Nubia

Republic of Nubia

ϩⲟⲕⲩⲙⲁ ⲛⲟⲃⲁⲛ (Nubian)

Hokuma Noban

Flag of Nubia

Location of Nubia in Lybia

• 6.4% Nubian Arab

• 2.2% Rashaida Arab

8.3% Beja

4.9% Copt

3.5% Daju

3.4% Beria

3.1% Masalit

1.7% Fulani

1.3% Kordofanic

4.3% Other

• 6% Protestantism

10.5% Sunnism

1.6% Animism

0.9% Other

**Nubia** (Nubian: ⲛⲟⲃⲁ Noba), officially the **Republic of Nubia** (Nubian: ϩⲟⲕⲩⲙⲁ ⲛⲟⲃⲁⲛ Hokuma Noban) and commonly known as **Qes** (Nubian: ⲕⲏϣ Kēsh) is a nation of Azania. It is bordered by Egypt and Cyrenaica to the north, Kanembu and Ubangi-Shari to the west, the Nile Republic to the south, and Abyssinia to the east. The nation's seat of power is in Aborepi, with a population of 53.11 million as of 2025 estimates. The current situation in Nubia is calming down and improving, after a coup back in the year 2019. The name Nubia comes from an ancient people group who lived in Dardaju known as the Noba.

## History

Nubia has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years, and is likely one of the oldest inhabited places. The first empire to rise here was the Kushite Empire. The Kushites were dominated by their neighbour to the north, being Egypt, through cultural and religious influences. This period lasted for over 2,000 years, up until 1720 BC, with the collapse of the Middle Kingdom. During the years before it’s collapse, the Middle Kingdom built many important fortresses along the Nile River, such as the Fortress of Buhen. Finally, at around 1720 BC, the Middle Kingdom collapsed at the hands of Canaanite nomads, which left a power gap for the Kushite Empire.

In 11th century BC, the authority of the New Kingdom was no longer a problem, as the New Kingdom fragmented into several smaller kingdoms. Finally, the Kushite Empire expanded into the areas conquered by the former New Kingdom. The written history of Kush for 300 years after this is unclear, but materials may be found soon. After that period, another Kushite kingdom emerged in Upper Egypt, while the real Kushite Empire established itself at Napata. The fate of the Kushite Empire changed when the last Kushite pharaoh, Taharqa, led a failed attempt to conquer the Near East and Assyria, but failed. Around 590 BC, Egyptians razed the city of Napata to the ground, thus ending the Kushite Empire.

This caused the Kushites to flee to a more secured spot, which was the city of Meroë. For the next several decades, Meroë developed without the influence of Egypt, evading Hellenic and Roman colonization. As the years passed, Nubian religions overtook Egyptian ones, and the heiroglyph was scrapped in favour of the Meroitic Script. By 200 AD, the first of the three Nubian Kingdoms, known as Nobatia (Old Nubian: ⲙⲓⲅⲓⲧⲛ︦ ⲅⲟⲩⲗ Mitigin Goul) in the north. Because of the rise of the three kingdoms and Aksum to the east, Meroë finally collapsed, and the descended Daju people fled to present-day Dardaju region.

By the 6th century there were in total three Nubian kingdoms: Nobatia in the north, which had its capital at Faras; the central kingdom, Makuria centred at Tungul; and Alodia, in the heartland of the old Kushitic kingdom, which had its capital at Aborepi. In 638, Arabs of the Rashidun Caliphate conquered Egypt, and tried to conquer Nubia, but were repelled by Makuria. This led them to sign the Baqt, a treaty that stated that the Muslims would not attack the Nubians if they did not attack Egypt, which would last until the days of the Egypt Eyalet. This occured in 1599 after Makurians attempted the annexation of present-day Aswan into their territory for land expansion purposes

For a while, the kingdoms and the Ottomans were at a standstill, as neither side wanted to really fight, as the Nubians had put in way too much faith into the Baqt Treaty, which was essentially useless when dealing with the Ottomans. Meanwhile, the Ottomans did not necessarily feel that Nubia was worth sending troops to invade. However in 1620, the Ottomans sent several convoys to try and persuade the king of Nobatia in order to annex Alodia and Makuria and become a vassal, in exchange for the Ottomans to not attempt any sort of conversions on their population.

