According to Ottoman historiography, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Ottoman state adopted the European civilizing mission and discourse towards the nomadic tribal population in the empire. This phenomenon was usually referred to as ‘borrowed colonialism’. However, recently, new studies began to challenge that view, arguing that officials used civilizing discourse to justify their failures in dealing with the nomads, or that they used derogatory references strategically towards specific ends. Interestingly, studies from both groups use the establishment of the town and sub-district of Beersheba in southern Palestine to support their views. Based on Ottoman sources, the main argument of this article is that the fact that the Bedouins were perceived by the state as ‘ignorant’ and ‘wild’ caused its officials to demonstrate leniency and bestow special treatment upon them in order to integrate them in the Ottoman state and administration.

根据奥斯曼帝国的历史记录，在19世纪末和20世纪初，奥斯曼帝国对帝国的游牧部落人口采用了欧洲文明使命和话语权。这种现象通常被称为“借来的殖民主义”。但是，最近，新的研究开始挑战这一观点，认为官员们使用文明的话语来证明他们在与游牧民族打交道时的失败，或者他们在战略上出于特定目的使用了贬义词。有趣的是，这两个团体的研究都使用在巴勒斯坦南部贝尔谢巴镇和街道的建立来支持他们的观点。根据奥斯曼帝国的资料，