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Chapter 12 – History of Ancient Kush
Section Notes
Video
Kush and Egypt
Later Kush
Impact of Iron
Close-up
Kush’s Trade Network
Rulers of Kush
Quick Facts
Chapter 12 Visual Summary
Maps
Ancient Kush, 2300 BC-AD 350
Ancient Kush
Assessment Map: Ancient Kush
Images
Kushite Pyramids
Assyrian Invaders
Kushite Metalwork
Kush and Egypt
The Big Idea
The kingdom of Kush, in the region of Nubia, was first
conquered by Egypt but later conquered and ruled Egypt.
Main Ideas
• Geography helped early Kush civilization develop in
Nubia.
• Egypt controlled Kush for about 450 years.
• After winning its independence, Kush ruled Egypt and set
up a new dynasty there.
Main Idea 1:
Geography helped early Kush civilization
develop in Nubia.
South of Egypt along the Nile, Africans established Kush, the
first large kingdom in northeast Africa, in the region we now
call Nubia.
In ancient times Nubia was very fertile due to the heavy rainfall
that flooded the Nile every year.
Ancient Nubia was rich in valuable minerals such as gold,
copper, and stone.
Early Civilization in Nubia
• Thanks to the Nile’s floods, farming villages thrived all along
the Nile by about 3500 BC.
• Over time some farmers became leaders of their villages.
• Sometime around 2000 BC one of these leaders took control of
other villages and made himself king of Kush.
• Early kings ruled from their capital at Kerma, on the Nile just
south of a cataract, or stretch of rapids.
• The cataracts were natural barriers against invaders.
• As time passed Kushite society became more complex, with
farmers, herders, priests, and artisans.
Main Idea 2:
Egypt controlled Kush for about 450 years.
Kushites traded many products to Egypt, including slaves, gold, copper,
stone, ebony, a type of dark, heavy wood, and ivory, a white material
taken from elephant tusks.
Kush grew wealthy and its army grew stronger. Egypt’s rulers were
afraid that a powerful Kush might attack Egypt.
The pharaoh Thutmose I attacked Kush around 1500 BC and conquered
all of Nubia north of the Fifth Cataract. He destroyed the Kushite
palace.
Kush remained an Egyptian territory for about 450 years. Egypt’s
influence over Kush grew tremendously.
When the New Kingdom in Egypt ended in the mid-1000s BC, Kush
once again became independent.
Main Idea 3:
After winning its independence,
Kush ruled Egypt and set up a new dynasty
there.
Conquest of
Egypt
• By about 850 BC
Kush had regained
its strength.
• Kings of Kush ruled
from Napata.
• In 751 BC a Kushite
king attacked and
conquered Upper
Egypt.
• By 716 Kush
controlled all of
Egypt.
Kushite Dynasty
• Kushite named
Shabaka declared
himself pharaoh,
beginning the
Kushite Dynasty.
• Worked to restore
old Egyptian
cultural practices,
such as pyramidbuilding
• Preserved old
Egyptian writings
• Egyptian culture
flourished.
End of Kushite
Rule in Egypt
• Kushites remained
strong in Egypt for
about 40 years.
• In the 670s and
660s BC Assyrians
from Mesopotamia
invaded and pushed
the Kushites from
Egypt.
Later Kush
The Big Idea
Although Kush developed an advanced civilization,
it eventually declined.
Main Ideas
• Kush’s economy grew because of its iron industry and
trade network.
• Some elements of Kushite society and culture were
borrowed from other cultures while others were unique to
Kush.
• The decline and defeat of Kush was caused by both
internal and external factors.
Main Idea 1:
Kush’s economy grew because of its
iron industry and trade network.
During this period, the economic center of Kush was Meroë,
the new Kushite capital on the east bank of the Nile.
Meroë became the center of a large trade network, a system
of people in different lands who trade goods back and forth.
Kushites sent goods down the Nile to Egypt.
From there, Egyptian and Greek merchants, or traders,
carried goods to ports on the Mediterranean and Red seas and
to southern Africa.
Kush’s exports, items sent to other regions for trade, included
gold, pottery, iron tools, slaves, ivory, leopard skins, ostrich
feathers, and elephants.
Kush’s imports, goods brought in from other regions, included
jewelry and other luxury items.
Main Idea 2:
Some elements of Kushite society and culture
were borrowed from other cultures
while others were unique to Kush.
Kushite Culture
• Egyptian influence
– Buildings, gods, clothing, titles, pyramids
• Unique cultural elements
– Daily life
– Houses
– Hunting prey
– Additional gods
– A written language, Meroitic, which has not been interpreted
Women in Kushite Society
• Kushite women worked in the fields, raised children,
cooked, performed other household tasks, and fought
alongside the men during times of war.
• Some Kushite women rose to positions of authority,
power or influence, especially religious authority. King
Piankhi and later rulers made some princesses
priestesses.
• Some women served as co-rulers with their husbands or
sons. A few, such as Queen Shanakhdakheto, even ruled
the empire alone.
Main Idea 3:
The decline and defeat of Kush was caused
by both internal and external factors.
• The Kushite kingdom reached its height in the first
century BC. Four centuries later, it collapsed due to
internal and external factors.
Farmers
allowed their
cattle to
overgraze the
land, causing
the soil to blow
away.
Ironmakers
probably used
up the forests,
decreasing
production of
weapons and
trade goods.
Foreign
merchants set
up new trade
routes
bypassing Kush
in favor of
Aksum.
Rise of Aksum
Aksum was located southeast of Kush on the Red Sea, in
present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Aksum’s trade, wealth, and power came at the expense of a
weakened Kush.
In about AD 350 the army of Aksum’s King Ezana destroyed
Meroë and took over the kingdom of Kush.
In the late 300s the rulers of Aksum became Christian and the
last influences of Kush disappeared.
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