of Tigre , whereas most of

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2226-458: The influence of the earlier Aramaic culture, the neighbouring Hebrew culture of the Hasmonean kingdom, as well as the Hellenistic cultures in the region (especially with the Christianization of Nabateans in the 3rd and 4th centuries). The pre-modern Arabic language was created by Nabateans, who developed the Nabataean alphabet which became the basis of modern Arabic script . The Nabataean language , under heavy Arab influence, amalgamated into

2279-422: The new ruling class called Nabtabs who allied themselves with Diglal as the paramount chief ruler. A confederation of many subtribes accepted the new rule, and these therefrom have been the Beni-Amer people. The Beni Amer remained aligned to the Funj, and paid annual tribute to them until 1821. They became a party to the Italian colonialism when they partnered with the Italians to defeat the Sudanese Mahdiyya in

2332-423: The new tribes away from the original population. Syrians who belonged to Monophysitic denominations welcomed the peninsular Arabs as liberators. The Abbasids in the eighth and ninth century sought to integrate the peoples under their authority, and the Arabization of the administration was one of the tools. Arabization gained momentum with the increasing numbers of Muslim converts; the ascendancy of Arabic as

2385-436: The non-Arab local population and the peninsular Arabs. The Arabic language began to serve as a lingua franca in these areas and various dialects were formed. This process was accelerated by the migration of various Arab tribes outside of Arabia, such as the Arab migrations to the Maghreb and the Levant . The influence of Arabic has been profound in many other countries whose cultures have been influenced by Islam. Arabic

2438-447: The peace deal arranged between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army , and allied with the rebel movement of the Darfur region, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army , in January 2004. A peace agreement was signed with the government of Sudan in October 2006. In the general elections in April 2010, the Beja Congress did not win a single seat in the National Assembly in Khartoum. In anger over alleged election fraud and

2491-548: The sedentary Yemeni population did not speak Old Arabic prior to the spread of Islam , and spoke the extinct Old South Arabian languages instead. Before the 7th century CE , the population of Eastern Arabia consisted of Christian Arabs , Zoroastrian Arabs, Jews , and Aramaic -speaking agriculturalists. Some sedentary dialects of Eastern Arabia exhibit Akkadian , Aramaic and Syriac features. The sedentary people of ancient Bahrain were Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers, while Syriac functioned as

2544-735: The slow implementation of the peace agreement, the Beja Congress in October 2011 withdrew from the agreement, and later announced an alliance with the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army. The Beja people inhabit a general area between the Nile River and the Red Sea in Sudan, Eritrea and eastern Egypt known as the Eastern Desert . Most of them live in the Sudanese states of Red Sea around Port Sudan , River Nile , Al Qadarif and Kassala , as well as in Northern Red Sea , Gash-Barka , and Anseba Regions in Eritrea, and southeastern Egypt. There are smaller populations of other Beja ethnic groups further north into Egypt's Eastern Desert. Some Beja groups are nomadic . The Kharga Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert

2597-594: The southern areas near the Sahara . It also heavily transformed the culture of the Maghreb into Arab culture, and spread nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant. After the Umayyad conquest of Hispania , under the Arab Muslim rule Iberia ( al-Andalus ) incorporated elements of Arabic language and culture. The Mozarabs were Iberian Christians who lived under Arab Islamic rule in Al-Andalus . Their descendants remained unconverted to Islam , but did however adopt elements of Arabic language and culture and dress. They were mostly Roman Catholics of

2650-527: The war against Turkish-Egyptian rule, supported by the British Imperial administration. Many of the Beja speak Arabic , while some speak the Beja language , known as Bidhaawyeet or Tubdhaawi in that language. It belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. Cohen noted that the Beja language is the Cushitic language with the largest proportion of Semitic roots , and stated that they are in majority of Arabic origin. The French linguist Didier Morin (2001) has made an attempt to bridge

2703-420: Was a major source of vocabulary for various languages . This process reached its zenith between the 10th and 14th centuries, widely considered to be the high point of Arab culture, during the Islamic Golden Age . After Alexander the Great , the Nabataean Kingdom emerged and ruled a region extending from north of Arabia to the south of Syria. The Nabataeans originated from the Arabian peninsula, who came under

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2756-432: Was a gradual process that occurred over a period of nearly one thousand years. Arab nomads continually wandered into the region in search of fresh pasturage, and Arab seafarers and merchants traded at Red Sea ports for spices and slaves. Intermarriage and assimilation also facilitated Arabization. Traditional genealogies trace the ancestry of the Nile valley's area of Sudan mixed population to Arab tribes that migrated into

2809-436: Was formed in 1952 with the aim of pursuing regional autonomy from the government in Khartoum. Frustrated by the lack of progress, the Beja Congress joined the insurgent National Democratic Alliance in the 1990s. The Beja Congress effectively controlled a part of eastern Sudan centered on Garoura and Hamshkoraib. The Beja Congress sabotaged the oil pipeline to Port Sudan several times during 1999 and 2000. In 2003, they rejected

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