The Nobatian king accepted this, obliviously unaware to the fact agreeing to the pact rendered him useless, and allowed for Ottoman use of their infrastructure. This made the Ottoman Sultan, Murad IV, the de facto ruler of the area. He then declared on the remaining two kingdoms, which were easily crushed. Following the Safavid invasion of Iraq, Murad IV subsequently trashed the treaty signed with the Nobatians, and punished them for the spread of the plague across the region, which was actually the fault of the Ottomans troops.

During Ottoman occupation, the Christian population was highly subjected to poor treatment. Arabs from Hejaz and Yemen were sent over to attempt to convert the Nubians and remaining Beja and Coptic peoples to Islam. During this time, Dardaju was also subjected to Ottoman rule, resulting in a messy religious shift from traditional religions to either Islam or Orthodoxy, with minor skirmishes here and there. By the mid 1700’s, the Ottoman government was tiring from the Copts refusal to convert to Islam, and thus a Coptic Genocide began in both Egypt and Nubia. The resulting Coptic Genocide resulted in 1.7-3.2 million deaths, and threats for a genocide of the Nubians unless 2 million Nubians converted to Islam (at the time the population of Nubia was 12.7 million). The results of Arabs converted 1.4 million, with a further 1 million only pretending to be Muslims.

Finally, in the 1860’s, the Ottoman’s power of the region began to weaken, as revolts against their rule in Hejaz, Syria and other regions began. The Nubians were the third to secede after Hejaz and Garmantia, doing so in 12 May 1872. Thus, a briefly independent Nubian state emerged, only known as “Nubia”. The presidency was first held by Arbaab Himmat, a conservative man who founded the Makurite League party. He was a controversial president, as he poorly subjected Dardaju and the present-day Nile Republic in a way that made the Nubians the superior group. These regions were neglected, and in the case of the Nile Republic, a horrible incident occured when the Shilluk Kingdom refused to pay it’s taxes to Aborepi, so 7,000 soldiers were sent to destroy it’s capital Kodok.

At the time of the 1890’s, Britain and Egypt both expressed control in taking the area over. The current government at the time, the presidency of Iisib Gorke was unnaware of these plans, and was assassinated by Egyptian mercenaries in March 17, 1896. The Egyptian Kingdom and British Empire then held a condominium over the area, known as the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, or Sudan (Arabic: السودان اﻹنجليزي المصري as-Sūdān al-Inglīzī al-Maṣrī). Though it was a condominium, Britain held all power in the government, while Egypt was in charge of local governments and matters. After WW2, increasing resentment of the condominium, as well as calls for independence culminated with Nubia gaining independence again in 7 December, 1956.

The country became a republic again like the previous independent Nubia, but also containing the Nile Republic territories under it’s land. The 1970’s saw president Tambal Noqod attempt to dam the lower Nile river downstream from Juba, which angered the locals. Culminating many years of historic mistreatment, a rebel government based in Malakal declared unrecognized independence from Nubia on 10 August 1975. The state would be known as the Independent State of Nilotic Peoples (ISNP), and was only recognized by neighbours Kanembu and Ubangi-Shari. The state was deposed in 1977, and some key members of the government went into hiding in the UAF. Over the span of 3 years, they re-organized into a military group, and recruited members from southern Nubia.

Two low level wars emerged in 1980 and 2005, both with the same goal of gaining independence and being recognized as a foreign state. Both wars were quickly suppresed, but by 2006, the elected president, Saatti Noqod declared himself as dictator. As a result, a 4 year period of terrorism across Nubia began, instigated by the terrorist group Nilotic People’s Freedom Fighters (NPFF) starting with the 2006 Aweil Massacre of 247 non-Nilotic people. A period of meetings and negotation with the ISNP and the NPFF agreed to give the region a late 2010 independence vote, and the area finally seceded in 2011.

However, president Noqod was left more power hungry, and in 23 February 2017 sent the army to kill 183 university students in Deriba protesting human rights and corruption. The result was a 2 year revolution known as the Crocodile Revolution, attributed to the alledged feeding of a corrput governor of West Butana State to a Nile Crocodile. Further massacres and finally, a brief 5 month period of military intervention had him ousted in late 2019. A 3 year transitional period which ended in 2022 helped the government function normally again, with much needed changes and snap elections in 2022. The revolution saw 328 military casualties, 2 politcal casualties, and 8,419 civilian casualties.

