# Bedouin
**Bedouin** (from Arabic *badawī*, plural *badw*, "desert-dwellers") traditionally refers to nomadic peoples of the Middle Eastern deserts, especially North Africa, the [Arabian Peninsula](https://www.edgepedia.org/arabian-peninsula), Egypt, Israel, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079) The term derives from the root b-d-w and is used by Arabic lexicographers as the antonym of "sedentary people" (*ḥāḍir*); the classical expression "the people became Bedouin" (*bāda l-qawm badwan*) means that they went out to the desert.[2](https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EQO/EQSIM-00046.xml) The Italian Treccani encyclopedia likewise glosses the dialectal Arabic *bedewīn* as "dwellers of the steppe," a label applied to nomads of desert and semi-desert zones in contrast to settled populations, without a precise ethnic value.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Definition | Arabic-speaking nomads of desert and semi-desert zones; the term contrasts with settled people (*ḥāḍir*) and carries no precise ethnic value[2](https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EQO/EQSIM-00046.xml) • [3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/) |
| Distribution | Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen; in North Africa, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, and Tunisia[4](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/ethnic-and-cultural-studies/bedouin/) |
| Economy | Animal husbandry of sheep, goats, and camels by natural graze and browse, with seasonal migration following pasture and water[5](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mj04/description) |
| Social structure | Patrilineal clans connected to the tribe (*qabīla*) through descent from its founding ancestor, led by a sheikh assisted by an informal council of male elders[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/) • [1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079) |
| Negev figures | About 110,000 Bedouin before 1948, nearly 11,000 remained; today close to 250,000 live in recognized towns and around 120,000 in unincorporated villages[6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin) |
| Modern trend | Since World War I, increasing state control, nationalized rangelands, and settlement programs; "Bedouin" has shifted from denoting a way of life to marking an identity[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079) • [7](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/42300) |
## Definition and identity
The Arabic term *badawī* is a derivation from the root b-d-w. Arabic lexicographers use *badw* as an antonym for "sedentary people" (*ḥāḍir*), and the expression "people became Bedouin" means that they went out to the desert.[2](https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EQO/EQSIM-00046.xml) The English word "Bedouin" comes via [Old French](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-french) from Arabic *badawīn*, "dwellers in the desert," from *badw*, "desert."[8](http://www.oxfordreference.com/viewbydoi/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095455403) In the Qurʾān the term *bādī* appears twice for Bedouin, while the more frequent Qurʾānic term is the plural *aʿrāb* (singular *ʿarab*).[2](https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EQO/EQSIM-00046.xml)
**Not an ethnic category.** Not all Bedouin tribes are of Arabic origin, since Muslim nomadic groups in the region adopted the term: there are Bedouin tribes of Turkmen, Kurdish Baluch, and Berberic origin, as well as "Arabized" African and hybrid peoples categorized as Bedouins.[9](https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/historical-dictionary-of-the-bedouins-9781442254503/) The term was given to nomads who came from or lived in the desert, and came to define people who raised grazing animals, lived in easily dismantled tents, and moved with water and grass.[9](https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/historical-dictionary-of-the-bedouins-9781442254503/) This supports a tribal and occupational rather than ethnic definition, consistent with Treccani's statement that the name has no precise ethnic value.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/)
The category has also changed over time. An anthropological review covering Bedouin communities from Algeria to Saudi Arabia argues that "Bedouin" has changed from denoting a way of life in the past to marking an identity today, as sedentarization, commercialization of pastoral production, occupational change, and colonial impacts reshaped these societies.[7](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/42300) In many modern Arab societies the Bedouin label has become a cultural identity that matters to many people who no longer live as semi-nomads, with formerly vital traits becoming folkloristic elements; many Arabs also consider Bedouin to possess "original" Arab qualities.[10](https://snl.no/beduiner)
## Tribal structure and social code
Bedouin society is tribal and patriarchal, composed of patrilineal, endogamous, polygynous extended families. The head of the family and of each successively larger social unit is called sheikh, assisted by an informal tribal council of male elders.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079) Clans are connected patrilineally to the tribe (*qabīla*) through descent from its founding ancestor.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/) Descent groups were fluid: tribes adapted their genealogies to take in new members rather than operating as purely lineage-based arrangements, and the largest scale of tribal interaction is the tribe as a whole, led by a sheikh (šayḫ, literally "old man").[11](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443)
