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Kingdom of Kush

Type Object Region Sudan Time c. -1000–350

An indigenous African polity that rose in Nubia south of the Fourth Cataract of the Nile during the first millennium BCE, with Napata as its early ce…

Timeline

  1. c. -1000–-750Napata · NubiaAfter Egyptian New Kingdom power withdrew southward, local Nubian forces consolidated around Napata, forming the early Kushite royal structure and absorbing Egyptian religious and administrative symbols to strengthen the legitimacy of rule.
  2. c. -750–-590Middle and lower Nile · Nile ValleyKushite pharaohs such as Piye moved north to control Egypt, establishing the 25th Dynasty; later, facing Assyrian pressure and local backlash, power retreated to Nubia and the political center gradually shifted south.
  3. c. -590–350Meroë · SudanAfter the capital moved to Meroë, the kingdom developed an independent script, a pyramid-burial tradition, and a metallurgical economy, becoming a major representative of early complex states south of the Sahara.

Sources