Beja people
Encyclopedia
The Beja people are an ethnic group dwelling in parts of North Africa
and the Horn of Africa
.
, but also in parts of Eritrea
, and Egypt
. They are classified as a Cushitic language group.
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 in Egypt's Eastern Desert. Some Beja groups are nomadic. The Kharga Oasis
in Egypt is home to a large number of Qamhat Bisharin who were displaced by the Aswan High Dam
. Jebel Uweinat is a revered by the Qamhat.
Ta-Seti Neferet, the mother of Egyptian King
Amenhemet I's was of a peoples from Upper Egypt known as Ta-Seti.
He built a great city state called "Amenemhat-itj-tawy" ("Amenemhat the Seizer of the Two Lands"), more simply called Itjtawy
.
Populations from the Ta-Seti region came to people Itj-tawy and from this power centre, Amenemhat I's armies extended the Egyptian empire. Egyptologists who believe Amenemhat I may have waited until his twentieth year to make the move to his new city base their evidence on an inscription found on the foundation blocks of the pyramid's mortuary temple. It records Amenemhat's royal jubilee, and also that year one of a new king had elapsed, suggesting that the pyramid was started very late in the king's reign. King Amenemhat I reorganized the administration of the country, keeping the hereditary nomarchs who had supported him, while weakening the regional governors by appointing new officials at Asyut, Cusae and Elephantine. Another move, both to dilute the army's power and to raise personnel for coming conflicts, was his reintroduction of conscription. In order to protect Egypt and fortify captured territory in Nubia, he founded a fortress at Semna in the region of the second Nile Cataract, which would begin a string of future 12th Dynasty fortresses. Along with protecting his newly acquired territory, he also create a stranglehold over economic contacts with Upper Nubia and further south.
Amenemhat's Ta-Seti army and conscripts came to be known Ta-Itj-tawy. In modern languages this is pronounced Bigawy, Bedjawi or Bejawi.
The Beja have been named "Blemmyes
" in Roman times, "Buga"s in Aksumite inscriptions in Ge'ez, and "Fuzzy Wuzzy
" by Rudyard Kipling
. Kipling was specifically referring to the Hadendowa, who fought the British, supporting the "Mahdi," a Sudanese leader of a rebellion against the Turkish rule administered by the British.
or To Bedawie, an Afro-Asiatic language
usually classified as Cushitic, but sometimes seen as an independent branch. The French linguist Didier Morin (2001) has made an attempt to bridge 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 where once geographically contiguious. Most Beja speak the Beja language, however certain sub-clans do not, the Beni Amers for instance speak a variety of Tigre, while most of the Halengas speak Arabic.
Even though the influence of Arabic cannot be denied, Beja speakers do not consider that their language is today an endangered language. The very facts that the highest moral and cultural values of this society are in one way or the other linked to their expression in Beja, that Beja poetry is still highly praised, and that the claims over the Beja land are only valid when expressed in Beja, are very strong social factors in favour of its preservation. True enough Arabic is considered as the language of modernity, but it is also very low in the scale of Beja cultural values as it is a means of transgressing social prohibitions. Beja is still the prestigious language for most of its speakers because it conforms to the ethic values of the community.
, Hedareb, Hadendowa (or Hadendoa), the Amarar
(or Amar'ar), Beni-Amer
, Hallenga and Hamran, some of them partly mixed with Bedouin
s in the east and Berber in the west. The European colonial masters and the explorers became fascinated with the Bejas which they often described in eulogistic terms.
The Bejas attach a high importance to their hair. Their prominent crown of fuzzy hair (called tiffa in their language) has characterized the Beja for centuries. Bejas believe that they are the descendants of Sekhmet
and her human consort. Some Egyptian Bejawi clans believe that they are descendants of Maahes
Warrior Chiefs of High Priests of Amun at Thebes
. Priest-Kings Pinedjem I
, Psusennes I
and Osorkon the Elder
and their armies are believed to be the ancestors of Egypt's Western Desert Bejawi.
