Beja people

The Beja people the Eastern Desert from southeastern Egypt through eastern Sudan into Eritrea, 1.9 to 3 million descendants of inhabitants settled since 4000 BCE or earlier. Nomads of the Red Sea hills, they herd camels, cattle and goats between winter rains, speaking Beja Cushitic, Tigre Semitic or Arabic by clan: Beni-Amer in the south, Ababda in the north. Arab tribes of Juhaynah and Mudar drifted in seeking better climates, Arabising and Islamising the Beja by intermarriage without ever fully settling; by the 15th century absorption was far advanced. The Beja taxed Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman and Ottoman gold roads to the sea. Hadendowa warriors, Fuzzy-Wuzzy of Kipling's verse, fought the British to a standstill. Beni-Amer herders, Ababda guides and Tigre-speaking villagers keep the desert nation working the hills. Beni-Amer herders still cross into the southern lowlands. Ababda Arabic speakers bridge the Beja and Nile worlds. Juhaynah descendants still graze beside Beja camps.