Encyclopedia
Today
Nubia is the region in the south of
Egypt, along the
Nile and in northern
Sudan, but in ancient times it was an independent kingdom. Most of
Nubia is situated in
Sudan with about a quarter of its territory in
Egypt.
Its people spoke at least two varieties of the Nubian language group, a
Nilo-Saharan subfamily which includes
Nobiin, Kenuzi-Dongola, Midob and several related varieties in the northern part of the
Nuba Mountains in South
Kordofan. A variety was spoken north of
Nyala in
Darfur but is now extinct.
Old Nubian was used in mostly religious texts dating from the 8th and 9th centuries AD and is considered ancestral to modern day Nobiin.
History
Pre-history
The earliest cultures of Nubia left no writings and are unreported in the annals of other nations. The first noticeable cultures in Nubia include first the Badarian culture, then the Amratian and finally the Gerzean. From the Gerzean the first native culture developed known as the A-Group, which began roughly at the same time as the First dynasty of Egypt around 3100 BC. It consisted of semi-nomadic groups who subsisted by herding
sheep,
goats, and some
cattle. It is known from its distinctive burial rituals and pottery.
Prehistoric tools discovered in Nubia date to circa 65,000 BC, found along the
Nile Valley .
This culture began to decline in the early-28th century BC. The succeeding culture is known as B-Group. Previously, the B-Group people were thought to have invaded from elsewhere. Today most historians believe that B-Group was merely A-Group but far poorer. The causes of this are uncertain, but it was perhaps caused by Egyptian invasions and pillaging that began at this time.
Nubia is believed to have served as a trade corridor between Egypt and tropical Africa long before 3100 BC. Egyptian craftsmen of the period used ivory and ebony wood from tropical Africa which came through Nubia.
Early History
In 2300 BC, Nubia was first mentioned in Old Kingdom Egyptian accounts of trade missions. From
Aswan, right above the First Cataract, southern limit of Egyptian control at the time, Egyptians imported gold, incense, ebony, ivory, slaves, and exotic animals from tropical Africa through Nubia. As trade between Egypt and Nubia increased so did wealth and stability. By the Egyptian 6th dynasty, Nubia was divided into a series of small kingdoms. There is debate over whether these C-Group peoples, who flourished from c. 2240 BC to c. 2150 BC, were another internal evolution or invaders. There are definite similarities between the pottery of A-Group and C-Group, so it may be a return of the ousted Group-As, or an internal revival of lost arts. At this time, the
Sahara Desert was becoming too arid to support human beings, and it is possible that there was a sudden influx of Saharan nomads. C-Group pottery is characterized by all-over incised geometric lines with white infill and impressed imitations of basketry.
During the Egyptian Middle Kingdom , Egypt began expanding into Nubia to gain more control over the trade routes in Northern Nubia and to gain direct access to trade with Southern Nubia. They erected a chain of forts down the Nile below the Second Cataract. These garrisons seemed to have peaceful relations with the local Nubian people but little interaction during the period.
A contemporaneous but distinct culture from the C-Group was the Pan Grave culture, so called because of their shallow graves. The Pan Graves are associated with the East bank of the Nile, but the Pan Graves and C-Group definitely interacted. Their pottery is characterized by incised lines of a more limited character than those of the C-Group, generally having interspersed undecorated spaces within the geometric scheme.
From the C-Group culture, the first kingdom to unify much of the region arose, the Kingdom of Kerma, named for its presumed capital at Kerma, one of the earliest urban centers in tropical Africa. By 1750 BC, the kings of Kerma were powerful enough to organize the labor for monumental walls and structures of mud brick, and had rich tombs with possessions for the afterlife and large human sacrifices. The craftsmen were skilled in metalworking and their pottery surpassed in skill that of Egypt. When Egyptian power revived under the New Kingdom they began to expand further southwards. Destroying the kingdom and capital of Kerma they expanded to the Forth Cataract. By the end of the reign of
Thutmose I in 1520 BC, all of northern Nubia had been annexed. They built a new administrative center at
Napata, and used the area to produce gold which made Egypt the prime source of gold in the Middle East.