Omdas Sheikh Qamhat Khawr al`allaqi was last remnant of one of Egypt's oldest surviving lineages. His death in 1936 was widely considered the death knell for the Qamhat Bisharin.
Egyptologist Heinrich Brugsch traced Qamhat Khawr kiji tribal clans through female lines to the 20th Dynasty Wehem Mesut. Egyptologist Zakaria Goneim
traced their ancestress mother to an even earlier dynasty.
at Philae
until the 6th century. After the temple was closed down officially in the 6th century A.D. by the Byzantine
emperor Justinian, Beja converted to Christianity in the 6th century under the influence of the three Nubian Christian Kingdoms that flourished along the Nile for 600 years: Nobatia
, Makuria
, and Alodia
, as well as the Christian Kingdom of Aksum, under whose rule most lived from the 3rd to 8th centuries. Around the decline of the Aksumite kingdom, the Bejas founded five kingdoms in what is now northern Eritrea and east-northeastern Sudan. In the 13th century, the Beja accepted Islam
as the Bedouin
tribes spread into Egypt and Sudan swamping the Bejawi Nubian kingdoms. As of 2007, the majority of Beja are believed to be Muslim. Nevertheless, many Copt
ic Upper Egyptians of Saiddi and Beja stock are still Christians, especially in the regions of Kharga Oasis and Qena Upper Egypt. There is a significant population of Sudanese Copts in Northern Sudan as well. Most Beja peoples are Sufi. Some Qamhat Bishari kiji clans worshiped a pantheon of deities including Qebui
, Saa
, Meskhenet, Sekhmet
, Nefertem
, Maahes
, Menhit
and Mut
until well into the 19th century. Their attachment to paganism is credited as a major factor in their eventual extermination during Ottoman times.
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
.
Geography
The Beja are found mostly in SudanSudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, but also in parts of Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
, and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. They are classified as a Cushitic language group.
Most of them live in the Sudanese states of Red Sea
Red Sea (state)
Red Sea is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan . It has an area of 212,800 km² and an estimated population of 1,396,000 . Port Sudan is the capital of the state. Sudan claims, but does not control the Hala'ib Triangle, a region disputed between Sudan and Egypt...
around Port Sudan
Port Sudan
Port Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...
, River Nile
River Nile (state)
River Nile is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 122,123 km² and an estimated population of 1,027,534 . It consists of 6 localities Ad-Damir is the capital city of the state...
, Al Qadarif
Al Qadarif (state)
Al Qadarif , also spelt Gadaref or Gadarif, is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 75,263 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,400,000 . Al Qadarif is the capital of the state; other towns include Doka and Gallabat....
and Kassala
Kassala (state)
Kassala is one of the 15 wilayat of Sudan. It has an area of 36,710 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,400,000 . Kassala is the capital of the state; other towns in Kassala include Aroma, Hamishkoreb, and Khor Telkok....
, as well as in Northern Red Sea
Northern Red Sea
The Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea is one of the country's six regions. It lies along the northern three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal city of Massawa.-Location:...
, Gash-Barka
Gash-Barka
Gash-Barka is one of the six regions of Eritrea. It is situated in the south-west of the country, bordering the Anseba region to the north, and the Central and Southern regions to the east; the county of Sudan lies to the west and Ethiopia to the south....
, and Anseba
Anseba
Anseba is an inland region of Eritrea, in the west of the country.-Overview:Its capital is Keren and it has an area of about 23,000 km². It is named after the Anseba River around which the region is situated. The river begins in the central Eritrean highland plateau, in the suburbs northwest of...