## Government

The nation of Nubia is governed in the form of an unitary parliamentary constitutional republic. Before 2019, the country was governed under a one-party system with Saatti Noqod and his Nubian Nationalist party. Nowadays, the country has been dominated by the centrist Change for Nubia party, rivalling the more conservative Kerma Party. The current president is Ashri Appa Sheefa, also being the nation’s first female president, and the first democratically elected since 2004. The nation is a member of the UN, the Lybian Union, and is considering applying for the OPEC.

Up until the 2019 coup, the country was governed as a federalized nation with a bicameral parliament. After the coup, the country underwent a 3 year transitional period, in which the 133 member Parliament of Nubia (Nubian: ⲙⲁⲭⲁⲙⲁ ⲛⲟⲃⲁⲛ Mahkama Noban) was revamped, and a 133 member lower house known as the Council of Nubians (Nubian: ϩⲟⲕⲙⲩ ⲛⲟⲃⲁⲛ Hokmu Noban) was finally abolished. The judicial branch is known as the Judiciary, acting as the nations supreme court. Elections are held every 4 years, the most recent one being in 2022 after the transitional period ended.

Nubia is divided into 14 unitary states, including the Aborepi District, which functions both as a district and a state. It's 1872 independence only outlined a total of 5 states in the entire land. The nation, when it finally gained independence from Egypt and Britain had only 8 provinces, 2 of which later became the present-day Nile Republic. The 14 states are further divided into 133 districts, up from 98 in 2019. The area of Abyei is disputed between Nubia and the Nile Republic, with the latter claiming the area upon independence in 2011. The government has occasionally sent troopers to “observe” the area.

## Land

Formerly the largest country in Lybia before the secession of the Nile Republic, the country holds an array of climates and landscapes, from the arid north, to the temperate Butana and Dardaju, to the rainy and wetter east. The nation is bordered by the Cyrenaica and Egypt to the north, Kanembu and Ubangi-Shari to the west, the Nile Republic to the south, and Abyssinia to the east. The country has 2 disputed zones; the Dungonab Triangle, or Dungonab with Egypt, and the Abyei Area, or Abyei claimed by Nubia and the Nile Republic.

Dardaju, to the west is a primarily poor, agricultural region populated by many farmers and herders. The official area of Dardaju is 493,180 square kilometres considering the three Dardaju States. It contains the Marra Mountains, as well as an unusually high amount of impact craters. This does not take into account the eastern parts of Kanembu which also fall under the area of the region. It recieves considerable rainfall in the summer, but becomes similar to a savanna in winter. Because much of Nubia’s agricultural activity takes place in Dardaju, the region suffers from agriculture-related problems including use of illegal pesticides and overgrazing.

To the east of Dardaju is the Butana geographical region, containing Kordofan, West Butana, Fazogli and the Aborepi District. Butana is a heavily populated region, containing at least 27.36 million people, giving it a high density. The region, while having a large agricultural centre also contains much of the industrial and built-up areas in the nation. Pollution from both sectors often ends up as run-water or chemical leaks into the Nile River, which in turn degrades the water quality, in addition to plastic and other trash being disposed of in the river. Despite this, there are plans to slowly turn the region into a lightly-forested savanna, and the sections of the Nile River that flow through Aborepi are clean.

The eastern area does not go by a proper name, so it is just addressed as the "eastern region". The souther portion of the eastern region that borders the Nile Republic are similar in climate to much of Abyssinia, being mostly temperate in winter but hot in summer. This region is where much of Nubia's coffee production takes place, as well as cattle and cattle-related industries. The northern half of this region is more arid as it receives less rainfall. The area contains the country has the country's coastline on the Red Sea, which measures at around 650 kilometres long, 750 if gulfs and embankments are included. The region currently is threatened by overfishing and pollution from cargo ships.

Northern Nubia, lying between the Egyptian border and Aborepi, has two distinct parts, the desert and the Nile Valley. To the east of the Nile lies the Nubian Desert and the Garmantene Desert to the west. They are stony, with sandy dunes drifting over the landscape. There is virtually no rainfall in these deserts, and in the Nubian Desert there are no oases. Despite this current lack of vegetation, the regionwas historically the heartland of Nubia, and sometimes even the southern reaches of Ancient Egypt, based around the Nile River. The region's primary source of food is cattle, farming from the banks of the Nile, or imported from elsewhere.

