The Beni-Amer, also known as Beni-Amir (Tigrinya: በን ዓምር, Arabic: بني عامر) (sometimes simply as Amer or Nabtab), are a population inhabiting northeast Africa.

[citation needed] The Beni-Amer people became politically significant in the 16th-century when their founder Amer Kunu – the son of a Muslim holy man named Ali Nabit[6] – joined forces with the Funj and the Ja'alin to defeat the Belew rulers of Eritrea and the surrounding region.

Amer's descendants, or Beni-Amer in Arabic, became the new ruling class called Nabtabs who allied themselves with Diglal as the paramount chief ruler.

[4] During the British occupation, author James C. Olson claimed the other descendants of the Nabtab line played a subservient role to the Beni Amir and were relegated to a serf caste.

[4][5] Major subdivisions of Tigre, which at 35%, are the second largest group in Eritrea were occupationally isolated, such as the Almada and Asfada could produce and supply milk, but Hamasein, Abhasheila and Wilinnoho were not allowed to.