Dispute settlement follows a hierarchy of loyalties based on kinship proximity, summarized in a widely quoted Bedouin apothegm: "I am against my brother, my brother and I are against my cousin, my cousin and I, are, against the stranger."[11](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443) Bedouin law and its unique justice system were documented by the scholar Clinton Bailey, who interviewed dozens of qadis (tribal judges) and sheikhs from various tribes and clans about their laws, and also recorded material on hospitality, weddings, mourning, and tribal genealogy.[6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin)
## History
In pre-Islamic Arabia, Bedouin occupied mainly the central plateau of the peninsula, the Najd, and the Syrian desert.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/) The Arab diaspora that accompanied Islam led to the fixing of many Bedouin groups on the land and their fusion with the sedentary societies they subordinated, while large-scale Bedouin nomadism persisted in Arabia proper until recent times.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/)
State control arrived in stages. In the late 19th century the Ottoman Empire attempted to regulate the lives of the Bedouin in the Negev by imposing the same laws on them as on city residents, pushing many tribes toward semi-nomadism.[6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin) After World War I, Bedouin tribes had to submit to state control, which ended internal feuding and raiding; many were incorporated into military and police forces or found work in construction and the petroleum industry.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079) In the second half of the 20th century, Middle Eastern governments nationalized Bedouin rangelands, imposed new limits on movement and grazing, and implemented settlement programs that compelled Bedouin communities to adopt sedentary or semisedentary lifestyles.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079) In the 1950s specifically, Saudi Arabia and Syria took over Bedouin rangelands, and Jordan severely limited goat grazing.[12](https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Bedouins/352838)
## Traditional economy and pastoralism
Speaking Arabic, the Bedouin support themselves mainly by raising sheep, goats, and camels, which feed on natural grazing and browsing vegetation. Traditionally they lived in tents, formed scattered camping units, and seasonally migrated over a vast area of the [Middle East and North Africa](https://www.edgepedia.org/middle-east-and-north-africa) according to the availability of pasture and water.[5](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mj04/description) Traditional classification follows the animal each tribe depends on: in the Sahara, Syrian, and Arabian deserts, camel nomads range over vast territories and form large tribes; those keeping sheep and goats cover less ground, remaining mostly close to the farmed areas of Jordan, Syria, and Iraq; and in South Arabia and Sudan, cattle nomads are known as Baqqārah (Baggara).[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079) The annual cycle was set by the animals' needs, with desert wandering in the rainy season and stays at wells near cultivated land in the dry summer months.[10](https://snl.no/beduiner)
This economy has been transformed. The creation of nation-states in the 20th century and the drawing of national boundaries across customary migration routes significantly affected Bedouin life, and as a consequence Bedouin have taken up new activities including tourism, commerce, and wage labor.[5](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mj04/description) Motorized transport stripped Bedouin of their former dominance over transport and trade, while state borders and oil pipelines created difficulties for nomadism, and increasing numbers became oil workers, farmers, and townspeople.[10](https://snl.no/beduiner)
## Geographic distribution and population
Bedouin live in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, and in North Africa in Algeria, Libya, Sudan, and Tunisia.[4](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/ethnic-and-cultural-studies/bedouin/) Though they constitute only a small share of the Middle East's and North Africa's overall population, the Bedouin occupy a large share of the region's territory.[12](https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Bedouins/352838) Because Bedouin populations are represented inconsistently, or not at all, in official statistics, the number of nomadic Bedouin living in the Middle East today is difficult to ascertain.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079)
## Sedentarization and state policy: the Negev case
Before the establishment of the State of Israel there were an estimated 110,000 Bedouin living in the country. Most left for Sinai, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other neighboring countries after the 1948 war, and nearly 11,000 remained, the majority settled near [Beersheba](https://www.edgepedia.org/beersheba) in the northern Negev.[6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin) Between 1969 and 1985, seven towns were constructed by Israel expressly for the Bedouin of the Negev; as of 2006, roughly 83,000 Bedouin lived in them, while another 76,000 stayed in 45 settlements that were not officially recognized.[11](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443)
