Bilen people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bilen
Total population

100,000

Regions with significant populations
Eritrea mostly concentrated in the city of Keren
Languages
Bilen
Religions
Sunni Islam, Catholic Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Afar, Tigrinya, Tigre, Somalis, Oromo,Kunama, Kunama and Beja

The Bilen, Blin or Bilin are an African ethnic group of south-central Eritrea, in and around the city of Keren, and south toward Asmara, the capital city. The Bilen are agriculturalists. Their population is about 96,000. 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. Other spoken languages include Arabic (among the youth), Nara, and Kunama.

Languages