Regions in Eritrea, and southeastern Egypt. There are smaller populations of other Beja ethnic groups in Egypt's Eastern Desert. Some Beja groups are nomadic. The Kharga Oasis
Kharga Oasis
El-Kharga , also known as Al-Kharijah, is the southernmost of Egypt's five western oases. It is located in the Libyan Desert, about 200 km to the west of the Nile valley, and is some 150 km long. It is located in and is the capital of New Valley Governorate...
in Egypt is home to a large number of Qamhat Bisharin who were displaced by the Aswan High Dam
Aswan Dam
The Aswan Dam is an embankment dam situated across the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. Since the 1950s, the name commonly refers to the High Dam, which is larger and newer than the Aswan Low Dam, which was first completed in 1902...
. Jebel Uweinat is a revered by the Qamhat.
Names
The term Bejawi comes from Ta-Itjawy "people of Itjawy".Ta-Seti Neferet, the mother of Egyptian King
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
Amenhemet I's was of a peoples from Upper Egypt known as Ta-Seti.
He built a great city state called "Amenemhat-itj-tawy" ("Amenemhat the Seizer of the Two Lands"), more simply called Itjtawy
Itjtawy
Itjtawy , is the as-yet unidentified location of the royal city founded by Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian King Amenemhat I during year 20 of his reign. It is located in the Faiyum region, and its cemeteries were located at Lisht, el-Lahun and Dahshur...
.
Populations from the Ta-Seti region came to people Itj-tawy and from this power centre, Amenemhat I's armies extended the Egyptian empire. Egyptologists who believe Amenemhat I may have waited until his twentieth year to make the move to his new city base their evidence on an inscription found on the foundation blocks of the pyramid's mortuary temple. It records Amenemhat's royal jubilee, and also that year one of a new king had elapsed, suggesting that the pyramid was started very late in the king's reign. King Amenemhat I reorganized the administration of the country, keeping the hereditary nomarchs who had supported him, while weakening the regional governors by appointing new officials at Asyut, Cusae and Elephantine. Another move, both to dilute the army's power and to raise personnel for coming conflicts, was his reintroduction of conscription. In order to protect Egypt and fortify captured territory in Nubia, he founded a fortress at Semna in the region of the second Nile Cataract, which would begin a string of future 12th Dynasty fortresses. Along with protecting his newly acquired territory, he also create a stranglehold over economic contacts with Upper Nubia and further south.
Amenemhat's Ta-Seti army and conscripts came to be known Ta-Itj-tawy. In modern languages this is pronounced Bigawy, Bedjawi or Bejawi.
The Beja have been named "Blemmyes
Blemmyes
The Blemmyes were a nomadic Nubian tribe described in Roman histories of the later empire. From the late third century on, along with another tribe, the Nobadae, they repeatedly fought the Romans...
" in Roman times, "Buga"s in Aksumite inscriptions in Ge'ez, and "Fuzzy Wuzzy
Hadendoa
Hadendoa is the name of a nomadic subdivision of the Beja people. Other Beja tribes include the Bisharin and Ababda. The area inhabited by the Hadendoa is today parts of Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea.-Overview:...
" by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
. Kipling was specifically referring to the Hadendowa, who fought the British, supporting the "Mahdi," a Sudanese leader of a rebellion against the Turkish rule administered by the British.
Language
The Beja speak BejaBeja language
Beja or North Cushitic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the southern coast of the Red Sea, spoken by about two million nomads, the Beja, in parts of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea.-Classification:...
or To Bedawie, an Afro-Asiatic language
Afro-Asiatic languages
The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...
usually classified as Cushitic, but sometimes seen as an independent branch. The French linguist Didier Morin (2001) has made an attempt to bridge the gap between Beja and another branch of Cushitic, namely Lowland East Cushitic languages and in particular Afar
Afar language
Afar is a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. It is believed to have 1.5 million speakers, the Afar. The basic word order in Afar, like in other East Cushitic languages, is subject–object–verb. Its speakers have a literacy rate of between one and three per cent...
and Saho
Saho language
The Saho language is a Cushitic language of Eritrea and Ethiopia.-Overview:It is spoken natively by the Saho people who traditionally inhabit territory in Eritrea bounded by the bay of Arafali in the east, the Laasi Ghedé valleys in the south, and the Eritrea highlands to the west .This speech area...
