Banu Hilal

The Banu Hilal () was a group of Nomadic Arabs. In the 11th century they migrated from Upper Egypt into what is now Tunisia and eastern Algeria.Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, eds. Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Second Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 360 They defeated the Berbers.Allen James Fromherz, Ibn Khaldun: Life and Times (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ©2010), p. 142  

 History 
Oral tradition says that the tribe would have left Arabia to go to Egypt.Medieval Islamic Civilization; an Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, eds. Josef W. Meri; Jere L. Bacharach (New York; Oxford: Routledge, 2006), p. 231 According to their legend they rebelled against the Caliph of Baghdad in the second half of the 10th century.Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 1, eds. Julie Scott Meisami; Paul Starkey (London; New York: Routledge, 2003), p. 133 In 1049, when the Zirid ruler of Tunisia rebelled against Egypt, nomads were sent to punish them. Ibn Khaldun, an early Tunisian historian, said they were like "a cloud of locusts" when they invaded Tunisia. The Arab poets told of their many conquests as they moved west. They were defeated in a series of battles during the 12th century by the Moroccan dynasty.Epic Traditions in the Contemporary World, The Poetics of Community, eds. Margaret Beissinger; Jane Tylus; Susanne Wofford (Berkeley; Los Angeles; Oxford: The University of California Press, 1999), p. 156 Even though it was an oral history, the Banu Hilal were a real tribe. They did come from the Arabian Peninsula. And the Banu Hilal did control much of North Africa for over a century.

 Further reading 
 Almsaodi, Abdulaziz. Modern history of Yemen

 References 

Other websites
 Power and Interest News Report 

Category:History of Africa