Caravan raids

Caravan raids are a surprise attack or incursion by a hostile force on a caravan, a group of merchants, pilgrims, or travelers journeying together.

The traditional habit of Bedouin tribes of raiding other tribes, caravans, or settlements is known in Arabic as ghazzu.

Caravan raids have been described as a characteristic risk for travelers in the 19th-century Sahara desert and Kazakh Steppe. Caravan raids were also a risk for Hajj caravans through various historical periods, from the Crusades to the Ottoman period.