Chapter 2 Section 4

Chapter 2 Section 4 The Civilization of Kush

Key Words • Savanna • Collapse • Decline

The Nubian Way of Life • Settled in farming villages • Cattle herders • Crop growers • Excellent hunters-skilled at bow and arrow • Strong warriors-well known for fighting skills

Nubians • Weaker villages were taken over by the powerful ones and they formed the kingdom of Kerma • Kerma developed close ties with Egypt to it’s north • Traded cattle, gold, ivory and enslaved people • Egyptians hired Nubian warriors for their armies

Nubians • Kerma became wealthy • Artisans made fine pottery, jewelry and metal goods • Kings of Kerma were buried in tombs similar to those of Egyptian pharaohs • Egypt (Thutmose III) sent his soldiers into Nubia and warred for 50 years until the kingdom of Kerma collapsed

Nubia • Egypt ruled Nubians for next 700 years • People of Nubia adopted many of the Egyptian customs and ways • Worshipped Egyptian gods/goddesses along with their own • Learned how to work with copper and bronze and changed Egyptian hieroglyphics to fit their own language

Kush • Nubians broke free of Egypt at the end of the NK • By 850BC a group of Nubians formed the independent kingdom of KUSH • For the net few centuries Kushite kings ruled from their capital city Napata • Napata was located on the upper Nile- trade caravans crossed here and carried gold, ivory and woods from Kush to Egypt

Kush • Kush became rich and strong enough to take over Egypt (750 BC) • King Kashta and his soldiers began the task and his son Piye completed it (728 BC) • Piye founded the 25th Dynasty that ruled both Egypt and Kush from Napata • Napata was similar to an Egyptian city with white sandstone temples, monuments and small pyramids to bury their kings

Kush • Kush rule in Egypt was not long • During the 600’s BC the Assyrians invaded Egypt and drove the Kushites back to their southern homeland • The Assyrians were armed with iron weapons

Why was IRON important? • Read the pertaining paragraphs on p. 190 and bullet some answers

Kush • Around 540 BC Kush rulers left Napata and moved south so they were far from the Assyrians • They set up in the city of Meroe were they had access to the Nile and a rocky desert that had rich iron deposits • Meroe became the center for trade and iron making

Kush • They became wealthy and rebuilt Meroe to look like an Egyptian city • Meroe became the core of a huge trading network that reached all the way into central Africa • What did they trade from Meroe? (p. 191)

Kush • Remained a great trading power for over 600 years • By the 200’s AD the kingdom began to weaken and another kingdom called Axum (Ethiopia) rose to take its place • 350 AD the armies of Axum burned Meroe to the ground

Chapter 2 Section 4