BAKKARA, a tribe of Sudan Arabs. The young men are described as great dandies, and, though dark skinned, well formed noses seem to predominate. Their women, or at least the younger, wear the rahad (a deeply fringed belt of cut leather) or a width of cloth round the loins, but do not wear the length of cotton which envelopes the whole body, as even the women of the camel nomads do. With the possible exception of the Shaikia the Bakkara—who formed the backbone of the army of the Khalif a, himself a Ta'aishi—are the most warlike of the Sudan Arabs, and, living on the northern edge of the negro country, were inveterate slave raiders and traders until brought under control. Among their more notable tribes are, in Kordofan the Awlad Hamayd, the Habbania, the Hawazma and the Messiria, in Darfur the Rizaykat, the Ta'aisha and the Beni Helba. See ARABS (Bib liography).