The Arab Bedouin of Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank have faced forced displacement since 1948, classified as a "security threat" and branded "squatters" on state lands, with successive Israeli governments seeking to concentrate them into townships.[11](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443) [Negev Bedouin](https://www.edgepedia.org/negev-bedouin) face some of Israel's harshest living conditions, lacking fundamental rights such as access to water, housing, and schooling, while facing the possibility of eviction and the demolition of their homes.[11](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443)
## By the numbers
Estimates of Bedouin populations vary with date, source, and definition. Regarding Israel, the National Library of Israel estimates roughly 110,000 Bedouin before 1948, with almost 11,000 still there once the war ended, and states that today about 250,000 Bedouin inhabit planned settlements including Rahat, Laqiya, Kuseife, Hura, Tel Sheva, Ar'ara BaNegev, and Segev Shalom, whereas some 120,000 reside in villages without official recognition.[6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin) According to a peer-reviewed study, Israel had roughly 7.5 million inhabitants in 2009, excluding the [West Bank](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-bank) and [Gaza Strip](https://www.edgepedia.org/gaza-strip), and 193,000 of them, roughly 2.5 percent, were Bedouin; the same study put the Bedouin population of the West Bank at an estimated 50,000 to 300,000.[11](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443) The same study's 2006 figures for the seven government-built towns (83,000 residents) and the 45 unrecognized settlements (76,000 residents) are older than the National Library's current figures, so the two sets describe different moments rather than conflicting measurements.[11](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443) • [6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin) Across the region, the nomadic share of the population cannot be read from official statistics, which represent Bedouin inconsistently or not at all.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079)
## Language and culture
Bedouin verse is closely tied to the poetry of classical Arabic: following that tradition, poems are learned by heart through oral transmission rather than set down in writing, and every tribe keeps its own collection of proverbs. Some recordings held by the National Library of Israel are the only documentation of these works.[6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin) Bedouin in Israel frequently see themselves as the original, true Arabs, holding that no other group has done as much as they have to keep alive the purest and most refined variety of Arabic, and they speak a range of dialects marked by precise pronunciation.[6](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin)
Most Bedouin are Muslims whose practices have often diverged from Sunni orthodoxy; belief in spirits (jinn) was widespread, and a small number of Bedouin in Jordan have preserved their Christian faith.[10](https://snl.no/beduiner) Bedouin are also involved in tourism and in the manufacture of Bedouin heritage as a commodity and as a component of some Arab national heritages.[7](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/42300) In the changed societies of today, class divisions are becoming predominant among Bedouin, alongside the continuing coexistence of segmentary lineage organization, markets, states, and Islam.[7](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/42300)
## References
1. [Bedouin, Britannica (scholars edition)](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Bedouin/14079)
2. [Bedouin, Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, Brill Reference Works](https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EQO/EQSIM-00046.xml)
3. [Beduini, Treccani Enciclopedia](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beduini/)
4. [Bedouin, EBSCO Research Starters](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/ethnic-and-cultural-studies/bedouin/)
5. [Bedouin, eHRAF World Cultures, Yale University](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mj04/description)
6. [Bedouin in Israel and the Levant, National Library of Israel](https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel-culture-and-society/groups-in-israeli-society/bedouin)
7. [Where Have the Bedouin Gone?, Anthropological Quarterly, Project MUSE](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/42300)
8. [Bedouin, Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Oxford Reference](http://www.oxfordreference.com/viewbydoi/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095455403)
9. [Historical Dictionary of the Bedouins, Muhammad Suwaed, Rowman & Littlefield](https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/historical-dictionary-of-the-bedouins-9781442254503/)
10. [beduiner, Store norske leksikon](https://snl.no/beduiner)
11. [Bedouin society in northern Israel, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences](https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n93443)
12. [Bedouins, Britannica Kids](https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Bedouins/352838)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Social life and human behavior › Communities and populations › Tribes and tribal groupings*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license