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Have a Blissful trip to Nubian Villages situated at the bottom of Elephantine Island. You are going to discover the simple and nature life of the very kind people.
Kerma was settled around 2400 BC.It was a walled city containing religious building, large circular dwelling, a palace, and well laid out roads. On the East side of the city, funerary temple and chapel were laid out. It supported a population of 2,000. One of its most endearing structure was the Deffufa, a mud brick temple which ceremonies were performed on top.
The deffufa is a unique structure in Nubian Architecture. Three known deffufa exist. The Western Deffufa at Kerma, an Eastern Deffufa, and a third little known deffufa.
The third Nubian Pyramid site Meroë is considered to be the largest archaeological site in the world. It contains more Nubian Pyramids than any other site.
The ancient Nubians established a system of geometry including early versions of sun clocks.[ Many are located at the sites of Meroë. During the Meroitic period in Nubian history the ancient Nubians used a trigonometric methodology similar to the Egyptians.
The Christianization of Nubia began in the 6th century AD. Its most representative architecture are churches. They are based onByzantium Basilicas. The structures are relatively small and made of mud bricks. The church is rectangular in shape with North and South isles. Columns are used to divide the nave.
Church painting with biblical themes were extensive but few survived. The best surviving church painting were on the Rivergate Church of Faras and the Church of Ab El Qadir.
The conversion to Islam was a slow, gradual process, with almost 600 years of resistance. Most of the architecture of the period are mosques built of mud-bricks. One of the first attempt at conquest was by Egyptian-Nubian, Ibn Abi Sarh. Ibn Abi Sarh was a Muslim leader who tried to conquer all Nubia in the 8th century AD. It was almost a complete failure. An agreement called the Baqt, shaped Egyptian-Nubian relations for six centuries, and permitted the construction of a mosque in the Nubian capital of Dongola for Muslim travelers. By the middle of the 14th century, Nubia had been converted to Islam. The royal Church of Dongola was converted into a mosque. Numerous other churches were converted to mosque.
In the 14th century, the Dongolan government collapsed and the region became divided and dominated by Arabs. The next centuries would see several Arab invasions of the region, as well as the establishment of a number of smaller kingdoms. Northern Nubia was brought under Egyptian control while the south came under the control of the Kingdom of Sennar in the 16th century. The entire region would come under Egyptian control during the rule of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century, and later became a joint Anglo-Egyptian condominium.
The descendants of the ancient Nubians still inhabit the general area of what was ancient Nubia. Today, they live in what is called the former Old Nubia, which is mainly in modern Egypt. Nubians have been resettled in large numbers (an estimated 50,000 people) away from southern Egypt since the 1960s, when the Aswan High Dam was built on the Nile, flooding ancestral lands.[8] Some resettled Nubians continue working as farmers (sharecroppers) on resettlement farms whose landowners live elsewhere; most work in Egypt's cities. Whereas Arabic was once only learned by Nubian men who travelled for work, it is increasingly being learned by Nubian women who have access to school, radio and television. Nubian women are working outside the home in increasing numbers.
Between 1500-1085 BC. Egyptian conquest and domination of Nubia was achieved. This conquest brought about the Napatan Phase of Nubian history, the birth of the kingdom of Kush. Kush was immensely influenced by Egypt and eventually conqueredEgypt. During this phase we see the building of numerous pyramids and temples.
When Egyptian power revived under the New Kingdom (c. 1532–1070 BC) they began to expand further southwards. The Egyptians destroyed Kerma's kingdom and capitol and expanded the Egyptian empire to the Fourth Cataract.
By the end of the reign of Thutmose I (1520 BC), all of northern Nubia had been annexed. The Egyptians built a new administrative center at Napata, and used the area to produce gold. The Nubian gold production made Egypt a prime source of the precious metal in the Middle East. The primitive working conditions for the slaves are recorded byDiodorus Siculus who saw some of the mines at a later time. One of the oldest maps known is of a gold mine in Nubia, the Turin Papyrus Map dating to about 1160 BC.
Nubian architecture is diverse and ancient. Permanent villages have been found in Nubia which date from 6000 BC. These villages were roughly contemporary with the walled town of Jericho in Palestine.
The earliest Nubian architecture used perishable materials, wattle and daub, mudbrick, animal hide and other light and supple materials. Early Nubian Architecture consisted of speos, structures derived from carving of rock ( 3500-2374 BCE)
Graves were circular cylindrical superstructures made of stoned wall. The pit was filled with gravel and stones, and covered with dried mud roof or hay roof. Later, during the Second Intermediate Period, a mud-brick chapel was placed to the north of the grave. Graves were from El Ghaba, Kadero, Sayala, and various other sites in northern Sudan.
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