Empire · 2500 BCE – 350 CE · Northern Africa

Kingdom of Kush

Also known as Kerma, Kush, Meroe

Nubia, the land along the Nile south of Egypt, was home to Africa's earliest kingdom outside Egypt. The Kerma culture built a powerful state from about 2500 BCE, which Egypt's New Kingdom conquered around 1500 BCE.

As Egyptian control waned, a new Kushite kingdom arose at Napata, and in the 8th century BCE its kings Piye and Shabaka conquered Egypt, ruling it as the 25th Dynasty until the Assyrians drove them out around 664 BCE. The capital later moved south to Meroë, a centre of iron-smelting and trade in gold, ivory and ebony between Africa and the Mediterranean. Kushite rulers, including powerful queens called kandakes, built more pyramids than Egypt. Meroë declined in the 4th century CE and seems to have already collapsed when Aksum's armies raided the region around 350.

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Years

2500 BCE – 350 CE

Capital

Kerma; later Napata, then Meroë

Greatest extent

700 BCE, about 500,000 km²

Region

Northern Africa

25th Dynasty, ruling all of Egypt as well as Nubia; c. 0.5M km² c. 715 BCE (Taagepera 1978)