Sahrawi people of western Sahara

The Sahrawi language is Hassaniya, an Arabic dialect descending from the Bani Hassan tribe. The Sahrawi people are Sunni Muslims sect.

The term of Sahrawi is most frequently used in the West as an umbrella term to refer to those individuals who belong to specific tribes which have traditionally lived and moved throughout the territory currently defined as the Western Sahara.

Literally, the term Sahrawi in Arabic means to any inhabitant of the desert (sahra’). It refers to the indigenous population, originally nomadic Berbers of the Sanhaja tribal confederation. In the 13th Century, the Yemeni tribe of Bani Hassan migrated to the region and assimilation with the indigenous Berbers.

The Sahrawi were essentially nomadic, pasturing camels, goats and sheep in the low-lying plains of Western Sahara and relying for food on livestock products as well as dates, sugar, cereals and legumes that were bartered for livestock in markets on the periphery of their nomadic areas.
Sahrawi people of western Sahara