Ancient Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush

Ancient Nubia developed along the Nile south of Egypt, where the kingdoms of Kerma, Napata and Meroë controlled agricultural land, mineral resources and trade routes linking central Africa with the Mediterranean world. These states maintained their own languages, religious practices and royal traditions while interacting continuously with Egypt.

Kushite rulers at times resisted Egyptian expansion and at other times adopted and reshaped Egyptian institutions. During the eighth and seventh centuries BCE the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty ruled Egypt, while the later Meroitic kingdom remained a major regional power until the fourth century CE.

Books on Nubia, Kush, Kerma, Napata and Meroë belong to this distinct African history. It avoids treating the region merely as an extension of Egyptian history and places its political and cultural achievements within African history.