DiscoverScroll article

The Negev ( NEG-ev; Hebrew: הַנֶּגֶב, romanized: haNégev) or Naqab (Arabic: النقب, romanized: an-Naqab) is the name for a desert and semidesert area in southern Israel.

Today, it forms the bulk of the Southern District of Israel, whose largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. At its southern end lie the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort city and port of Eilat. It contains several development towns, including Dimona, Arad, and Mitzpe Ramon, as well as a number of small Bedouin towns, including Rahat, Tel Sheva, and Lakiya. There are also several kibbutzim, including Revivim and Sde Boker; the latter became the home of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, after his retirement from politics. The desert is home to the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, whose faculties include the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research and the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, both located on the Midreshet Ben-Gurion campus adjacent to Sde Boker. In October 2012, global travel guide publisher Lonely Planet rated the Negev second on a list of the world's top ten regional travel destinations for 2013, noting its current transformation through development; the area has seen the construction of spa resorts, wineries, and a new international airport. Notable sites include natural and cultural attractions such as the canyon and pools of Ein Avdat, Makhtesh Ramon, the Timna Park, the desert cities of the Incense Road, and the eco-village of Neot Smadar.

The Hebrew meaning of Negev denoting "arid land" appears to have been borrowed from Aramaic, and originate in a word from the Akkadian language, nagbu. Akkadian nagbu means "groundwater", generally found in semi-arid regions through the digging of wells, and cisterns - a practice for which the Nabataeans and others who called the Negev home in ancient times were renown. The Negev mentioned in the Bible (see below) consisted only of the northernmost part of the modern Israeli Negev, with the semiarid Beersheba-Arad Valley defined as "the eastern (biblical) Negev".

During the Pleistocene, the Negev fluctuated between intervals of relative humidity and intervals of aridity similar to or even more severe than the present day; from around 80,000 to 13,000 years BP, during a time interval roughly corresponding to the Last Glacial Period, the Negev was significantly more humid than today. The high plateau area of Negev Mountains/Ramat HaNegev (Hebrew: רמת הנגב, The Negev Heights) stands between 370 metres (1,210 ft) and 520 metres (1,710 ft) above sea level with extreme temperatures in summer and winter.

A population of the critically endangered Kleinmann's tortoise (also known as the Negev tortoise) survives in the sands of the western and central Negev Desert.

Snow and frost are rare in the northern Negev, and snow and frost are unknown in the vicinity of Eilat in the southernmost Negev.

According to Israeli archaeologists, in the Hebrew Bible, the term Negev only relates to the northern, semi-arid part of what we call Negev today; of this, the Arad-Beersheba Valley, which receives enough rain to permit agriculture and therefore sedentary occupation (the "desert fringe"), is accordingly defined as "the eastern (biblical) Negev".

Later the northern part of biblical Negev was inhabited by the Tribe of Judah and the southern part of biblical Negev by the Tribe of Simeon.

Along with Avdat (Oboda), Mamshit (Mampsis), Shivta (Sobata), Haluza (Elusa), and Nitzana (Nessana), the settlements at Rehovot-in-the-Negev/Ruheibeh (the second largest by population of the Byzantine-era "Negev towns") and Saadon are also significant for this period.

470,000 Negev residents (75% of the population) are Jews, while 160,000 or 25% are Bedouin.

The Negev Desert and the surrounding area, including the Arava Valley, are the sunniest parts of Israel and little of this land is arable, which is why it has become the centre of the Israeli solar industry.

Quick Facts

• The Negev mentioned in the Bible (see below) consisted only of the northernmost part of the modern Israeli Negev, with the semiarid Beersheba-Arad Valley defined as "the eastern (biblical) Negev".
• The desert is home to the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, whose faculties include the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research and the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, both located on the Midreshet Ben-Gurion campus adjacent to Sde Boker.
• It contains several development towns, including Dimona, Arad, and Mitzpe Ramon, as well as a number of small Bedouin towns, including Rahat, Tel Sheva, and Lakiya.
• Later the northern part of biblical Negev was inhabited by the Tribe of Judah and the southern part of biblical Negev by the Tribe of Simeon.
• There are also several kibbutzim, including Revivim and Sde Boker; the latter became the home of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, after his retirement from politics.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Negev". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.