Collections | Migrations | Migrations within the Ottoman Empire | Nomadic tribes [9 Objects]

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Introduction to the Chapter

Arab coffee pot

Jordan Museum for Costumes and Jewellery, Department of Antiquities

Amman, Jordan

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 Justification for this item

Of all of the symbols of the traditions and customs of the Arab Bedouin communities, this coffee pot is not only the most famous one as a symbol of their hospitality, but it also represents an item of their nomadic culture that became common all over the cities and towns of the Arab world.

Arab coffee pot

Jordan Museum for Costumes and Jewellery, Department of Antiquities

Amman, Jordan

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Chiefs of nomadic Arab tribes in Syria visit the Abbot Desmazure, Latin father of the Saint-Sépulcre in the Convent of the Latin Fathers of Jerusalem, built on mount Gihon

1845

National Library of France

Paris, France

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 Justification for this item

This image gives a glimpse of the interaction between nomadic Arab tribes and local centres of religious and political power. In 1827, the chiefs of Syrian Arab tribes visited Abbé Desmazure, a famous French missionary, at the monastery of the Church Fathers in Jerusalem, where he was trying to find a solution to the religious tensions prevailing in the local Christian community.

Arabs of the Desert

Published 1849

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Authority

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

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 Justification for this item

On the Sinai peninsula, Bedouin tribes such as the Awlad Sa’id had lived for centuries, maintaining close links with the nomads of the Arabian Peninsula. In the 19th century, they often worked as soldiers or as guides for local governments and European travellers.

Arabs of the Desert

Published 1849

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Authority

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

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Encampment of the Awlad Said Mount Sinai 1839

Published 1849

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Authority

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

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 Justification for this item

On the Sinai peninsula, Bedouin tribes such as the Awlad Sa’id had lived for centuries, maintaining close links with the nomads of the Arabian Peninsula. In the 19th century, they often worked as soldiers or as guides for local governments and European travellers.

Encampment of the Awlad Said Mount Sinai 1839

Published 1849

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Authority

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

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Scene in the Desert

c. 1863

National Museum of Romanticism

Madrid, Spain

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 Justification for this item

Nomads in the Arab and Ottoman world and North Africa were also of crucial importance to the region’s economy. The owners of extensive camel herds, they could equip, organise, manage and protect trade caravans along routes that transversed deserts and forbidding landscapes inaccessible or too perilous for others.

Scene in the Desert

c. 1863

National Museum of Romanticism

Madrid, Spain

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A bedouin and his camel/dromedary

c. 1870

National Library of France

Paris, France

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 Justification for this item

In the late 19th century, the Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula were to play a crucial role in the final fall of the Ottoman Empire and the redrawing of the entire map of the Near East from the borders of Turkey to the borders of Egypt.

A bedouin and his camel/dromedary

c. 1870

National Library of France

Paris, France

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Bedouin of the Houran

Published 1881–1884

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Authority

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

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 Justification for this item

The Bedouin of Hauran in Syria were fierce tribal Arabs, who often confronted Ottoman officialdom and took revenge in the wake of their inappropriate actions. In 1916, they attacked the Hijaz Railway after receiving paper money rather than gold and silver for their cereal and enduring the insensitive incursions of Ottoman police forces.

Bedouin of the Houran

Published 1881–1884

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Authority

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

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North African caravan, in the west of the Sahara

1888

National Library of France

Paris, France

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 Justification for this item

Nomads in the Arab and Ottoman world and North Africa were also of crucial importance to the region’s economy. The owners of extensive camel herds, they could equip, organise, manage and protect trade caravans along routes that transversed deserts and forbidding landscapes inaccessible or too perilous for others.

Rababa

Early 20th century

Jordan Museum for Costumes and Jewellery, Department of Antiquities

Amman, Jordan

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 Justification for this item

Despite their regular interactions with settled communities in the cities, towns and villages of the Arab and Ottoman world, Bedouins and other nomads remained fiercely independent, guarding their unique traditions, heritage and customs. The rabab is still used today to accompany traditional Bedouin poetry and songs.

Rababa

Early 20th century

Jordan Museum for Costumes and Jewellery, Department of Antiquities

Amman, Jordan

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Introduction to the Chapter