Nubia, Northeast Africa · Iron Age
Kingdom of Kush
Nubian pharaohs who ruled Egypt itself
1,070 BCE – 350 CE · 1,420 years
A Nubian kingdom that conquered and ruled Egypt as pharaohs, later building more pyramids than Egypt itself.
Where it sits on the calendar
Government
Divine kingship
Writing system
Meroitic script
Estimated peak population
1,000,000
How it ended
Invasion or conquest
Traits
Monumental architecture Bronze metallurgy Iron metallurgy Irrigation agriculture Standing army Long-distance trade Urban planning Codified law Astronomical record-keeping Seafaring
How Kingdom of Kush ended
The capital Meroë declined under pressure from the rising Kingdom of Aksum.
See other civilizations that fell the same way →Notable for
- Kushite pharaohs ruling Egypt as its 25th Dynasty
- More pyramids than Egypt, though smaller
- Major iron-smelting industry
Who else was alive at the same time
8 other civilizations in this dataset overlap with Kingdom of Kush's 1,420-year span.
See every overlap involving Kingdom of Kush →