Manasir (tribe)

The Manasir (Arabic: المناصير, romanized: al-Manāṣīr, singular Mansuri) is a tribe of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), long closely associated with Abu Dhabi's ruling Bani Yas.

Nomadic, warlike and fiercely independent, the Manasir roamed between Buraimi and Qatar, the Persian Gulf coast to Liwa and also settled in the Northern emirates. They subsisted through date farming, pearling and moving goods with their camel trains, as well as camel breeding.

Independent Bedouin

One of the most important tribes in the emirate of Abu Dhabi (together with the Bani Yas, with whom they cooperated and coexisted closely), the tribe was traditionally predominant in the desert areas between Buraimi and Qatar and the Persian Gulf coast to Liwa, but Manasir families had settled Abu Dhabi, Buraimi, Al Khan and Jumeirah by the turn of the 20th century. Apart from the settled population in the towns, the Manasir were entirely nomadic Bedouin, while the tribe they shared this region with, the Bani Yas, was largely settled. There were also a number of nomadic Marar families in the Liwa region.

Manasir houses in the Liwa Crescent were mostly seasonal areesh, or palm frond constructions, maintained as dwellings during the summer date season.

Some 1,400 Manasir roamed this tribal area or dar at the turn of the century, but surveys in the 1950s point to a total population of some 4,000: 2,800 of these lived in the emirate of Abu Dhabi while the balance lived both settled and nomadic lives in the other Trucial States.

The Manasir were fiercely independent and, unlike their settled counterparts the Bani Yas, did not necessarily consider themselves dependents of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi. They did co-operate closely with the Bani Yas, however, and of 42 settlements in the Liwa area, Manasir were found in 36.