Two YouTube Videos Of The Beja People Of Sudan: The African Population That Is Referred To In Rudyard Kipling's 1892 Poem "Fuzzy -Wuzzy"

Hometeam History, April 6, 2020

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the term "Fuzzy-Wuzzy".

This post showcases two YouTube videos of the Beja people of Sudan, North Africa. Some information about the Beja people is included in this pancocojams post along with selected comments from those videos' discussion threads.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-racist-source-of-british-tongue.html  for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a sound file of a Farnham Town Crier reciting the 19th century poem entitled "Fuzzy Wuzzy" . That composition was  written by English poet Rudyard Kipling. "Fuzzy Wuzzy" was a nickname that British colonial soldiers coined as a referent for the Beja people who they fought in two battles in the Sudan, North Africa in 1884 and 1885. Information about Kipling's composition and the words to that poem are also included in this pancocojams post. 

A YouTube video of the tongue twister titled "Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear" whose author is unknown is also included in this post, along with the words to that composition and brief notes about it.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the Beja people who are featured in these videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE BEJA  PEOPLE 

Excerpt #1
From http://orvillejenkins.com/profiles/beja.html "Profile of the Beja People of Sudan"

[Pancocojams Editor's Note:
This "Identity" section in this excerpt contains descriptions that I believe are insensitive if not racist.]  

"Location:

The name Beja is applied to a grouping of Muslim peoples speaking dialects of a Cushitic language called Beja, and living in Sudan, Eritrea and Egypt.  They are traditionally pastoral people whose territory covers some 110,000 square miles in the extreme northeast of Sudan.

History:

Many scholars believe the Beja to be derived from early Egyptians because of their language and physical features.  They are the indigenous people of this area, and we first know of them in historical references in the Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.  Over the centuries, they had contact and some influence from Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks.

A few Beja became Christians in the sixth century.  The southern Beja were part of the Christian Kingdom of Axum centered in what is now southern Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.  Although never completely conquered by a foreign power, the Beja in the 15th century were absorbed into Islam by marriages and trading contacts with nearby Arab tribes.

In the seventeenth century they expanded farther south seeking better pastures and conquering other peoples along the way.  By the 18th century, the Hadendowa Beja were the dominant people of eastern Sudan.

There has never been an official census in Ethiopia/Eritrea, so figures are estimates from various field sources, notably published anthropologists.  Uncertain data indicates there may be as many as 2,300,000 people total who speak the Beja language and identify themselves as Beja. The name Beja is form Arabic. The language name is Bedawiyet, also an Arabic name, related to the word Bedouin. A large number of the Beja speak Sudanese Arabic as a mother tongue.

Our figures estimate Beja speakers at about 107,000 in Eritrea, about 60,000 in Egypt and 2,134,000 in Sudan.  It appears there are approximately 99,000 Beni-Amer speakers of Tigre. The total number of all Beja people in Eritrea speaking Beja or Tigre appears to be about 206,000.  Some estimates are higher than 500,000.

All the Beja peoples, by our more conservative estimates, number 2,540,315.

Identity:

The Beja people are an ancient Cushitic people closely kin to the ancient Egyptians, who have lived in the desert between the Nile river and the Red Sea since at least 25000 BC.  Various Beja groups have intermarried with Arab or southern (dark) Cushites over the centuries.  All the dialects are mutually intelligible.  Some speakers are bilingual in Arabic or Tigre (Ethnologue).  There are perhaps 100,000 or more who are Beja socially and culturally, but who speak Tigre.

They are sometimes aloof, withdrawn, aggressive and warlike. The Beja have a uniquely huge crown of fuzzy hair, first recorded in Egyptian rock paintings (circa B.C. 2000).  Rudyard Kipling gave them the famous name "the Fuzzy Wuzzies."  Kipling was specifically referring to the Hadendowa, who fought the British, supporting the "Mahdi," a Sudanese leader of a rebellion against the Turkish rule administered by the British.

