This unusual language is one of the earliest written languages from among the ancient African civilizations, and tablets covered in the script are still being uncovered all the time. Contact with Egypt also gave the Kush writing, and they used a system based on hieroglyphics, before developing their own form of cursive called meroitic. Monumental temples to the Sun God Amun are particularly common, and Napata itself was once central to the cult of sun worship, an Egyptian God the Kush kept for themselves, long after they broke with Egypt. In recent years digs at Napata have revealed a wealth of impressive palaces, tombs, and gigantic Egyptian-style statuary, part of a once vibrant metropolis.

The new Kush kingdom, based around the capital city of Napata, became a thriving and wealthy empire in its own right, bolstered by Nile Valley trade. Some even wrote that an unknown white civilization must have been responsible for the monumental architecture that they found. Because of the cultural similarities between the Kush and the Egyptians, many early colonial archaeologists failed to identify the Sudanese kingdom as an empire separate from Egypt, despite the fact it existed as an independent entity, from the 11 th century BCE until its collapse in the 4 th century CE. When the Egyptian New Kingdom finally began to disintegrate in the 11 th century BCE, the powerful Kush civilization formed in the chaos, breaking away from their Egyptian rulers.ДЄn inscription in Meroitic, detailing the exploits of Queen Amanirenas and King Akinidad, 1st century BCE, Via the British MuseumД«y the time the Kush kingdom broke away from Egypt, the region of Nubia had been thoroughly Egyptianized, and the Kush had inherited an interesting mash-up of local beliefs and Egyptian customs. Egypt had always had trouble with their southern neighbors, and they eventually took the opportunity to push south, conquering the region which stretches from Aswan in Southern Egypt, to Khartoum. Prior to the Egyptian conquests, the Sudan was home to a thriving agrarian civilization based around the city of Kerma, (2500-1500 BCE). Please check your inbox to activate your subscription Thank you!

Oldest civilization