Kush-The Black Pharaohs

The Kingdom of Kush or Cush was an ancient African state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now the Republic of Sudan. It was one of the earliest civilizations to develop in the Nile River Valley. Having also been referred to as Nubia, and as "Ethiopia" in ancient Greek and Greco-Roman records, the Kushites left their mark on various aspects of the ancient world and their legacy is still readily discernible from the various archaeological field sites scattered throughout modern Sudan.

The Kingdom of Kush was established circa 1070 BC. The first cultures arose in Sudan before the time of a unified Egypt. The earliest signs of which show a continuity in developing Nile valley cultures comes from the Khartoum Neolithic, where we see the beginnings of food production in the region. As these centers evolved, local societies began to amalgamate into confederations, depending on different strategies distinct from earlier semi-nomadic lifestyles. One such polity, called the "A-group" emerged in lower Sudan around 3800 BCE, and were contemporaneous with the pre-dynastic Naqada people of upper Egypt, sharing an almost identical culture. After the demise of the A-group, archaeological evidence attesting to permanent settlements is scant. The culture called the "C-group", who founded the Kingdom of Kush began to appear consistently in Egyptian accounts and the archaeological record. It is through Egyptian, Hebrew, and Greco-Roman records that most of our knowledge of Kush comes.