The country's wildlife includes lions, leopards, and cheetahs, as well as elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and numerous varieties of antelope. Several species of monkeys are found in the forests, though many are endangered due to the exotic pet trade, which NGOs are trying to stop. Resident birds include bustards, guinea fowl, and storks, with the total number of avian species reaching at least 630 in 2020, though this figure does not take into account some now extinct species. Reptiles include crocodiles and various lizards, such as the Nile Crocodile.

## Economy

Nubia is classified a rapidly-developing, industrializing lower-middle economy. From 1997 to date, Sudan has been working with the IMF to implement economic reforms, including a managed float of the exchange rate. The official and sole legal tender is the Nubian Pound (NBP), which is regulated by the Aborepi-based Central Reserve of Nubia (CRN). It is currently in the African Free Trade Union, which was established in 2021, though was briefly excluded from it’s planning in 2017 following government-perpetrated atrocities at Deriba.

Primary resources are agricultural, including cotton, peanuts, gum arabic, and sesame seeds. Although the country is trying to diversify its cash crops, cotton and peanuts remain its major agricultural exports. Sorghum is the principal food crop, and wheat is grown primarily for domestic consumption and cattle feed. Sesame seeds and peanuts are cultivated for domestic consumption and increasingly for export. Though most agriculture is based in the Alodia and Dardaju regions due to their higher rainfall, the state of South Kordofan has begun to implement benefits for farmers to attract them.

Nubia’s rapid industrial development consists of agricultural processing, electronics assembly, plastics manufacturing, furniture, tanning, sugar production, meat processing and various light industries located in any of the industrial areas in Aborepi and Port Amara. due to the many countries depending on the nation for medicines and medical services, Nubia is now concentrating on becoming a hub for the medical industry in East Lybia, providing facilities and concessions for medical investments and succeeding in covering about 70% of needs and exporting to many neighbouring nations. Rapid industrialization has done any wonders for the Nubian economy by lifting 2.7 million out of poverty, but has had unforeseen consequences on the environment

Extensive petroleum exploration first began in the mid-1970s. Significant finds were made in the Upper Nile region (now Shilluk State in Nile Republic) and commercial quantities of oil began to be exported in October 2000, reducing outflow of foreign exchange for imported petroleum products. Today, oil is an important export industry in Nubia. Estimates suggest that oil accounts for between 70% and 90% of total exports. With the abrupt civil war in the Nile Republic in 2012, Nubia has cut off the pipelines and all oil exports for security purposes.

With the nation’s current rapid industrialization, the nation is also facing a very sharp rise of the services sector. Many government and private banks, notably the Darfur Finance Group based in Gereida, Alwa Group in Aborepi and the Kerma Nation Bank in Shendi. As of 2025, the services industry accounted for 56.7% of the national economy. Besides finances, companies from Mesopotamia, Abyssinia and Africa have began to use Aborepi as a major centre for communications technology. Another major industry is the underdeveloped tourism industry, with ancient Meroitic sites, medieval Makurian and Alodian temples, natural landscapes and modern cities being the top attractions for the 3.2 million annual tourists.

Severely damaged during the 2019 coup, the general state of infrastructure outside major cities is poor. As of 2022, the country only had 2,572 kilometres of paved roads, of which a third may be in disrepair. Outside of the rails made for the mining industry, barely any lines exist for commercial and passenger use. The largest port is at Port Amara, which is largely being developed by foreign nations. A future port at Suakin is also being constructed. Despite having upwards to 30 airports, only two have the handling capacity for international flights, being King Taharqo and Naqa Intl. Airport serving Khiertom District, and Port Amara Intl. serving Red Sea State.

## Folk

As of 2025, the population of Nubia was 53.11 million, making it one of Azania’s most populous nations, after the United Azanian Federation (UAF) and Abyssinia. The country’s annual growth rate is 2.4%, down from a high of 3.8% in 1993. It is currently at a stable level, though it’s 56.11 million strong populace has begun to place strains on the nation’s resources and environment. The average Nubian lives for 67 years, which has vastly improved from 48 years at 1960, the year of independence.

The folk of Nubia are comprised of many groups, ranging from the Bantu Kordofanic peoples, to the Semitic Arabs and Nubians, to the Cushitic Beja peoples. The Nubians, descended from the ancient civilizations of the Nile river account for 58.9% of the populace, or just under 31.28 million. The Arabs, which arrived in the 17th century comprise 8.6% of the populace, or 4.56 million. The Beja, a Cushitic people of the Red Sea comprise 8.3%, or 4.40 million. Smaller groups exist, such as the Copts of Dotawo State, and the various Kordofanian groups in the south, and the Daju, Fulani, Beria and Masalit in Darfur.

