describes the lifestyle of bedouins in saudi arabia?
Answers
Answer:
Bedouins (or Bedawi in Arabic) are the oldest inhabitants of the deserts of Arabia, a semi-nomadic group of desert-dwellers who traversed the sands. These people are known for their resourcefulness and hospitality, having survived the harsh conditions of the weather and environment they found themselves in.
Explanation:
The Arabian Peninsula is the original home of the Bedouin. From here they started to spread out to surrounding deserts, forced out by the lack of water and food. According to tradition, the Saudi Bedouin are descendants of two groups. One group, the Yemenis, settled in the Southwestern Arabia, in the mountains of Yemen, and claim they descend from a semi-legendary ancestral figure, Qahtan (or Joktan). The second group, the Qaysis, settled in North-Central Arabia and claimed they were descendants of the Biblical Ishmael.
A Bedouin family in Wahiba Sands, Oman.
A number of additional Bedouin tribes reside in Saudi Arabia. Among them are the, Anazzah, Bani Tameem, Jihnan, Shammar, al-Murrah, Qara, Mahra, Harasis, Dawasir, Harb, Ghamid, Mutayr, Subaie, 'Utayba, Bani khalid, Qahtan, Rashaida, Ansar and Yam. In Arabia and the adjacent deserts there are around 100 large tribes of 1,000 members or more. Some tribes number up to 20,000 and a few of the larger tribes may have up to 100,000 members. Inside Saudi Arabia the Bedouin remained the majority of the population during the first half of the 20th century. However, due to change of lifestyle their number has decreased dramatically.
According to Ali Al-Naimi, the Bedouin, or Bedu, would travel in family and tribal groups, across the Arabian Peninsula in groups of fifty to a hundred. A clan was composed of a number of families, while a number of clans formed a tribe. Tribes would have areas reserved for their livestock called dirahs, which included wells for their exclusive use. They lived in black goat-hair tents called bayt al-shar, divided by cloth curtains into rug-floor areas for males, family and cooking. In Hofuf, they bartered their sheep, goats and camels, including milk and wool, for grain and other staples. Al-Naimi also quotes Paul Harrison's observation of the Bedouin, "There seems to be no limit at all to their endurance."