In this war the Bisharin and Amarar section of the Beja sided with the British, while the Hadendowa gained fame for defeating the British in two battles.  The Hadendowa are thought to be the only traditional warriors who were able to break a British army "square" armed with modern weapons.  In World War II the Hadendowa allied themselves with the British against the Italians who were supported by the Beni-Amer and other Tigre-speaking people."...

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Excerpt #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beja_people
"The Beja are traditionally Cushitic-speaking pastoral nomads native to northeast Africa, referred to as Blemmyes in ancient texts. The geographer Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi wrote in the tenth century that the Beja were at that time Christians.[13] Beja territories in the Eastern desert were conquered and vassalised by the Kingdom of Aksum in the third century.[14] The historian Al-Yaqubi documented five Beja Kingdoms in the 9th century. Originally, the Beja did not speak Arabic, however the migration of the numerous Arab tribes of Juhaynah, Mudar, Rabi'a, and many more to the Beja areas contributed to the Arabization and Islamization of them,[7][10] however the Arabs did not fully settle in the Beja areas as they looked for better climate in other areas.[10] The Beja have partially mixed with Arabs through intermarriages over the centuries,[10] and by the 15th century, the Beja were Islamized.[10] The Balaw of the southern Red Sea coast may have come from the mixing of people from the Arab Peninsula and Beja people, but there has been significant historical dispute on this matter.[15] The Hadendoa Beja by the 18th century dominated much of eastern Sudan. In the Mahdist War of the 1880s to 1890s, the Beja fought on both sides, the Hadendoa siding with the Mahdist troops, while the Bisharin and Amarar tribes sided with the British,[16] and some Beni Amer - a subset of the Beja who live largely in Eritrea sided with the Ethiopian Ras Alula in certain battles, such as Kufit.[17]

[...]

Names

The Beja have been named "Blemmyes" in Roman times,[18] Bəga in Aksumite inscriptions in Ge'ez,[19] and "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling was specifically referring to the Hadendoa, who fought the British, supporting the Mahdi, the Sudanese leader of the war against Turkish-Egyptian rule, supported by the British Imperial administration.[16]

[...]

Subdivisions

The Bejas are divided into clans. These lineages include the Bisharin, Hedareb, Hadendowa (or Hadendoa), the Amarar (or Amar'ar), Beni-Amer, Hallenga, Habab, Belin and Hamran, some of whom are partly mixed with Bedouins in the east.[citation needed]

Beja society was traditionally organized into independent kingdoms. According to Al-Yaqubi, there were six such Beja polities that existed between Aswan and Massawa during the 9th century. Among these were the Kingdom of Bazin, Kingdom of Belgin, Kingdom of Jarin, Kingdom of Nagash, Kingdom of Qita'a and Kingdom of Tankish.[23]".

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM SHOWCASE VIDEO #1

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. @MsAfricanbeauty100, 2020
"My mother’s people :)Nicely done.

Peace"

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2. @themessis2much632, 2020
"I’m 100% beja, my great grandfather helped fight off the British when they attacked my people. They made a poem about the war called fuzzy wuzzy by Kipling."

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3. @josephmccall5308, 2020
"Brother once again good video but the first appearance of beja people is on the wall of Egyptian temples and tombs you can see beja doing the same greetings as most Sudanese people which is to put the hand on your brother's shoulder when greetings them if you go too Eid or just be around Sudanese men you will see this traditional greetings"

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4. @guleddualeh, 2020
"Beja society was never matrilineal, they always patrilineal even In their pre Islamic history hence why tribes like the Beni Amir and Habab who are Tigre speakers exist was because of Axumite mother and a Beja father created those tribes and Axum is 3rd century before Beja had islam and way before the 15 century like u claimed where Bejas “became patrilineal”. Nubians took the last name and tribe of their mothers before they became patrilineal not Bejas.

