Nubia: Political History

780 BCE - 350 CE - Kingdom of Kush (All Facts)

• When Egypt was weak, it asserted its independence

• When Egypt was strong, it accepted its dependency

• However, throughout the centuries, it was never effectively colonized by Egypt

  • Never lost its sense of national and cultural identity in that time

• Its rulers, upon conquering Egypt, tried to be more Egyptian than the Egyptians themselves

• Its capital, at Napata, took on all the pretensions of Egyptian fashions

• It fell to the Kingdom of Axum (Ethiopia)

Piankhy / Piye (All Facts)

• King of Kush

• Defeated the Egyptian army at the Battle of Memphis

  • Gathered an armada of small boats and assaulted Memphis from the Nile River

• Became Pharaoh

Kashta (All Facts)

• King of Kush

• Brother of Piankhy / Piye

• Re-asserted Kushite independence from Egypt

• Expanded Kush, having occupied Thebes and Upper Egypt

Natasen (All Facts)

• Last Kushite King to be buried at Napata

Aspelta (All Facts)

• King of Kush

• Moved the capital from Napata to Meroe around 591 BC in response to an invasion by Psamtek II and the Egyptians, after they had sacked Napata

  • From his rule onwards, kings were buried at Meroe instead of Napata

Arkamani / Ergamenes (All Facts)

• King of Kush at Meroe

• Fostered friendly relations with the Ptolemaic pharaohs at Alexandria down the Nile River

0s CE - Natakamani of Meroe (All Facts)

• King of Kush

• Rebuilt his country and re-established its economic prosperity in the wake of its destruction by Rome

  • He restored Kush after the Roman invasion of Napata in 23 BCE

• Adopted the technology of the Romans and began a program of reconstruction that made Kush stronger and wealthier than when Rome had invaded it 

• Used the revenues of his country’s gold and iron mines to 

  • Renovate Kush’s cities

  • Secure trade routes

  • Reestablish law and order

• Built more than any other Kushite ruler, including having built Temples and Palaces at

  • Amara

  • Meroe

  • Naqa

• Built the shrine of Jebel Barkal near Napata

• He traded as far east as India, via the kingdom of Axum

• He shared power with (Queen Mother) Candace Amanitere

540 - 700s - Kingdom of Nobatia (All Facts)

• Successor State of the Kingdom of Kush that splintered off in 540 CE

• Nubian Kingdom which was converted to Christianity by Coptic missionaries from Egypt in 543

• Nubian Kingdom which was eventually conquered and incorporated into the Kingdom of Makuria

540 / 550 - 1500 - Kingdom of Alodia / Alwa (All Facts)

• Successor Kingdom of Nubia that splintered off in 540 CE

• Nubian Kingdom which was converted to Christianity by Coptic missionaries from Egypt in 550

• Medieval Christian Nubian Kingdom

  • located on the upper Nile River

  • whose state religion was Christianity but which never took root amongst the masses

    • Church services were in Greek and thus incomprehensible to most Nubians

  • which was isolated from the rest of Christendom due to the advance of Islam

    • Unlike the other isolated Christian kingdom in the region, Ethiopia, it lacked mountains and a sense of national identity

  • which was eventually overran by Muslim traders, armies, and tribes contemporary to the Mameluke Dynasty

• Kingdom whose northern frontiers fell to the Muslims

• Kingdom whose southern frontiers fell to the Funj Sultanate

  • They were initially allies with one another the Mameluke Dynasty in a seven-year war

  • However, the Funj betrayed the namesake, landing the final blow and crushing the state

540 / 569 - 1323 - Kingdom of Makuria / Maqurra (All Facts)

• Successor Kingdom of Nubia that splintered off in 540 CE

• Nubian Kingdom which was converted to Christianity by Coptic missionaries from Egypt in 569

• Medieval Christian Nubian Kingdom

  • located on the middle Nile River

  • led by

    • Kyriakos

  • whose state religion was Christianity but which never took root amongst the masses

    • Church services were in Greek and thus incomprehensible to most Nubians

  • which was isolated from the rest of Christendom due to the advance of Islam

    • Unlike the other isolated Christian kingdom in the region, Ethiopia, it lacked mountains and a sense of national identity

  • which fell to the Mameluke Dynasty

Kyriakos (All Facts)

• King of Makuria

• He sent an army of Nubians from Makuria to Egypt, which picked up Christian Axumite (Ethiopian) recruits on their way there, invaded Egypt and occupied Cairo, and released Michael, the Patriarch of Alexandria, from captivity, after he had been imprisoned by Caliph Marwan II of the Umayyad Caliphate for revolting against him

1504 - 1821 - Funj Sultanate (All Facts)

• Sultans of Nigerian (Bornu) origin

• They defeated and replaced the Christian kings of Sennar between the Blue and White Nile Rivers

  • They conquered the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Alodia / Alwa

  • They initially allied with them against the Mameluke Dynasty but eventually betrayed them and crushed their state

• Their foundation marked the end of Christian Nubia

  • Churches were men and women worshipped for a thousand years were empty and crumbling

  • European travelers like Reubeni and Alvarez visited Soba, the capital of the Kingdom of Alwa, and found nothing but ruins and a few huts