This photo shows the scene at a Dubai Bedouin camp where a belly dancer is performing. The Bedouin are a desert-dwelling nomadic Arab ethnic group, now mostly settled after the surge of petrodollars in the Middle East. They are found in the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara to the Arabian Desert. Also some non-Arab groups such as the Beja of the African coast of the Red Sea are sometimes known as Bedouin. After the 1950's large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started ending nomadic life because of government policies, oil production in many countries including the Persian Gulf and improved standards of living made them become settled citizens of various nations rather than stateless nomadic herders. There a number of Bedouin tribes, but the total population is difficult to determine as many Bedouin have ceased to lead nomadic and joined the general population.
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