historical comparison of Beja and Somali

[21CenturyAmir]

The historical migration of a pre-islamic Himyarites population to the east coast of red sea of Sudan and the Eritrea lead to the emergence of an upper class in Axum and among the Beja. The Himyarite upper class would become the Ballaw and give their name to the language the Beja speak Af-Balawiyan. Just as they did with Axum with its modified Sabean script. no such Analagous historic pattern occuried in Somalia that we know of. We know that the destruction of the Marib dam in southern Arabia cause a cataclysmic event which let to dispersal of the Himyarites population to oman and Bahrain, central Arabia, the Beja hills in Sudan, highland of Ethiopia and maybe into northern somalia, and where ever they went they dominated the locals due to their organization and high level of civilization. in somalia they left no trace but i wish to posit that the Yabir are an ancient Himyarites population that came to dominate northern somalia. they seem to be the earliest civilization in the region and legend tell us that they were destroyed because their kingdoms irreligiousness. the Myth state that the king was trapped in a mountain and this people disperse and thus their power weaned. yet even today, somalia both fear and despise the Yabir. could it be that Himyarites import a social institution of Vassalage from their old home land to somalia. Where they were at the top while the pro-somali were second class. As happened in Sudan" Among them (the Beja) are another race, the Zenafig, more numerous than the Hadareb, but subject to them. They act as servants and guards and supply them with cattle, and every chief of the Hadareb has among his followers peoples of the Zenafig, who are as slaves whom they inherit.This is clearly a description of the caste system brought with them from Arabia by the Hadareb, like the Sabeans before them, and which in some parts was to survive until well into the 20th century. The Hadareb were thus a ruling caste who, by reason no doubt of their Arab blood, were early converts to Islam (though Masudi remarks that they were very poor Moslems) whereas their serf tribes remained idolaters, with some veneer of Christianity, until sometime in 14th century." These Himyarites had one advantage among these east african population, a horse culture, with which they were able to dominate the land between Aswan to the north, the Atbara river valley and the Sudanese coast as well as western Eritrea all the way to Massawa.

by the middle ages that Bellaw had manage to crave out 6 kingdoms along this long border: Tankish, Belgin, Bazin, Jarin, Qita'a, and Nagash. and divide into two factions, the Hadareb in the North and the Ballaw in the south. because of their proximite of egypt and the international trade route, the northern Ballaw, the Hadareb become the most import. through the port of Aidhab, they able to take advantage of the strategic position as a pilgrimage station as well as take advantage of trade between Egypt and far east. the port developed even further in the 12 century because the Crusaders had closed the overland pilgrimage route. the port was thought to be save from the Crusaders until the crusader state started raiding along the red sea and attack the city in 1183. the Beja profited from trade by conducting caravans between Kush( the christains Nubian kingdoms) and the red sea ports which were control by Egypt but which the Beja were able to demand payment as the effective guaranteer of commerce along this frontier. The beja also exploit the mines which provided gold, precious stones and marble. the lassie faire came to an end when the Mamluks sultan Bars Bey send a punitive expedition against the Beja which destroyed their port and broke the back of the Hadareb. their mines had dry up by the 14th century and new local power like the Bashrin and the Abdullah agents of the Fung sultanate in Sennar precipitated the decline of Ballaw Beja in the north in the 16th century. The Decline of the Ballaw led to the emerge of new tribe confederacy. the Arteiga who took over the port of Suakin, the Hadendawo who harried Ballaw south into western Eritrea. The Ballaw were decisively defeate in 1580.


