| Total population |
|---|
| 100,000 |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Eritrea mostly concentrated in the city of Keren |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
The Bilen, Blin or Bilin are an ethnic group of south-central Eritrea, in and around the city of Keren, and south toward Asmara, the nation's capital.
The Bilen first entered Eritrea from Ethiopia during the sixteenth century.[1] Primarily agriculturalists, they number about 96,000 and represent around 2.1% of Eritrea's population.[2] About seventy percent of their population are Christian, primarily Catholic, while the other twenty percent are 20th century converts to Islam.
Blin is also the name of their language, an Agaw language. Sixty percent of the Christians have some understanding of Tigrinya. Seventy percent of the Muslims also use Tigre. Among the youth, Arabic is also spoken. Some also use Nara or Kunama.[3]
Notes
- ^ Niaz Murtaza, The Pillage of Sustainablility in Eritrea, 1600s-1990s: Rural Communities and the Creeping Shadows of Hegemony, (Greenwood Publishing Group: 1998), p.45
- ^ U.S. Department of State - Background Note: Eritrea
- ^ Ethnologue - Bilen
 |
This Eritrea-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This article about an ethnic group in Africa is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
