Location: Numbering over one million, the Baggara are the second largest people group in Western Sudan, extending into Eastern Chad. They are primarily nomadic cattle herders and their journeys are dependent upon the seasons of the year. Other Baggara family groups, being the minority of the two, have settled in larger villages or cities.

Identity: Baggara is actually a collective name applied to the separate cattle-herding tribes of Sudan and eastern Chad. The Baggara peoples identify with their tribal names more often than with the all-encompassing term ‘baggara.’ There are at least seven principal tribes which include the following: Humr/Messiria, Rizaygat, Shuwia, Hawazma, Ta’isha, and Habbaniya.

History: These nomads originated from the Guhayna group, a clan of Bedouin Arabs who poured across the Senai Peninsula from Saudi Arabia and eventually successfully invaded the Nile region of upper Egypt and surged into The Sudan in the year 1504. After a time, the Baggara branched off from the large ‘Guhayna’ clan and took their name because of their newfound opportunity to herd cattle in the savan na region of the Sahara Desert. (The Arabic word for ‘cow’ is ‘baqqara.’) After staking their claim on the land, they intermarried with the Africans who originally inhabited these regions, thus giving them their dark skin.

Appearance: The women wear ‘tobes,’ (a loose-fitting cover draped about the body and over the head) on a day to day basis, but they do not veil their faces. During wedding celebrations and other festivals, the younger women dress in costumes which reveal their figures and their heads remain uncovered in order to display their ornate hairstyles and feathered headbands. They dance with the men and their movements can only be associated with those of African origin. The amount of gold worn by a man’s wife during these festivals and the number of cattle within his herd are the determining factors of his prestige within the community. The men wear pristinely white ‘jallaybiyas’ (a dress-like cotton robe which reaches mid-calf) and pants underneath. The turbans for their heads are worn thicker in the villages than in the cities for better protection against the Sahara sun.

Religion: Although their practices most closely resemble that of the Sunni sect of Islam, most of the villagers would be more accurately classified as having ‘folk’ Islamic faith. Many tribes of the Baggara believe heavily in the ‘evil eye’ and wish to protect their cattle from jealous onlookers, even within their own villages. The presence of witch doctors is the second piece of evidence which ties the beliefs of the Baggara to that of ‘folk’ Islam. Children who are ill will often have either a bracelet or necklace tied to a small leather pouch which contains Quranic verses. This is a classic example of how Islam has been combined with the African traditional religions. The Baggara pray toward Mecca five times a day and the children who attend school learn both reading and writing from the Quran.

Lifestyle: The Baggara tribes live in tents made from sticks, grass, and mats roped together. During the time of travel, the tent materials serve a double purpose. The bark and grass are used for padding for a more comfortable journey and to protect the cattle from back sores. The ropes are used for attaching the loads to the animals and to the carts, and the mats are used for both resting during the day and to place over the ‘pitched’ tents during the night. The migration period is usually completed in one month’s time, dependent upon the tribe, its location, and the average rainfall in the area. If the intention of a family group is to settle for a time longer than six weeks, they will begin constructing the more permanent tents which are made from similar materials, but are more sturdy.

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