The Baggara or Baqqarah (Arabic: البقارة) are a nomadic Bedouin people inhabiting Africa from between Lake Chad and the Nile, in the states of Sudan (particularly Darfur), Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic. They are also known as Shuwa Arabs. They are cattle-herders, migrating seasonally between grazing lands in the wet season and river areas in the dry season. They are mostly speakers of the Shuwa dialect of Arabic. Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... A Bedouin man resting on a hillside at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic (‎), a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... Guhayna is an ethnic group of Central Sudan. ... The Arabic language ( ), or simply Arabic ( ), is the largest member of the family of Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic. ... A Bedouin man resting on a hillside at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic (‎), a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via... Lake Chad (in French: Lac Tchad) is a large, shallow lake in Africa. ... The Nile (Arabic: ‎, translit: , Ancient Egyptian iteru) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river on Earth, though the Amazon in South America contains more water. ... This article is about the Darfur region of western Sudan. ... The Arabic language ( ), or simply Arabic ( ), is the largest member of the family of Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic. ...

Origins and divisions

Baggara are Muslims, thought to be partly descendants of Arab tribes who settled the region primarily from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, descendants of the Juhayna group of Arabs that trace their ancestry to Libya. Those Juhayna who moved south where rainfall was more plentiful, such as south of the Marrah Mountains, took up the herding of cattle and became known as the Baggara, literally "those of the cow" or "cattle people". Their kinspeople who stayed north remained Abbala, "camel-men".^[1] A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب) are a heterogeneous ethnic group who are predominantly speakers of the Arabic language, mainly found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... Marrah Mountains (Arabic: Jebel Marra meaning bad mountain) is a range of volcanic peaks rising up to 3,000 m, in the center of the Darfur region of Sudan. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and contemporary usage, or kye as the Scots plural of cou) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ...

The Baggara include several tribes, such as the Rizeigat, Ta’isha, Habbaniya in Darfur, and Misseiria, Humur and Hawazma in Kordofan. The Misseiria of Jebel Mun also speak arabic. The Rizeigat, or Rizigat, are a Muslim tribe of the nomadic Bedouin Baggara people in Sudans Darfur region. ... Ta’isha is one of the Baqqara tribes, these nomads originated from the Guhayna group, a clan of Bedouin Arabs who poured across the Sinai Peninsula from Arabia. ... The Habbaniya, or Habbania, are a Sunni Muslim tribe of the nomadic Bedouin Baggara people in the plains of Sudans Darfur, North Kordofan, and South Kordofan provinces. ... This article is about the Darfur region of western Sudan. ... Hawazma, part of Sudans Baggara tribe, are cattle herders who roam the area from the southern parts of Northern Kordofan to the southern borders of South Kordofan, a distance of about 300 kilometers. ... Kordofan is a former province of central Sudan. ...

History

The Baggara of Darfur and Kordofan were the backbone of the Mahdist revolt against Turko-Egyptian rule in Sudan in the 1880s. The Mahdi's second-in-command, the Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, was himself a Baggara of the Ta'aisha tribe. During the Mahdist period (1883-98) tens of thousands of Baggara migrated to Omdurman and central Sudan where they provided many of the troops for the Mahdist armies. After their defeat at the Battle of Karari in 1898, the remnants returned home to Darfur and Kordofan. Under the British system of indirect rule, each of the major Baggara tribes was ruled by its own paramount chief, known as Nazir. Most of them were loyal members of the Umma Party, headed since the 1960s by Sadiq el Mahdi. Kordofan is a former province of central Sudan. ... Image:Mahdi3. ... Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed or Abdullah et Taaisha ( 1846 – November 24, 1899), also known as The Khalifa was a Sudanese Dervish General and ruler. ...

The main Baggara tribes of Darfur were awarded "hawakir" (land grants) by the Fur Sultans in the 1750s. As a result, the four largest Baggara tribes of Darfur--the Rizeigat, Habbaniya, Beni Halba and Ta’isha--have been only marginally involved in the Darfur conflict. However, the Baggara have been deeply involved in other conflicts in both Sudan and Chad. Starting in 1985, the Government of Sudan armed many of the local tribes among them the Rizeigat of south Darfur and the Missiriya and Hawazma of neighboring Kordofan as militia to fight a proxy war against the Sudan People's Liberation Army in their areas. In Darfur, a Benni Halba militia force was organized by the government to defeat an SPLA force led by Daud Bolad in 1990-91. However, by the mid-1990s the various Baggara groups had mostly negotiated local truces with the SPLA forces. The leaders of the major Baggara tribes have stated that they have no interest in joining the fighting. The Rizeigat, or Rizigat, are a Muslim tribe of the nomadic Bedouin Baggara people in Sudans Darfur region. ... The Habbaniya, or Habbania, are a Sunni Muslim tribe of the nomadic Bedouin Baggara people in the plains of Sudans Darfur, North Kordofan, and South Kordofan provinces. ... The Beni Halba is an Arab group located in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. ... Ta’isha is one of the Baqqara tribes, these nomads originated from the Guhayna group, a clan of Bedouin Arabs who poured across the Sinai Peninsula from Arabia. ... Combatants factions of the SLA Justice & Equality Mvmnt Janjaweed Government of Sudan Minnawi-faction of the SLA Commanders SLA: ? JEM: ? Janjaweed: ? Sudan: Omar al-Bashir SLA: Minni Minnawi Casualties 300,000 civilians killed The Darfur conflict is an ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, mainly between... SPLA/M emblem Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) is a member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the main opposition group in Sudan. ... Daud Yahya Ibrahim Bolad (?-January 1992) was a Sudanese politician and rebel leader. ...

Notes and references