History

Early Chiefdoms in Sudan:
Nubian, Punite, and Libyan

Since no archeological excavations have been carried for predynastic Nubia, our only sources of information for the period are the written Egyptian sources. Egyptian king Snefrue of the fourth dynasty has heavily campaigned in Nubia, "Hacking up" lands of the Nubians and "bringing of 7,000 living prisoners and 200,000 large and small cattle"¹, so that must have been a heck of a battle (note: ancient Egyptians often use exaggeration when speaking of numbers).

Map of the early kingdoms as they apply to the modern political boundries of Sudan.

The Ancient Egyptians, in later campaigns and expeditions wrote of the land of Nubia as being ruled by chiefdoms and kingdoms and /or tribes; some of these chiefdoms have been specifically named. The most mentioned of those include: Wawat, which was located in Lower Nubia immediately south of Elephantine and which flourished for a short time before being absorbed by the Egyptian kingdom. Then comes Irthet and Mazoi located in Upper Nubia south of Wadi Halfa, and Yam that extended in Upper and Southern Nubia and centered at Kerma. Those are considered the strongest and most expansive of the Nubian states or kingdoms.

In the Libyan Desert (modern state of Northern Kordofan in Sudan) flourished a chiefdom called Temeh. The people of Temeh are Libyans, though they have always been mentioned in Egyptian records as linked to the Nubians. Records of Harkhuf ‘s third journey to Nubia, states: "I found the chief of Yam going to the land of Temeh to smite Temeh as far as the western corner of heaven."²

Medjay-Nubian (Beja homeland) and Puntite chiefdoms controlled most of eastern Sudan, and are both mentioned in ancient Egyptian records as Nubians. We learn, also from Old Kingdom Egyptian Sources, of the names of Mejday- Nubian chiefdoms such as the Aushek, and the Webetsepet chiefdoms. Another prominently mentioned chiefdom is the Punt (the identity of the punt is not clear; however, the Punt's material culture seems to be almost identical to that of the Nubians) that controlled the Red Sea trade throughout ancient history. Its written in the Inscriptions of Pepi-Nakht that the sixth Dynasty Egyptian king Pepi has lead two campaigns in Nubia, and a remarkable expedition to the north Read Sea for the rescue of the body of a nobleman bound for Punt³.

Ostracon of the Queen of Punt from Egypt. New Kingdom period. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

In 2000 BC, Egyptian pharaohs of the Old Kingdom reoccupied Lower Nubia that is 500 years after the migration of the C-Group to Lower Nubia. During the First Intermediate Period of Egypt, when Egypt's power was waning, the Nubian C-Group seems to have enjoyed considerable freedom. Material findings indicated that the C-Group enjoyed a state of wealth, perhaps through trade. It is quite arguable that the kingdom of Kush may have taken Egypt's weakness as an advantage to seize Lower Nubia.

The second Intermediate Period was the time when the Kushite kingdom flourished. At a later period, Egyptian chronology, generally mentions Kush as reference to all of Nubia, which may mean that the kingdom of Kush had outlasted the other chiefdoms in Nubia. In Egypt's Middle Kingdom, the Egyptian pharaohs fought fierce battles with the Kushites over territories.

Around 1786 BC the Hyksos invaded Lower Egypt. In 1650 BC, Kush made alliance with the Hyksos and took back portions of Lower Nubia as well as portions of the southern regions of Upper Egypt. However, ambiguously the Egyptianized –Nubians of Lower Egypt seemed to have been neutral to the Kushite rule, for there is no evidence of rebellions against the Kushite rule.

• ^{1 James H. Breasted, and Peter A Piccione, Ancient Records of Egypt vol. 1: The First through the Seventeenth Dynasties, trans. James H. Breasted, Vol. 1 (University of Illinois P, 2001) 66.}  
• ^{2 Breasted, note 1 above at 153.}
• ^{3 Breasted, note 2 above.}