The Kingdom of Kush
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“There were empires of Africa called Kush and Tim buc Tu where every race came to get books and learn from black teaches who taught Greeks and Roams ” – Nas
I. Introduction
This is a Quote from the song “I Can” by Nas. For the first time a lot of people including myself herd of the Kush civilization and its accomplishments. This was the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the rich powerful history of the civilization of Kush and the Kushite people. It is hard to believe how this once great people were considering that they once held control of one of the most recognizable empires in history, Egypt. One reason that the people of Kush could not get recognition may have been because they were comprised of people from Africa, also known as, black people. There is no reason that the Empire of Kush should not be validated as one of the great empires in the history of the world. Kush had innovations in the area of government and other fields that even Egypt lacked in. Kush stretched from parts of Ethiopia and the Mediterranean to Egypt and the upper parts of Africa. A lot of the advancements in Egypt and the interaction with the outside world around the Mediterranean with the Greeks and Romans philosophers and teachers were done in the era that the Kushites controlled Egypt. Kush has been one of the most over looked and under respected Kingdoms in ancient times. Uncovering Kush and its empire is the job taken on by this essay. In this paper the topics of the history of Kush, how their geography and cities were set up, the culture and religion in Kush, and the contributions/ interactions the Kush Empire had with the outside world. We only have to ask ourselves why have most people not herd of this empire that was integral in parts and formation of Egypt and other parts of Africa. As we look at the history one can only think that this helps to answer partially the question that has plagued so many African American youth. What was going on in the rest of Africa in history?
II. The History of Kush
The history of Kush is vast and long standing. The Story of Kush begins in the eighth century B.C. Kush was the first civilization founded after Egypt1. This new society was created by Egyptian influenced people. These people, like the people in Egypt, were dark Skinned African natives2. The influence in the beginning was purely Egyptian in every way from gods and deities, to customs and dress. The size and strength of Kush grew to the point where they even took over Egypt around fourth century B.C. Their capital city was continuing through the first century C.E4. Kush rose as a major power by conquering all of Nubia. At this time
Kerma3. At the same time they possessed Egypt they also stretched out to as far as Ethiopia and much of the Sudan. The Kush Empire was at its peak beginning in 17 to 1500 century B.C. and TД¶rД¶k, LДЎszlДÑ-, The kingdom of Kush: handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic civilization, New York: Brill, c1997.pg# 51
ibid. pg# 53
ibid. pg# 60
Egypt would find them under the rule of several completely black Pharos; though some would argue that all of the pharos were
Black. Nubians had been in the hands of the Egyptians since the fourth millennium, now gave Kush wealthy gold mines. Kush now moved their capital city farther up the Nile to Napata. The Kushites now considered themselves to be Egyptians and the proper airs of the pharos titles and customs. They took on the ides and even the architecture of the Egyptians. They built pyramids that were smaller and steeper and they made new innovations as well5. The Assyrians, and later the Persians, forced the Kushites out of Egypt and farther south. This retreat south eventually cut off much of the contact that Kush had with the Middle East, and Europe. When Napata was conquered, the Kushites moved their capital to MeroД« right in the heart of the Kushite kingdom. Because of their relative isolation from the Egyptian and North African world, the now declining empire turned its attention to the sub-Saharan world6. The Empire thrived throughout the last half of the first century B.C. After three centuries of decline, it was finally overtaken by the Nuba people7. Its importance to the rest of the Mediterranean and sub Ð- Saharan Africa was replaced by Aksum to the east. Even when the people of Kush had been driven out of Egypt they took a lot of
4. Burstein Stanley, ed. Ancient African civilizations: Kush and Axum, Princeton: M. Wiener Publishers, c1998.pg #61
5. TĶrĶk, The kingdom of Kush: handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic civilization pg.#695. Hintze, Frits, Civilizations of the old Sudan. Kerma, Kush, Christian Nubia, Amsterdam, B. R. Grļner, c1968. pg # 36
6. ibid pg#40
7. Davidson, The Lost Cities of Africa, Princeton, NJ: Atlantica, 1959. pg# 26
traditions with them. Still the people of the Kush Empire had to make their own way of life and other ideals.
III. Geography and The average City
The geography of the area determined the style of the cities of Kush. First the geography of the area of land that Kush was settled in was a virtual rock valley. Although as you got closer to the Nile it was easier to find more fertile places, thus the reason behind the people of Kush having good agriculture8. There is a stretch of the Nile known as the Dongola reach, the river flows through a single sandstone channel9. At Karmah there is a large basin which holds enough water during the wet season to allow crops to grow. The Nile flows through a narrow bed between tough igneous and metamorphic rocks10.
In these places there is very little livable land. Outside of the Nile valley, the deserts of Nubia are mostly empty of plants, animals, and humans. All these factors came to shape the city that would eventually become the capital MeroД«. Most of the structures were built by sun dried mud brick, but some were made from burnt brick11. The main part of the city was surrounded by walls. Contained within these walls housed the royal parts of the city including a bath house that was similar to the bath houses
found in Rome. Something that is common to all of the buildings inside the city was the presences of the pictorials of Egyptian
gods and other things that were characteristically Egyptian.
8. ibid pg#42
9. ibid pg# 102