[[Image:Ababda.jpg|thumbnail|A member of the Abada]]
The '''Ababda''' (or '''Ababde''') (the [[Gebadei]] of [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], and possibly the [[Troglodyte]]s of other classical writers), are a mostly [[nomad|nomadic]] [[tribe]] of [[Bedouin]]s in [[Upper Egypt]], a subgroup of the [[Beja people]]; some still speak the [[Cushitic]] [[Beja language]], while others speak [[Arabic language|Arabic]].

They extend from the [[Nile]] at [[Aswan]] to the [[Red Sea]], and reach northward to the Kena-Kosseir 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 [[ancient Rome|Roman]] times.

They 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 [[Nubia]]n desert and up the Nile valley as far as Sennar.

They intermarried with the Nuba, and settled in small colonies at [[Shendi]] and elsewhere up to [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Mehmet Ali's]] conquest of the region in the early 19th century. They are still great trade carriers, and visit very distant districts.

[[As of 1911]], the Ababda of Egypt numbered some 30,000, and were governed by an hereditary "chief". Although nominally a vassal of the Khedive, he paid no tribute. Indeed he was paid a subsidy, a portion of the road-dues, in return for his safeguarding travellers from [[Bedouin]] robbers. The sub-[[sheikh]]s were directly responsible to him.

The Ababda of [[Nubia]], according to Joseph von Russegger who visited the country in [[1836]], number some 40,000, but have since diminished, probably amalgamated with the Bisharin, their hereditary enemies. The Ababda generally speak Arabic (mingled with [[Barabra]] [[Nubian languages|Nubian]] words), the result of their long-continued contact with Egypt; but the southern and south-eastern portion of the tribe in many cases still retain their Beja language, To Bedawie. Those of [[Kosseir]] would not speak this before strangers in 1911, as they believed that to reveal the mysterious dialect would bring ruin on them.

==References==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Ababda}}
*{{1911}}

==External links==
*[http://puck.wolmail.nl/~kosc/Ababda%20folder/ababda.html Zbigniew Kosc: Ababda Bedouins of the Eastern Desert]

==See also==

[[Beja people]]

[[Category:Ancient Roman enemies]]
[[Category:African nomads]]

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