Nubia , old northeast region Africa , which extends roughly from the Nil Valley out extends (near the first cataract in Upper Egypt ) east to the banks of the Red Sea , south to about Khartoum (in today's Sudan ) and west to Libyan desert . Nubia is traditionally divided into two regions. The southern part, extending north to the southern end of the second cataract of the Nile, was known as Upper Nubia; that was named Kush (Cush) among the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt and was called Ethiopia by the ancient Greeks. Lower Nubia was the northern part of the region, located between the second and first cataracts of Aswān. that was named Wawat .
Britannica Quiz Exploring Africa:Fact or Fiction? Though this continent is teeming with natural resources and diverse wildlife, how much do you really know about Africa? Sort these facts from Cairo to Khartoum in this African odyssey. The region of Lower Nubia was home to one of the earliest stages of state formation in the world:the rulers of the The culture of the A group that in the 1960s is buried in a cemetery in Qustul designated by the Oriental Institute of University of Chicago unearthed, adopted symbols of kingship similar to those of contemporary Egyptian kings of the period Naqādah II - III were similar . With the rise of the 1st Dynasty in Egypt ( approx. 2950 v. Chr. ) Were the Culture of the A group and wiped out Nubian independence. No archaeological remains of the native Lower Nubians of the next 500 years have been discovered.
Pharaoh Snefru ( approx. 2575 v. Chr. ) Lead raided Nubia and set up an Egyptian outpost in Buhen. West of the Nile, gneiss quarries were opened as mineral extraction increased. During the 6th Dynasty, Egyptian governors began from Aswān long-term trade expeditions, sometimes combined with military raids. The most famous governor among them, Harkhuf penetrated far south beyond the second cataract of the Nile into a land he called Yam, from whence he received a pygmy, which he named after Pepi II brought . Towards the end of Harkhuf's career, the Nubian chiefs banded together and threatened the Aswān expeditions. A new population (called C group of archaeologists) inhabited Wawat while one group is known in modern times as the The Karmah Culture occupied Kush. During the First Intermediate Period, many Nubians served as mercenaries in Egypt.
when Sesostris I. from the 12th dynasty fell about 1915 v. In Nubia a and called the land south of the second cataract Kush. Sesostris III. , c. 1826 v. , Attempted to occupy the island of Sai but was forced to fall back to Semna, where he built a chain of powerful fortresses. He forbade the Kushites from passing north of Semna except at Iken (Mirgissa), an important trading center at the north end of the second cataract. The Egyptians also recorded the Nile floods in the Middle Kingdom at Semna.
The Kingdom of Kush eventually broke the frontier as Egyptian control eased in the later 13th dynasty. The Cushites conquered Buhen and were 1650 v. After advanced north to Aswān. About the time As Hyksos invaded Egypt, they raided Upper Egypt and confiscated many fine monuments of the Middle Kingdom, which they took to Karmah, their capital, brought. Archaeologists found these objects during excavations of the great tumulus tombs of Cushite chiefs, buried on beds surrounded by hundreds of their sacrificed retainers. Some emigrant Egyptians served as mercenaries with the rulers of Kush, while others probably worked in the glaze industry in Karmah. Hyksos seals from the Karmah tombs indicate that the Kushite princes had contact with the Hyksos. when Kamose from the Theban 17th dynasty of Egypt attacked the Hyksos, the Hyksos ruler Apopis I wanted to ally with the Cushites. However, Kamose intercepted the messenger and foiled the scheme.
During the expulsion of the Hyksos, the Thebans also invaded Nubia and conquered under Ahmose complete the region. Amenhotep I. (1514–1493 BC Chr. ) Conquered Karmah and destroyed the kingdom of Kush. Nubia was colonized and the viceroy of Kush became its chief Egyptian imperial official. Thutmose I. extended Egyptian control to Kanisa-Kurgis, upstream from the fourth cataract of the Nile. Gold was the most important resource used by the Egyptians. Kush produced significant amounts of this precious metals . The C-group Nubians were gradually Egyptianized until their culture disappeared by the mid-18th dynasty. Ramses II. (1279–1213 v. Chr. ) Several temples were built in Nubia from the 19th Dynasty. In the 19th-20th During the 20th Dynasty, the drought caused a partial depopulation of Wawat, but in the civil wars of the late 20th Dynasty, the Viceroy of Kush played an important role. After Herihor took control of Upper Egypt, Nubia broke away from Egypt despite a long and costly Theban war.
In the region of Kush a new kingdom appeared about 800 bce. Under its ruler, Kashta, rapid Egyptianization started, and the Kushites occupied Upper Egypt. The Kushite ruler Piankhi (Piye) completed the Egyptianization and about 730 bce raided Lower Egypt. Ardent worshipers of Amon, the Kushites considered the Libyanized Lower Egyptians culturally degenerates, but they felt a strong affinity for the Thebans, who were also worshipers of Amon. The Kushite ruler Shabaka succeeded Piankhi and conquered all of Egypt about 715 bce, ending the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th dynasties. Moving his capital to Memphis, he founded Egypt's 25th dynasty, which is called Kushite in the king lists. In 701 bce Shabaka backed the Hebrew king Hezekiah's revolt against Assyria. The Assyrian king Sennacherib marched into Palestine and defeated an Egypto-Kushite unit at Eltekeh but failed to take Jerusalem, as Prince Taharqa appeared with reinforcements. Peace between Egypt and Assyria followed until the Assyrian king Esarhaddon began aggressive movements in Palestine. An attempted invasion of Egypt in 674 bce failed, but in 671 the Assyrians succeeded and expelled Taharqa from Memphis. Taharqa intermittently reoccupied Egypt, but in 663 bce the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal drove him and his successor Tanutamon out, sacking Thebes. The Assyrians appointed the Saite princes as governors of Egypt, and by 656 bce the Saite prince Psamtik I had both gained Egypt’s independence from Assyria and secured Upper Egypt against Kushite designs.
Because of continued intrigues, an Egyptian expedition sacked the capital of Kush, Napata, about 592. The Kushite capital was then transferred to Meroe, where the Kushite kingdom survived for another 900 years. The Persians are also believed to have tried to invade Nubia (522).
Cut off from Egypt, the Egyptian culture of Nubia grew increasingly Africanized until the accession in 45 bce of Queen Amanishakhete. She and her immediate successors temporarily arrested the loss of Egyptian culture, but thereafter it continued unchecked. Meanwhile, in 23 bce, a Roman army under Gaius Petronius destroyed Napata.
By the 3rd century ce the Blemmyes of the eastern, or Arabian, desert (Beja) had destroyed the Meroitic culture in Lower Nubia, and Meroe itself was destroyed between 320 and 350 by an expedition that was dispatched by Aeizanes, king of Aksum. The Meroitic culture was followed in Nubia by what may have been that of the Nobatae, who replaced the northern kingdom of Napata. In approximately 540 the Nobatae were converted to Christianity, and shortly thereafter their king Silko defeated the Blemmyes and the people of Upper Nobatae. The capital of the Nobatae appears then to have been moved to Pachoras (Faras) until they were amalgamated later in the 6th century with Maqurrah (Makurra) into the single kingdom of Dunqulah. South of Dunqulah was the kingdom of ʿAlwah, or Alodia (Aloa), which became Christian in 580. In 652 a Muslim army from Egypt captured Dunqulah and compelled the kingdom to pay tribute to Egypt; Dunqulah remained Christian until the 14th century, when it was overrun by MamlūkArmies of Egypt. Sūbah, the capital of ʿAlwah, survived into the 16th century and then made the Muslim Funj dynasty by Sennar Platz.