page_title: Nubia
section_title: Upper Nubia
hierarchical_section_title: Nubia / History / 2400-1550 BCE: Early Kerma; C-Group / Upper Nubia
caption_attribution_description: English: Vessels of the Kerma culture from the island of Sai, Musee du Louvre.Français&#160;: Potteries de la culture de Kerma (2500 a 1500 BC) provenant de l'ile de Sai Musee du Louvre E 25469, E 25470, E 27092, E 27093
context_page_description: Nubia is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile and the confluence of the blue and white Niles or, more strictly, Al Dabbah. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa, as the Kerma culture lasted from around 2500 BC until its conquest by the New Kingdom of Egypt under pharaoh Thutmose I around 1500 BC. Nubia was home to several empires, most prominently the kingdom of Kush, which conquered Egypt during the 8th century BC during the reign of Piye and ruled the country as its Twenty-fifth Dynasty.
  The collapse of Kush, in the 4th century AD after more than a thousand years of existence, was precipitated by an invasion by Ethiopia's Kingdom of Aksum and saw the rise of three Christian kingdoms, Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia. Makuria and Alodia also lasted for roughly a millennium. Their eventual decline initiated not only the partition of Nubia into the northern half conquered by the Ottomans and the southern half by the Sennar sultanate in the 16th century, but also a rapid Islamization and partial Arabization of the Nubian people. Nubia was again united with the Khedivate of Egypt in the 19th century.
context_section_description: Pre-Kerma developed into the Middle phase Kerma group.  Some A-group people (transitioning to C-group) settled the area and co-existed with the Pre-Kerma group.  Like other Nubian groups, the Kerma group and C-group peoples made an abundance of red pottery with black tops.  However, Kerma group and C-group pottery had different shapes.  Traces of C-group peoples in Upper Nubia vanish by 2000 BCE and Kerma culture began to dominate Upper Nubia.  The power of an independent Upper Nubia increased around 1700 BCE and Upper Nubia came to dominate Lower Nubia.  An Egyptian official, Harkhuf, mentions that Irtjet, Setjet, and Wawat all combined under a single ruler.  By 1650 BCE, Egyptian texts started to refer to only two kingdoms in Nubia, Kush and Shaat.  Kush was centered at Kerma and Shaat was centered on Sai island.  Bonnet posits that Kush actually ruled all of Upper Nubia, since 'royal' graves were much larger in Kush than Shaat and Egyptian texts other than the Execration lists only refer to Kush (and not Shaat).
caption: Kerma style pottery (2500-1500 BCE)
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