The
Nubians (Arabic: نوبي, Nuubi) are an ethnic group
originally from northern Sudan
, now
inhabiting East Africa and some parts of Northeast Africa, such as
southern Egypt.
The Nubian
people in Sudan inhabit the region between Wadi Halfa
in the north and Aldaba in
the south. The main Nubian groups from north to south are
the
Halfaweyen,
Sikut (Sickkout),
Mahas, and
Danagla. They speak different dialects of
the
Nubian language.
In ancient times Nubians were depicted by
Egyptians as having very dark skin, often shown
with hooped
earrings and with braided or
extended hair. Ancient Nubians were famous for their vast wealth,
their trade between central Africa and the lower Nile valley
civilizations, including Egypt, their skill and precision with the
bow, their 23-letter alphabet, the use of deadly poison on the
heads of their arrows, their great military, their advanced
civilization, and their century-long rule over the united upper and
lower Egyptian kingdoms.
Nubian history
Nubia is the homeland of Africa's earliest
black civilization with a history which can be traced from
3800 BC onward through Nubian monuments and artifacts, as well
as written records from Egypt and Rome. In antiquity, Nubia was a
land of great natural wealth, of gold mines, ebony, ivory and
incense which was always prized by her neighbors.
Nubians are the people of southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
With a
history and traditions which can be traced to the dawn of
civilization, the Nubian first settled along the banks of the
Nile from Aswan
.
Along this great river they developed one of the oldest and
greatest civilizations in Africa. Until they lost their last
kingdom (Christian Nubia) only five centuries earlier the Nubians
remained as the main rivals to Egypt, the other great civilization
of North East Africa.
The Nubian and Egyptians conquered each other many times in their
history.
Taharqa is the best known of all
Nubian rulers. Taharqa, a son and third successor of King Piye, the
Nubian king of Napata who conquered Egypt. Taharqa was crowned king
in c.690 in Memphis. He ruled over both Nubia and Egypt and devoted
himself to all kinds of peaceful works, like the restoration of
ancient temples in both Egypt and Nubia and building new
sanctuaries, like the one at
Kawa.
Several historians maintain that Nubian rulers saw themselves not
as conquerors, but as restorers of Egyptian glory. In
February/March 673, an army sent by the
Assyrian king
Esarhaddon
was defeated by the Nubians .
In April 671, the Assyrians were back, and
this time, they captured Memphis
on 11
July. Taharqa had left the city, but his brother and son
were taken prisoner.
In
Lower Egypt Esarhaddon appointed the
native princes as governors.
One of these was Necho
I, a descendant of Tefnakht, who
resided in Sais
in the
western Nile
Delta
. Meanwhile, Taharqo fought back, reoccupied
Memphis in 669, and forced the princes into submission.
Alara c.780-c.760Maatra Kashta c.760-c.747Usermara Sneferra Piye
c.747-c.716Neferkara Shabaqo c.716-c.702Djedkaura Shebitqo
c.702-c.690Nefertumkhura Taharqo c.690-664Bakara Tanwetamani
664-after 656
This provoked a third Assyrian campaign, which was broken off
because Esarhaddon died. He was succeeded by Aššurbanipal, who
conducted the fourth campaign in 667/666, took Memphis, and sacked
Thebes. Because the princes were
obviously unreliable, the Assyrian king chose one of them who could
be trusted: Necho. When, after Taharqo's death in 664, his
successor
Tanwetamani tried to reconquer
Memphis (the subject of the Dream Stela); Necho beat him, and
although he was killed in action, power remained in his family. It
was his son
Psammetichus I, who
unified Egypt, and was clever enough to give the Assyrians the
impression that he still served them after they had been forced to
recall their garrisons when civil war broke out in Assyria in 651
to 648 BC. The Sphinx of Taharqa was found at Kawa Sudan, and is
now on display in the British Museum.
Modern Nubians
The influx of Arabs to Egypt and Sudan had contributed to the
suppression of the Nubian identity following the collapse of the
last Nubian kingdom in 1900. A major part of the modern Nubian
population were totally arabized and the Egyptian Nubians became
Arabs while the Sudanese claimed to be Arabs(Jaa'leen-the majority
of Northern Sudanese- and some Donglawes in Sudan, Kenuz and
Koreskos in Egypt). However all Nubians were converted to Islam,
and Arabic became their main language, in addition to their
indigenous old Nubian language. The unique characteristics of
Nubians are their culture (dress, dances, traditions and music) as
well as their indigenous language which is a common feature of most
Nubians.
Prominent Nubian figures
- Anwar El Sadat, late third
President of Egypt
- Gaafar Nimeiri, former Sudanese
president
- Mohammed Wardi, singer
- Mohamed Mounir, singer
- Ahmad Mounib, singer and musician
- Mahmoud Fadl, singer and
musician
- Ali Hassan Kuban, singer and
musician
- Hamza El Din, singer and
musicologist
- Khalil Kalfat, literary critic,
political and economic thinker and writer
- Haggag Hassan Oddoul, novelist and activist
- Abdullah Khalil, Sudanese prime
minister, founder and leader of the Umma Party
- Abdu Dahab, founder of The Sudanese Communist
Party
- Ibrahim Ahmed, prominent Sudanese
politician responsible for the signing of the Sudanese declaration
of independence
References
- Dig Nubia – Image
- Dig Nubia – Nubia: Land of the Bow
- Ibrahim Omer, "The Kushite Conquest of Palestine
and the Assyro-Kushite Wars".
- Black Pharaohs - National Geographic Feb 2008
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