Kush
When the Egyptians pulled out, they left a lasting legacy that was merged with indigenous customs forming the kingdom of
Kush. Kush adopted many Egyptian practices such as their religion and the practice of building
pyramids. The kingdom of Kush survived longer than that of Egypt, even invading and controlling Egypt itself for a period in the 8th century BC. Kush was never annexed by the
Romans. The Kushites did trade with the Romans, and were also a source of mercenaries.
During this time, the different parts of the region divided into smaller groups with individual leaders, or generals, each commanding small armies of mercenaries. They fought for control of what is now Nubia and its surrounding territories, leaving the entire region weak and vulnerable to attack.
At some point, Kush was conquered by the Noba people, from which the name
Nubia may derive . From then on, the Romans referred to the area as the Nobatae. Indeed, recent studies in population genetics suggest that there was a south-north gene flow through the Nile Valley. Similarly, linguistic evidence suggests that the Nubians from the Nile Valley originally came from the south or southwest. Historical comparative research into the Nubian language group has indicated that the Nile-Nubian languages must have split off from the Nubian languages still spoken in the
Nuba Mountains in Kordofan, Sudan, at least 2500 years ago.
Christian Nubia
Around AD 350 the area was invaded by the
Ethiopian kingdom of
Aksum and the kingdom collapsed. Eventually three smaller kingdoms replaced it: northernmost was Nobatia between the first and second cataract of the
Nile River, with its capital at Pachoras ; in the middle was
Makuria, with its capital at
Old Dongola; and southernmost was
Alodia, with its capital at Soba . King Silko of Nobatia crushed the
Blemmyes, and recorded his victory in a Greek inscription carved in the wall of the temple of Talmis around AD 500.
While bishop
Athanasius of
Alexandria consecrated one Marcus as bishop of
Philae before his death in 373, showing that
Christianity had penetrated the region by the fourth century, John of Ephesus records that a Monophysite priest named Julian converted the king and his nobles of Nobatia around 545. John of Ephesus also writes that the kingdom of Alodia was converted around 569. However, John of Bisclorum records that the kingdom of Makuria was converted to
Roman Catholicism the same year, suggesting that John of Ephesus might be mistaken. Further doubt is cast on John's testimony by an entry in the chronicle of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria Eutychius, which states that in 719 the church of Nubia transferred its allegiance from the
Greek Orthodox to the
Coptic Church.
By the
7th century Makuria expanded becoming the dominant power in the region. It was strong enough to halt the southern expansion of
Islam after the Arabs had taken Egypt. After several failed invasions the new rulers agreed to a treaty with Dogomba allowing for peaceful coexistence and trade. This treaty held for six hundred years. Over time the influx of Arab traders introduced Islam to Nubia and it gradually supplanted Christianity. While there are records of a bishop at Qasr Ibrim in 1372, his see had come to include that located at Faras. It is also clear that the "Royal" church at Dongola had been converted to a mosque around 1350.
Modern Nubia
In the
14th century the Dongolan government collapsed and the region became divided and dominated by Egypt. The next centuries would see several invasions of the region, as well as the establishment of a number of smaller kingdoms. Northern Nubia was brought under Egyptian control while the south came under the control of the
Kingdom of Sennar in the sixteenth century. The entire region would come under Egyptian control during the rule of
Mehemet Ali in the early nineteenth century, and later became a joint Anglo-Egyptian condominium.
With the end of colonialism Nubia was divided between Egypt and Sudan.
Many Egyptian Nubians were forcibly resettled to make room for Lake Nasser after the construction of the
dams at
Aswan. Nubian villages can now be found north of Aswan on the west bank of the Nile and on
Elephantine Island, and many Nubians live in large cities such as
Cairo. Egyptian Nubians tend to be far more socio-economically disadvantaged within
Egypt, as compared to Sudanese Nubians in
Sudan.
See also
Notes and references
Notes
References
- Thelwall, Robin 'Lexicostatistical relations between Nubian, Daju and Dinka', Études nubiennes: colloque de Chantilly, 2-6 juillet 1975, 265—286.
- Thelwall, Robin 'Linguistic Aspects of Greater Nubian History', in Ehret, C. & Posnansky, M. The Archeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. Berkeley/Los Angeles, 39–56.
- Bulliet et al. 'Nubia,' The Earth and Its Peoples, pg. 70-71, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
External links
hi
