Baggara Arabs
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Numbering over 6 million) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|
|
| Languages | |
| Chadian Arabic, Sudanese Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam, Sufi Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| All Bedouin groups, Africans, Chadian, Arabs, Guhayna |
The Baggāra are a grouping of Arab ethnic groups inhabiting the portion of Africa's Sahel mainly between Lake Chad and southern Kordofan, numbering over one million. They are known as Baggara in Sudan, and as Shuwa/Diffa Arabs in Chad and Africa. Their name derives from the Arabic word (Arabic: بقارة) literally meaning "cattle herder".
They have a common language, Shuwa Arabic, which is one of the regional varieties of Arabic. They also have a common traditional mode of subsistence, nomadic cattle herding, although nowadays many lead a settled existence. Nevertheless, collectively they do not all necessarily consider themselves one people, i.e., a single ethnic group. The term "baggara culture" was introduced in 1994 by Braukämper.
The political use of term "baggara" in Sudan denoting a particular set of tribes is limited to Sudan. It often means a coalition of majority Arabs and a few indigenous African tribes (mainly Fur, Nuba and Fallata) with other Arab tribes of western Sudan (mainly Guhayna), as opposed to Bedouin Abbala Arab tribes. The bulk of "baggara Arabs" live in Chad, the rest live, or seasonally migrate to, southwest Sudan (specifically the southern portions of Darfur and Kordofan), and slivers of the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Niger. Those who are still nomads migrate seasonally between grazing lands in the wet season and river areas in the dry season.
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Wikipedia