Beja

Beja, called Bidhaawyeet by its speakers, is the sole member of the Northern Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, spoken by Beja nomads of the Eastern Desert between the Nile and the Red Sea. The Beja descend from the Medjay and later the Blemmyes of ancient texts.

Potsherd ostraca from Egyptian desert sites and monasteries of the 200s to the 500s preserve fragments of Old Beja, including a translation of a psalm found at Saqqara. The kingdom of Aksum subdued the Beja and made them vassals in the 200s.

The Arab writer al-Ya'qubi counted five Muslim Beja kingdoms in the 800s, while al-Maqdisi still described the Beja as Christians in the 900s. From the 800s migrating Arab tribes intermarried with them and spread Arabic and Islam, which prevailed among the Beja by the 1400s; written Beja used the Arabic alphabet.