Bedouin Beginnings

Bedouins are animal herders who travel the desert during the wetter winter months and move toward cultivated land in summer. Bedouin society is characterized by tribal, patriarchal order. Among the Arab-speaking tribes such as those that roamed the deserts of the present-day UAE, the head of the tribal structure was called the sheikh. Today, the rulers of each of the emirates are also called sheikhs.