by the 17th century, the entire coast between Khor Baraka to Massawa come under the Dominican of 3 main tribe groups, the Habab, the Beni Amer, and the Aflanda, each consisting of a small, alien, superior caste imposing itself by force of arms on a very much larger number of indigenous serf peoples.The decisive factor of these conquests (as also in medieval Europe) was the strong arm of the mail-clad horsemen. The Beja have always a strong instinctive dislike of horses, animals which they have never been able to control or acclimatize, and they scorn all forms of protective armour other than their bull hide shields, relying for effectiveness in battle on speed, agility, surprise, and ferocity in attack.
The warriors of Beit Asgede, Sha'adinab and Abdullab wore helmets and chain armour, and their horses were protected also by skirts of thick quilting. Against them the naked Beja spearmen on foot stood little chance, and although the Hadendowa repulsed the Fung, the less warlike, meeker Tigre tribes succumbed easily, and fearful memories of the mailed and panoplied horsemen could scatter them like sheep are still alive in them today." The Beja seemed besiege by Fung from the southeast, the Abyssinians from the South, the Turks along the Coast and an Arab chain mail cavalry which conquered the lands between the Atbara river valley and the western Eritrea. the Tigre especially were conquered whole by this new arab elite who assimilated the language and the institution of Serfdom that were begun by the Ballaw. At first glance there seem many superficial similiarities between the Beja people and the Somalia. for example, both practice Sheegate but the Beja seemed very rigid where the somali system was nominal and transient. today who can tell a sheegate from a pure-blood. however,there exist a huge gulf in historical experience between the two groups. although Somalis put a lot of stock in a arabian lineage I don't think we would tolerate a rigid social hierarchy to the extend that existed among the Beja for over a Thousand years with the somali mistreatment of the Gabooye people being the most pronounce exception. there is a reason most somalia dynasty did not last 100 years. The Beja were also located in important trade junction close to the market in the Egypt and the Levant and thus were under the shadow of who ever rule Egypt. furthermore Somalia have never been dominated by other africans groups while the Beja were dominated by the Fung who origin from southern Sudan although they are muslim, and we were never threatened by chain mailed cavalry orginating from the north. the xabasha did not also adopt this technology, because they were protected by their mountains and somalia was protected by the sulfur badland of the Canfar Triangle. I hate to think what would have happen to somali ego if heavy armed cavalry started raiding the hawd. after all our leather hide shield and spear and somali pony would have been useless against Armed knights. What would have become of the Somali if we become a Serf race like the Tigre
p 133 BEJA CHRONOLOGY
B.C.
ca. 2750 possible date of first exploitation of Eastern Desert gold mines by the VIth Dynasty..
ca 1000-600 approximate date of Sabean colonization of Tigrean highlands....
ca. 110 Invasion of Africa by Abraha 'Dhu el Manar' from the Yemen.

A.D.
ca. 340 Axum converted to Christianity by Frumentius. Aizanas of Axum destroys Meroe.
525 Himyarite kingdom in the Yemen conquered by Asbaha of Axum.
533 Justin proposes anti-Persian alliance with Axum..
540 Decisive defeat of the Beja by Silko of Nubia.
550-600 Nominal conversion of Beja to Christianity.

ca. 600 Appearance of Badi' as a Red Sea port. Bellou settlement in the Atbai..
690 Possible date of Halenga settlement in the Gash.
700-800 Decline of Axum.
854 Rising of the Beja, who raided as far as Esna.
900 Approximate date of Yagoubi's description of six Beja kingdoms between
Assuan and Dahlak.

1028 First mention of Aidhab as a pilgrim port.
ca 1150 Badi' abandoned by its inhabitants.
1183 Aidhab sacked by the Crusaders.
1426 Aidhab destroyed by Bars Bey.
ca. 1470 Hadareb (Bellou) driven from the Atbai by the Besharin.
1500-1600 Infiltration of northern Tigre by Bellou and other Beja.

1504 Foundation of the Fung kingdom by Omara Dunkas.
1520 Occupation of Suakin and Massawa by Ottoman Turks.
1520-40 Expulsion of Bellou from Sinkat area by the Hadendowa.
ca. 1530 Invasion of the Red Sea coast by the Bet Asgade (Habab)
1580 Overthrow of the Bellou by the Nabtab (Beni Amer).

1800 Hadendowa in occupation of Gash and middle Atbara.
1821 Egyptian occupation of Sudan
1823 first Egyptian raid on Taka under the Defterdar.
1823,1836 Further raids by Khurshid Pasha.
1840 Town of Kassala founded by the Egyptians.

1844 Exp of Taka by Ahmed Pasha Menekli.
1848 Egyptian agreement with the Beni Amer.
1872 Munzinger occupies Keren.

The Beja Tribes of the Sudan pdf.