Pages 310-314

The Big Idea: The kingdom of
Kush, in the region of Nubia, was first conquered by Egypt but later conquered and ruled
Egypt.

Main Idea 1: Geography helped early Kush civilization develop in Nubia.

• South of Egypt along the Nile,
Africans established Kush, the first large kingdom in northeast Africa, in the region we now call Nubia.
• Today, desert covers much of Nubia
– located in the present-day country of Sudan.

• In ancient times Nubia was very fertile due to the heavy rainfall that flooded the Nile every year.
• Ancient Nubia was rich in valuable minerals such as gold, copper, and stone.

Early Civilization in Nubia
• Thanks to the Nile’s floods, farming villages thrived all along the Nile by about 3500 BC.
• Over time some farmers became leaders of their villages.
• Sometime around 2000 BC one of these leaders took control of other villages and made himself king of
Kush.

Early Civilization in Nubia
• Early kings ruled from their capital at
Kerma, on the Nile just south of a cataract, or stretch of rapids.
• The cataracts were natural barriers against invaders.
• As time passed Kushite society became more complex, with farmers, herders, priests, and artisans.

Main Idea 2: Egypt controlled Kush for about
450 years.

• Kushites traded many products to
Egypt, including slaves, gold, copper, stone, ebony (a type of dark, heavy wood) and ivory (a white material taken from elephant tusks)
• Kush grew wealthy and its army grew stronger. Egypt’s rulers were afraid that a powerful Kush might attack
Egypt.

• The pharaoh Thutmose I attacked
Kush around 1500 BC and conquered all of Nubia north of the Fifth Cataract.
He destroyed the Kushite palace.
• Kush remained an Egyptian territory for about 450 years. Egypt’s influence over Kush grew tremendously.
• When the New Kingdom in Egypt ended in the mid-1000s BC, Kush once again became independent.

Main Idea 3: After winning its independence, Kush ruled Egypt and set up a new dynasty there.

Conquest of Egypt
• By about 850 BC Kush had regained its strength.
• Kings of Kush ruled from the city of
Napata.
• In 751 BC a Kushite king named Kashta attacked and conquered Upper Egypt.
• After Kashta died, his son Piankhi ruled.
• By 716 Kush controlled all of Egypt.

Kushite Dynasty
• After the death of Piankhi his brother named Shabaka declared himself pharaoh, beginning the Kushite
Dynasty.
• Worked to restore old Egyptian cultural practices, such as pyramid-building
• Preserved old Egyptian writings
• Egyptian culture flourished.

STATUE OF
SHABAKA

End of Kushite Rule in Egypt
• Kushites remained strong in Egypt for about 40 years.
• In the 670s and 660s BC Assyrians from Mesopotamia invaded and pushed the Kushites from Egypt.
• The Assyrians iron weapons gave them a military advantage over the Kushite’s weaker weapons.