Second Bejas were never dominated by Arabs in their history nor were they forced to convert to Islam, Bejas are one of the earliest tribes along with Afars that became Muslim before there was even a “Muslim world” in the gulf states. Bejas don’t consider themselves Arabs nor close to Arabs either. there’s literally a customary law in Beja society that lifts our native languages first and foremost before Arabic. And there were some Beja tribes in history that considered themselves “Arab Bejas” and we’re slowly becoming Arabized 

the Bejas from the hadandowa tribe captured and enslaved those Bejas In large numbers and did public executions on them. This event happened under the Mahadist movement where The Hadandawa were gathering other Beja tribes across east Sudan and parts of Eritrea to join and fight the Egyptians. Even the serf system Bejas had where they had tribes of other origins were forced to let the serfs go and identify as Beja to strengthen the tribe and numbers, the Halenga which were Tigrinyas and etc etc which went from serf to being part of the 11 tribes of Beja federation. There were some small Beja subtribes that  were disloyal to the cause and identified as “Arab Bejas” and wanted no parts in the war. They were punished publicly by Hadandawa it was either join or become a slave or die there didnt want neutrality. 

The Only people in Sudan that are considered Arabs are the north central Nubians that adopted Arabic as their mother tongue, the rest identify as native Africans. This vid minimized the glorious history of Beja as some random Arabized Islamic tribe when Beja history is from Axum, Beja empire, Bahri Nagash, Ancient Nubia, Ancient Egypt(Kemet), the list is endless of what you could’ve chose to discuss about this glorious tribe and their history. This vid did not do the Beja people and their beautiful legacy any justice at all"
-snip-
I reformatted this comment to enhance its readability.

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Reply
5. @ApstleofJC1, 2020
"I've found that there are many historical things not discussed in totality (e.g. the link of the Beja to Pharoahs and the general population of Egypt and not just mercenaries; much like the link of the Beja to the Taureg and "Berber" dynasties).

Just like anywhere else, there are tribes that had varying historical interactions that not everyone knows. The Beja lived all over that region not just in the modern day location. This occurred primarily through colonialism. To put it into context, Sudan was Egypt until ~1920AD. That means, the Sudanese were called Egyptians prior to that. W. Africa was called Sudan during that time.

A lot of information available is written from colonialism's perspective. Don't forget that people were pushed out when they built the Aswan Dam. In another video, he correctly pointed out that various people groups were put under the "Nubian" moniker. I grew up thinking the Beja were Nubian (by implication: not Egyptian). I was corrected by an elder of the Beja."

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6. @azakzaak1691, 2020
"Beja people are authentic and the origin of the cushitic people. They also speak arabic because they coexisted with arab tribes surrounding the red sea since early start (3000 years ago) when afroasiatic peoples a splintered into different branches of the language family. Some headed south into present day horn of africa ethiopia, eritrea and Somalia. Some Beja clans remained in Egypt/Sudan area."

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7. @Daguitardoctor, 2020

"Osman digna was the most notable beja ( Hadandawa ) He had a magnificent military mind and was a commander in the Mehidi army against the British rule . Also Most famous for breaking the  british military square, if your not much of a reader , glimpses of the story is shown in the movie " The four feathers" "

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8. @misiparham1457, 2020
"I’m of toubou and beja . My mom  always told me we were Cushitic .   I don’t claim being Arab because they don’t consider us real Arabs ."

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9.@filsdusahara579, 2021
"I'm toubou were ar you from me I from France

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10. @y4ska37, 2022
"Yeah u r cushutic be proud

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11. @aminahmed2189, 2022
"I am from Sudan, and I disagree with you on one thing. The Beja don't claim or associate themselves as Arab. They claim themselves as Beja and are proud of that, and obviously they should be proud as they have a very deep culture and history. Also, the leader of the Mahdis forces in the late 19th century was called Osman Digna and his forces crushed the British in the famous Suakin battle.

Respect to your channel and keep up the good work."

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12. @mahadomar9006, 2021
"Beja is Somalis tribe or cushite people not Arab..don't disguide history..orwmo.somali .afar .beja.and others tribe have same root father cushi.anceint Egyptian..old somalids..dadkii firfircona..or pharaoh are somalias..."

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13. @mamukkeleta3744, 2022
"@mahadomar9006  eritrean people have from beja even mine it might be i could have beja blood line, becuse beja is originally from south egypt,so beja was one of Egyptian civilization, so all the mummies queen from phoron they might be beja people, so all the red sea from egypy to djoubti was under beja kingdom i think🤔🤔🤔, even eritrean and Ethopian our present day language driven from geez which beja language. That why eritrean geez language is one of few language they  have words alphabet.it can write with it own alphabet✊️, so beja one of the oldest and the best civilization and people in africa which thier descendants of South Egypt.."

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14. @DiDi-hp2qq, 2022
"@mahadomar9006  Beja not Somali. We are from 🇸🇩🇪🇬🇪🇷 and Beja have no commonality or relation to Afar&Oromo."

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15. @Schopenhappy, 2022
"@DiDi-hp2qq  Commonalities can be seen with language family and genetics. Beja, Oromo, Somali and Afar all share a lot of ancestry and all speak Cushitic languages."

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16. @EritreanGamerOfficial, 2021
"my mother is Beja from the habab tribe in Eritrea. I understand the tigre language and my main language is Arabic."

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Reply
17. @kemalemy3158, 2021
"😂😂😂😂😂where is your main language arab"

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18. @EritreanGamerOfficial, 2021
"@kemalemy3158  what’s funny about that?

Both of my parents grew up in Sudan so their main language is Arabic."

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19. @kemalemy3158, 2021
"Blina09 No, your parents may speak Arabic, but they are not Arabs at all"

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20. @kemalemy3158, 2021
"Blina09 The Habab  Eritrea tribe is a Tigrin tribe originally before it converted from Christianity to Islam"

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21. @EritreanGamerOfficial,2021
"@kemalemy3158  i know all of this. I never said we were arab lol. Why did u imagine that?"

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22. @bemnet27, 2021
"Beja indeed speaks Tigre in Eritrea but the majority are Bedouin. We do share some culture especially their dance " Serra" is beautiful."

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SHOWCASE VIDEO 2 -  The Beja People - Egypt North Africa 🇪🇬 🇸🇩 🇪🇷

Afric Network, June 26, 2022 

-snip-
Here are a few comments from this video's discussion thread. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. @AfricNetwork_,2022
"The Beja are associated with their hair & Warrior prowess.  You might agree or disagree with lifestyles, but the people still remain"

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2. @1gem116, 2022
"The beja are very good peope, I know some beja in ethiopia and eritrea. They are very kind and inviting but do not cross them."

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3. EritreanKing007, 2023
"There are not Beja in Ethiopia, but only in Sudan, Eritrea and Egypt."

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4. @zenqx4242, 2023
"@EritreanKing007  Tigrinya people came from the beja people"

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5. @naturallybeautiful1344, 2023
"@zenqx4242  u right I’m beja, tigre. We are in Eritrea, north of Ethiopia and eastern Sudan, also we are the indigenous of Egypt"

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6. @TrissTess69, 2022
"Original people of Ancient Egypt !"

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7. @alexweshmshmarwe4732, 2022
"There is so called Beja Land in north Ethiopia!!!"

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8.@makkonen0, 2022
"Southern Beja speak Tigrinya as well."

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9. @EritreanKing007, 2023
"@makkonen0  They speak Tigre/Tigrayeet and Bedawiyeet but not Tigrinya."

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10. @isaiahmichael4450, 2023
" @EritreanKing007  I'm tigrinya from Eritrea and my family is from the beja tribe (deki below)."

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