Egypt Invades Nubia

Do you remember reading about the Old Kingdom of Egypt? The Egyptians of the Old Kingdom built pyramids and temples. They traded with the Babylonians and the Assyrians. They worshipped their gods, made mummies, and buried treasure along with them.

But these peaceful times didn’t last. The pharaohs of Egypt became weaker and weaker. They lost control of their armies. They even lost control of their own courts and temples. Priests and palace officials fought over who would be in charge. Egypt’s power started to vanish. For a little while, it seemed that Egypt might fall apart, just like the kingdom of Sargon did.

But then, around 1991 BC/BCE, a new ruler came to the throne of Egypt. His name was Amenemhet. Amenemhet wasn’t a pharaoh—he just worked for the government. But he was determined to make Egypt strong again. He seized the throne and became the new pharaoh of Egypt. This was the beginning of a new time in Egypt’s history—the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt became a powerful country once more.

Amenemhet decided that his first job was to make Egypt bigger. He planned to conquer the countries that surrounded Egypt. And his first target was the kingdom of Nubia.

Nubia was south of Egypt, in Africa. Unlike the people of ancient West Africa, the Nubians didn’t go down into the central part of Africa. After all, they had the Nile River for water, and the rich mud of the Nile overflow for their crops. So the Nubian people stayed in their own country.

The Nubians traveled up the Nile River to sell many beautiful things to the Egyptians. They sold ivory, animal furs, ostrich feathers, and gems. And they brought gold up into Egypt. Amenemhet knew that the Nubians dug gold out of the hills and ground of their kingdom. He thought that if he could become the ruler of Nubia, he would have plenty of treasure to make him rich.

So Amenemhet set off to conquer Nubia. He fought dozens of battles against the Nubians, but finally he won. The Egyptians renamed Nubia “Kush.” They painted pictures of their new African subjects on the walls of their tombs. The pictures show Nubians carrying gold, ebony, incense, furs, and monkeys as presents to the Egyptians.

For the next seven hundred years, the Nubians were ruled by the Egyptians. Slowly, they began to think of themselves as Egyptians. They learned the Egyptian language and followed the Egyptian religion, and obeyed the Egyptian pharaoh. The Egyptians began to respect them. And they gained power of their own in Egypt. One Nubian woman even became the queen of Egypt, when she married the pharaoh Amenhotep III! Her name was Queen Tiye. And Queen Tiye wasn’t the only Nubian who moved into the palaces of Egypt. Eventually, the Nubians who lived in Kush founded their own dynasty—and became pharaohs of Egypt themselves.

So the Egyptians were also Africans. And the people of Africa brought their own stories, traditions, and skills into the Egyptian empire. When we read about the greatness of the Egyptians, we are also reading about the greatness of Africa.