Chapters › Christian Nubia · Red Sea & Arabia
Beja (Red Sea Hills peoples)
275 CE – present
Approximate area of control
Research in progress No sourced map of this era's territory yet, so no area is drawn.
Dating note
Start c.275 CE = earliest dated Blemmyes activity in GHA II ch.7 (Probus 276–282). The Blemmyes=Beja equation is customary, NOT proven (GHA II ch.10); GHA II ch.11 says earlier Meroitic-era Majai/Reheres 'could have been' Beja ancestors, so earlier origins are possible. Ongoing people, not a polity.
Key events
- Blemmyes (GHA II: 'customarily identified with the Bedja tribes') raid Upper Egypt; suppressed under Probus (276–282 CE)
- After Meroe's fall the Nobades push the Blemmyes ('Bega or Buga') into the eastern desert
- Recognised by medieval Muslim writers as distinct from Nubians, Arabs and 'Sudan'
- Camel-nomads of the Red Sea Hills; gradual Islamisation and varying arabisation
- 'Ababda (north) Arabic-speaking; 18th c. southward expansion; Hadendowa in Taka (Gash) by early 19th c.
- Nabtab ruling clan of the Banu 'Amir claims Ja'ali descent
Capitals / sites
Suakin
Geopolitics
Separated from the Nile valley by the Red Sea Hills; Suakin looked to the Red Sea and Arabia (Holt & Daly).
Culture
Islamised, with varying arabisation, often limited to claiming an Arab pedigree (Holt & Daly).
Economy
Camel nomadism; some sedentarisation linked to the modern Gash and Tokar agricultural schemes (Holt & Daly).
Regional power
Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.
Open data flags
- regional_power: no actors scored
Sources
- P.M. Holt & M.W. Daly (2011) A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day Routledge (Pearson/Longman) link [en]
- G. Mokhtar (ed.), UNESCO International Scientific Committee (1981) General History of Africa, II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- K. Michałowski (1981) The spreading of Christianity in Nubia (General History of Africa II, ch.12) UNESCO link [en]