Nubia

Nubia is a region along the <a href="/facts/Nile/vGoXVUFH">Nile</a> river encompassing the confluence of the <a href="/facts/Blue_Nile/Uem7RHBF">Blue</a> and <a href="/facts/White_Nile/c6YwlHbY">White</a> Niles (in <a href="/facts/Khartoum/qLorvydI">Khartoum</a> in central <a href="/facts/Sudan/yGeaNdvS">Sudan</a>), and the area between the <a href="/facts/Cataracts_of_the_Nile/cedENCx8">first cataract of the Nile</a> (south of <a href="/facts/Aswan/gI6G1Ho5">Aswan</a> in southern <a href="/facts/Egypt/8Ttg0JwB">Egypt</a>) or more strictly, <a href="/facts/Al_Dabbah,_Sudan/Voe5MloY">Al Dabbah</a>. It was the seat of one of the earliest <a href="/facts/Civilizations/xvGpjDPj">civilizations</a> of <a href="/facts/Ancient/P0fFQ8z5">ancient</a> <a href="/facts/Africa/XkqQUP9s">Africa</a>, the <a href="/facts/Kerma_culture/Uvf49v2B">Kerma culture</a>, which lasted from around 2500 BC until its conquest by the <a href="/facts/New_Kingdom_of_Egypt/8cpKbCI0">New Kingdom of Egypt</a> under <a href="/facts/Pharaoh/y0WMWYHK">Pharaoh</a> <a href="/facts/Thutmose_I/uSBFpwKA">Thutmose I</a> around 1500 BC, whose heirs ruled most of Nubia for the next 400 years. Nubia was home to several <a href="/facts/African_empires/pDmIo8v7">empires</a>, most prominently the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Kush/8BorCh8R">Kingdom of Kush</a>, which conquered Egypt in the eighth century BC during the reign of <a href="/facts/Piye/4G4x3qW8">Piye</a> and ruled the country as its <a href="/facts/Twenty-fifth_Dynasty_of_Egypt/53Y1YQfB">25th Dynasty</a>.
From the 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, northern Nubia was invaded and annexed to Egypt, ruled by the <a href="/facts/Ptolemaic_Kingdom/sAg88Lvs">Greeks</a> and <a href="/facts/Roman_Empire/l4E1aUuV">Romans</a>. This territory was known in the Greco-Roman world as <a href="/facts/Dodekaschoinos/3vpSwesu">Dodekaschoinos</a>.
Kush's collapse in the fourth century AD was preceded by an invasion from the Ethiopian <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Aksum/oUqHznzK">Kingdom of Aksum</a> and the rise of three Christian kingdoms: <a href="/facts/Nobatia/AEk9Tdyq">Nobatia</a>, <a href="/facts/Makuria/dE9Uq180">Makuria</a> and <a href="/facts/Alodia/0Hj6KbaD">Alodia</a>. Makuria and Alodia lasted for roughly a millennium. Their eventual decline started not only the partition of Nubia, which was split into the northern half conquered by the <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Empire/6QvfTRsg">Ottomans</a> and the southern half by the <a href="/facts/Sennar_(sultanate)/csNyk5jJ">Sennar sultanate</a>, in the sixteenth century, but also a rapid <a href="/facts/Islamization/0YA0kCSG">Islamization</a> and partial <a href="/facts/Arabization/buoJF4m2">Arabization</a> of the <a href="/facts/Nubian_people/0aLIBCzj">Nubian people</a>. Nubia was reunited with the <a href="/facts/Khedivate_of_Egypt/nrRH0px9">Khedivate of Egypt</a> in the nineteenth century. Today, the region of Nubia is split between Egypt and Sudan.
The primarily <a href="/facts/Archaeology/K3Q5P38R">archaeological</a> science dealing with ancient Nubia is called <a href="/facts/Nubiology/9FCu0tmc">Nubiology</a>.

Nubia open-in-new

Nubia