Arab clans who graze the deserts on both sides of the valley of Upper Egypt and the Eastern Desert between the Nile and the Red Sea, escort or prey on the caravans between Qus and the Red Sea, and live alongside the villages of the valley edge.
They have been watched closely since their great rising of 1174, when the Kanz al-Dawla of Aswan and the Arab tribes rose for the Fatimids and were crushed.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not pinned. The Rabi'a of Aswan (the Banu Kanz) were broken in 1174 and moved into Nubia; other Arab clans of the south (later lists name Juhayna, Bali and others, and Ja'fari sharifs led the Arab rising of 1253 in Middle Egypt) cannot be pinned for 1200
- Title
- Tribal amirs and shaykhs
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
The sultan of Egypt, through the governor of Qus
How things stand that morning
Quiet that morning.
Customs
Tribal law, caravan escort for a fee, grazing on the desert edges and in the wadis after rain.
Assemblies
Clan shaykhs; no paramount amir attested for 1200.
Overlord claims
The governor of Qus expects the caravan roads kept and service when called.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- From late 1200Famine in the valley drives villagers and clans alike into hardship; unrest on the roads is likely.Depends on: The low flood of 1200. Stopped by: Grain relief.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Only the events of 1174 are well recorded; the tribes of 1200 are not pinned.
On the map: Drawn over the desert only; the clans also lived on the valley edges, which stay Egyptian ground.
Primary sources for The Bedouin
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the Observant Traveller (A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia), Ibn al-Mujawir (Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub) (about 1226 to 1232). A merchant-traveller's description of western and southern Arabia a generation after 1200: Mecca and the Hijaz ports, the Red Sea crossing, Zabid and the Tihama, Aden with its customs and tariffs, the Hadramawt coast, Dhofar and Oman, Socotra, and the opposite African shore at Zeila and the Dahlak islands. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia: Banu Kanz
- The later lists of the Arab tribes of Egypt (al-Maqrizi, al-Bayan wa'l-i'rab; al-Qalqashandi), fifteenth century; from the researcher's knowledge, used only as a guide to who lived where
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.