The faith of Nubians is highly sectarian, divided between the majority Christians and minority Muslims of the nation. The Christians make up the majority of the population, 81% adhering to the Orthodox branch, and 6% to Protestantism. Muslims are the second largest group, with 10.5% of the populace following Sunnism, and an unclear number following Shi’ism and Ibadism. Most Muslims are either Nubian Muslims, or Arabs. Animists and other unclassified beliefs are followed by 1.6% of the nation, mostly Kordofanians. Atheists, though rare is beginning to appear after the easing of religious freedom in 2019, mostly concentrated in Dotawo and Aborepi.

The official Nubian language is standardized, based off of the Nobiin dialect of Dotawo State and parts of southern Egypt around Aswan. Nubian was an official language since independence, though there were calls at the time to include all dialects instead of having one vernacular. Beja and Arabic (Shuwa and Butanic dialects) are the only languages with regional recognition, with calls for Coptic to also be recognized. English proficiency in Nubia is low despite being a former British colony, with only 27.8% knowing some degree of English. The official scripts is Nubian script, though Latin is sometimes used in government and business documents.

Education is underfunded in the nation, with only several universities existing, the first one being Apedemak University in Aborepi established in 1967. The country especially faces a severe shortage of teachers and teachers for children with special needs. The country currently has 60 institutions for higher education. The literacy rate is at 63.4%, which is average among other nations of the same development level. Women’s education was also severely underfunded until 2019, with plans to increase the national budget to 15%, of which a third is being used to make education more accessible to women.

## Culture

Nubians have developed a common identity, which has been celebrated in poetry, novels, music and storytelling. The nation’s long and multi-ethnic faceted history has been influenced by it’s geography as well as it’s past interactions with many other peoples and cultures. However, culturally, the Nubians are mostly devoid of foreign influences, but share commonalities with the people of Abyssinia in the form of religion and history, and Egypt, as it also contains a Nubian population. Each major ethnic group and historical region has its own special forms of cultural expression.

In such arts as painting, weaving, and pottery making, each locality developed unique forms and styles. However, more-unified national styles emerged under the influence of artists in the cities. A number of Nubian printmakers, calligraphers, and photographers have achieved international recognition. Poetry is another important form of literary expression. Modern Nubian poetry reflects the mixed African and Arab cultural heritage of the country, as expressed in the works of Himmat al-Mahdi and many others.

The cinema of Nubia began with cinematography by the British and Egyptian colonial presence in the early 20th century. After independence in 1956, a vigorous documentary film tradition was established, but financial pressures and serious constraints imposed by the government led to the decline of filmmaking from the 1990s onwards. Since the 2010s, several initiatives have shown an encouraging revival of filmmaking and public interest in film shows and festivals, albeit limited mainly to Aborepi. Most films are in English, as actors that can speak English are often prioritized, though Nubian and sometimes Beja is becoming a new standard.

Nubia is the birthplace of many ancient civilizations, each with their own sports, but in modern times the most popular sports in this region of the world is football as well as athletics, track and field to be specific. Soccer clubs have popped up across Nubia, ever since the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Other sports that are also rising in popularity include basketball, handball and volleyball. In spite of limited sporting infrastructure (the country only has six stadiums), kickboxing and boxing somehow gained prominence among the youth, especially females.

Nubia has a rich and unique musical culture that has been through chronic instability and repression during the modern history of Sudan. Music in Nubia has also been influenced since the beginning of it's 2,000 year history, stretching back to Egyptian instruments of the woodwind branch, and the brief experimentation with Abyssinian stringed instruments during the medieval periods. A noted instrument is the Tambur, which is wooded string instrument native to Dotawo State. The music of the Dardaju region is the most documented when dealing with the music of minorities of the nation. It sounds similar to the music of Kanembu.

Modern Nubian architecture is distinctive, and typically features a large courtyard surrounded by a high wall. A large, ornately decorated gate, preferably facing the Nile, dominates the property. Brightly coloured stucco is often decorated with symbols connected with the family inside, or popular motifs such as geometric patterns, palm trees, or the evil eye that wards away bad luck. Nubians invented the Nubian vault, a type of curved surface forming a vaulted structure. Nowadays, the government is increasing funding for projects that tie in vernacular elements to protect Nubian architectural practices.