The Three Niles And Cataract Settlements Of Ancient Sudan
On January 1, 1956, after centuries of foreign rule, Sudan finally gained its independence from Great Britain, three years after independence was granted to Egypt on June 18, 1953, and today the borders between the two countries are clearly demarcated on modern maps. However, lines on paper and fenced borders patrolled by armies, do not always divide the people. People naturally converge at water – a source of life – and the Nile Valley holds one of the oldest civilizations on earth, populated by the Nubian people, an ethnic group indigenous to the region, which is now split between northern Sudan and southern Egypt.
A map of Sudan (Muhammad Daffa Rambe / CC BY-SA 3.0)
The Nubians differ from the Egyptians, but their histories overlap. Robert Bianchi in his 2004-book Daily Life Of The Nubians categorized ancient history in Nubia according to the following periods: A-Group culture (3700–2800 BC) which maintained trade with the Ancient Egyptians in commodities like incense, ebony and ivory. The C-Group culture (2300–1600 BC) arose when Egypt’s Old Kingdom – the Age of the Pyramids – was coming to an end. Speculation exists that the C-group were migrants from the drying Sahara. During Egypt’s Middle Kingdom much of the C-Group lands in Lower Nubia were conquered by Egypt, but regained by the Kerma culture.
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