'Ababda

The ‘Ababda (also known as the 'Ababde or the Gebadei) are an Arabic-speaking tribe of Beja origin in Upper Egypt with branches in the northern Sudan.  The 'Ababda are nomads living in the area between the Nile and the Red Sea, in the vicinity of Aswan in Egypt.  They are a subgroup of the Beja people who are bilingual in Beja and Egyptian Arabic.

The 'Ababda extend from the Nile at Aswan to the Red Sea, and reach northward to the Qena-Quseir road, thus occupying the southern border of Egypt east of the Nile.  They call themselves "sons of the Jinns."  With some of the clans of the Bisharin and possibly the Hadendoa, they represent the Blemmyes of classic geographers, and their location today is almost identical with that assigned them in Roman times. 

The 'Ababda were constantly at war with the Romans, who eventually conquered them.  In the Middle Ages, they were known as Beja, and convoyed pilgrims from the Nile Valley to Aidhab, the port of embarkation for Jedda.  From time immemorial, they have acted as guides to caravans through the Nubian desert and up the Nile Valley as far as Sennar.

The 'Ababda intermarried with the Nubians, and settled in small colonies at Shendi and elsewhere up to Muhammad 'Ali's conquest of the region in the early 19th century of the Christian calendar. 

The 'Ababda claim Arab descent but certain wide spread customs are of Hamitic origin.  The 'Ababda venerate Shaykh Abu’l-Hasan al-Shahili, whose tomb in the Atbai desert is a place of pilgrimage. 

Alternative names include:

'Ababda
'Ababde
Gebadei