, the linguistic hypothesis being historically grounded on the fact that the three languages where once geographically contiguious. Most Beja speak the Beja language, however certain sub-clans do not, the Beni Amers for instance speak a variety of Tigre, while most of the Halengas speak Arabic.
Even though the influence of Arabic cannot be denied, Beja speakers do not consider that their language is today an endangered language. The very facts that the highest moral and cultural values of this society are in one way or the other linked to their expression in Beja, that Beja poetry is still highly praised, and that the claims over the Beja land are only valid when expressed in Beja, are very strong social factors in favour of its preservation. True enough Arabic is considered as the language of modernity, but it is also very low in the scale of Beja cultural values as it is a means of transgressing social prohibitions. Beja is still the prestigious language for most of its speakers because it conforms to the ethic values of the community.
Subdivisions
The Bejas contain smaller clans, such as the BisharinBisharin
The Bisharin are a mostly Sufi Muslim tribe of the Beja nomadic ethnic group. They inhabit the eastern part of the Nubian Desert in Sudan and southern Egypt, living in the Atbai between the Nile River and the Red Sea, north of the Amarar and south of the Ababda. The population is about 42,000...
, Hedareb, Hadendowa (or Hadendoa), the Amarar
Amarar
Amarar is an African bedouin tribe of the Beja people inhabiting the mountainous country on the west side of the Red Sea from Suakin northwards towards Kosseir. Between them and the Nile are the Ababda and Bisharin Beja tribes and to their south dwell the Hadendoa . The country of the Amarar is...
(or Amar'ar), Beni-Amer
Beni-Amer
Beni-Amer is a mixed ethnic group that formed in the fourteenth century AD from the Beja, the Tigre and of Biher-Tigrinya people of Eritrea. They occupy the borders between much of Eritrea's Barka valley and the Kassala area of Eastern Sudan. The Beni-Amer speak To-Badiwe and...
, Hallenga and Hamran, some of them partly mixed with Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
s in the east and Berber in the west. The European colonial masters and the explorers became fascinated with the Bejas which they often described in eulogistic terms.
The Bejas attach a high importance to their hair. Their prominent crown of fuzzy hair (called tiffa in their language) has characterized the Beja for centuries. Bejas believe that they are the descendants of Sekhmet
Sekhmet
In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet , was originally the warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing for Upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians. It was said that her breath created the desert...
and her human consort. Some Egyptian Bejawi clans believe that they are descendants of Maahes
Maahes
Maahes was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed god of war, whose name means "he who is true beside her". He was seen as the son of a lion goddess whose nature he shared...
Warrior Chiefs of High Priests of Amun at Thebes
High Priests of Amun at Thebes
While not regarded as a dynasty, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes were nevertheless of such power and influence that they were effectively the rulers of Upper Egypt from 1080 to c.943 BC, after this period their influence declined...
. Priest-Kings Pinedjem I
Pinedjem I
Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 BC to 1032 BC and the de facto ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC. He was the son of the High Priest Piankh. However, many Egyptologists today believe that the succession in the Amun priesthood actually ran from...
, Psusennes I
Psusennes I
Psusennes I, or Greek Ψουσέννης], Pasibkhanu or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I Egyptian ḥor-p3-sib3-ḫˁỉ--niwt] was the third king of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt who ruled from Tanis between 1047 – 1001 BC...
and Osorkon the Elder
Osorkon the Elder
Akheperre Setepenre Osorkon the Elder was the fifth king of the twenty-first dynasty of Egypt and was the first pharaoh of Libyan extraction in Egypt...
and their armies are believed to be the ancestors of Egypt's Western Desert Bejawi.
