Arab and Berber pastoralists of the western desert edge, from the Mariout behind Alexandria to the Wadi al-Natrun and the desert west of Giza, and along the coast towards Barqa.
They pasture flocks and camels, trade with Alexandria and Damanhur, escort or rob the caravans of the coastal road to the Maghrib, and serve the state as auxiliaries.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not pinned. In Fatimid times Arab clans (among them the Sunbis of Tayy and the Banu Qurra) and Berbers of the Lawata held these pastures; who led them in 1200 is not pinned
- Title
- Tribal amirs and shaykhs
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
The sultan of Egypt, through the governors of al-Buhayra and Alexandria
How things stand that morning
Quiet; not involved in the civil war that winter as far as the sources show.
Customs
Tribal law and blood-money; protection payments from travellers; seasonal grazing on the edge of the cultivation.
Assemblies
Clan shaykhs; no single leader attested for 1200.
Overlord claims
Service as auxiliaries and the keeping of the western roads; taxes on herds where collected.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The tribal names are of the Fatimid period or from later lists; nothing is pinned for 1200.
On the map: A range of pastures, drawn as a dashed outline.
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
- 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.