Chapter 4 Section 5 Ancient Egypt Lesson

South of Egypt a group of people settled in a region called Nubia. This was the first great kingdom in the interior of Africa. The Kushite society was influenced by the geography. Ancient Nubia had a lot of minerals such as gold, copper, and stone. This area became wealthy.

The Kushites also depended on agriculture (farming) for their food. They also used the Nile's floods to help them grow crops. They also had livestock. There were many farming villages in this area. Some farmers grew richer than others and eventually one farmer took control and called himself the king of Kush.

These two kingdoms were neighbors. Sometimes they lived in peace with each other and helped each other. Kush became a supplier of slaves and raw materials and sent gold, copper, and stone to Egypt. They also sent them ebony, heavy wood, and ivory.

Relations were not always peaceful because Kush became wealthy and its army became strong. Egypt became worried that Kush would attack. Thutmose I sent an army to take control around 1500 BC. Later Ramses the Great built huge temples in Kushite territory.

Kush remained an Egyptian territory for 450 years. Egypt influenced Kush during this time and Egyptians settled there.

As the New Kingdom in Egypt ended and the power of Egypt's pharaoh's declined the Kushite leaders regained control of Kush. It once again became independent of Egyptian control.

By 850 BC Kush regained its strength. In the 700s BC the Kushite king, Kashta conquered Upper Egypt. After Kashta died, his son Piankhi attacked Egypt. He believed the gods wanted him to rule all of Egypt. When he died his kingdom was from north of Napata to the Nile Delta.

After Piankhi died his brother Shabaka took over. He called himself a pharaoh and restored old Egyptian practices and traditions. The Assyrians from Mesopotamia later invaded Egypt and their iron weapons defeated the Kushites.

Kush had a great iron industry. This was Africa's first iron industry.

They developed a trade network where Meroe became the center. The Kushites sent goods down the Nile to Egypt. There Egyptian and Greek merchants carried the goods to ports on the Mediterranean and Red Sea and may have reached as far as India and China.

Merchants came into contact with other cultures and the Kush customs combined with other cultures, especially Egypt. People of Kush worshipped Egyptian gods and the rulers called themselves pharaoh and were buried in pyramids. However, they developed their own written language called Meroitic. Historians do not understand it though.

Problems within the kingdom weakened the economy. Kush's cattle were allowed to overgraze the land. When all the grass was eaten the wind blew the soil away causing farmers to produce less food.

Ironmakers used up the forest near Meroe. Furnaces shut down and there were fewer weapons and trade goods. Merchants set up new trade routes that went around Kush.