Kush: Encyclopedia II - Kush - Origins

Kush - Origins

The first developed societies appeared in Nubia around the time of the First Dynasty of Egypt. The first known Kushite state was the Kingdom of Kerma, which appeared around 2600 BC and at times ruled all of Nubia and parts of Egypt. Little is known about these peoples, because no writings have been found from them, and Egyptian accounts rarely mention them.

Around 2500 BC, Egyptians began moving south, and it is through them that most of our knowledge of Kush comes. But this expansion was halted by the fall of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. About 1500 BC Egyptian expansion resumed, but this time encountered organized resistance. (Historians are not sure whether this resistance came from multiple city states or a single unified empire. There is also debate over whether the notion of statehood was indigenous or borrowed from the Egyptians.) The Egyptians prevailed, and the region became a colony of Egypt under the control of Thutmose I, whose army ruled from a number of sturdy fortresses. The region supplied Egypt with resources.

In the eleventh century BC internal disputes in Egypt caused colonial rule to collapse and an independent kingdom arose based at Napatain Nubia. This kingdom was ruled by locals who overthrew the colonial regime. Egyptian cultural and technological influence were clearly apparent, for instance in the building of pyramids and the worship of Egyptian as well as indigenous gods.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Origins", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki