River Bedouin

19th-century Orientalist depiction of a River Bedouin

The River Bedouin were Beheiran river pirates who operated along the Faras and Gonda rivers from the 11th to 19th centuries. River Bedouin tended to operate in frontier regions where the authority of the Lower Faras states was weak. Depending on their strength, they resorted to tactics including deception, concealment, ambush, and assault near natural obstacles such as caves, islands, narrows, rapids, cataracts, and marshes. River travellers were robbed, captured, and murdered and their boats were sunk or sold downriver. River Bedouin routinely raided riverine towns. Some bands founded kingdoms and communities along the Faras and Gonda. The most famous River Bedouin state was the Kingdom of Bashans, which was founded when the Band of Bashans overthrew the Ghazi Sultanate in the famous Raid of St. Abdelmesseh on Mina in 1322. The kingdom would eventually become the Empire of Beheira.

The first historical accounts of River Bedouin date from the 11th century when fishermen in northern Beheira were turning to piracy amid the Irfani Conquest of the Faras. Organized in bands of ten to a thousand, River Bedouin were often patronized by influential families in Mina and Souan to advance their interests. As the Ghazi Sultanate declined during the 13th century, the River Bedouin became a powerful fighting force, with some bands building their own navies and founding communities along the Gonda in present-day Wale and Garambura. River Bedouin kingdoms dominated the Upper and Lower Faras during the 14th century. From the 16th century onwards, the Beheiran state routinely recruited them to demonstrate its military might and advance its trade interests along the Faras through raids.