Omdas Sheikh Qamhat Khawr al`allaqi was last remnant of one of Egypt's oldest surviving lineages. His death in 1936 was widely considered the death knell for the Qamhat Bisharin.
Egyptologist Heinrich Brugsch traced Qamhat Khawr kiji tribal clans through female lines to the 20th Dynasty Wehem Mesut. Egyptologist Zakaria Goneim
Zakaria Goneim
Muhammed Zakaria Goneim was an Egyptian archaeologist, known for his discoveries in and around Saqqara. He is best known for discovering the Step pyramid of Sekhemkhet....
traced their ancestress mother to an even earlier dynasty.
Religion
Bejawi worshiped IsisIsis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
at Philae
Philae
Philae is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt...
until the 6th century. After the temple was closed down officially in the 6th century A.D. by the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
emperor Justinian, Beja converted to Christianity in the 6th century under the influence of the three Nubian Christian Kingdoms that flourished along the Nile for 600 years: Nobatia
Nobatia
Nobatia or Nobadia was an ancient African Christian kingdom in Lower Nubia and subsequently a region of the larger Nubian Kingdom of Makuria...
, Makuria
Makuria
The Kingdom of Makuria was a kingdom located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. It was one of a group of Nubian kingdoms that emerged during the decline of the Aksumite Empire, which it had been part of from approximately 4BC to AD 950...
, and Alodia
Alodia
Alodia or Alwa was the southernmost of the three kingdoms of Christian Nubia; the other two were Nobatia and Makuria to the north.Much about this kingdom is still unknown, despite its thousand year existence and considerable power and geographic size. Due to fewer excavations far less is known...
, as well as the Christian Kingdom of Aksum, under whose rule most lived from the 3rd to 8th centuries. Around the decline of the Aksumite kingdom, the Bejas founded five kingdoms in what is now northern Eritrea and east-northeastern Sudan. In the 13th century, the Beja accepted Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
as the Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
tribes spread into Egypt and Sudan swamping the Bejawi Nubian kingdoms. As of 2007, the majority of Beja are believed to be Muslim. Nevertheless, many Copt
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
ic Upper Egyptians of Saiddi and Beja stock are still Christians, especially in the regions of Kharga Oasis and Qena Upper Egypt. There is a significant population of Sudanese Copts in Northern Sudan as well. Most Beja peoples are Sufi. Some Qamhat Bishari kiji clans worshiped a pantheon of deities including Qebui
Qebui
Qebui is the Egyptian god of the North Wind. He is a male and in art, Qebui appears as a man with four ram heads, or a winged, four-headed ram. He is also associated with the lands beyond the third cataract....
, Saa
Saa
In Egyptian mythology, Saa was the deification of perception in the Heliopolitan Ennead cosmogeny and is probably equivalent to the intellectual energies of the heart of Ptah in the Memphite cosmogeny. He also had a connection with writing and was often shown in anthropomorphic form holding a...
, Meskhenet, Sekhmet
Sekhmet
In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet , was originally the warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing for Upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians. It was said that her breath created the desert...
, Nefertem
Nefertem
In Egyptian mythology, Nefertem was originally a lotus flower at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters.Nefertem represented both the first sunlight and the delightful smell of the Egyptian blue lotus...
, Maahes
Maahes
Maahes was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed god of war, whose name means "he who is true beside her". He was seen as the son of a lion goddess whose nature he shared...
, Menhit
Menhit
In Egyptian mythology, Menhit was originally a foreign war goddess. Her name depicts a warrior status, as it means massacres.When included among the Egyptian deities, she became the female counterpart of Anhur...
and Mut
Mut
Mut, which meant mother in the ancient Egyptian language, was an ancient Egyptian mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture. Alternative spellings are Maut and Mout. She was considered a primal deity, associated with the waters from which...
until well into the 19th century. Their attachment to paganism is credited as a major factor in their eventual extermination during Ottoman times.