Nubian

Nubian refers to the people, languages, and historical cultures of Nubia, a region along the Nile in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. The term covers the ethnic groups descended from ancient Nubian polities as well as the Nubian languages and their modern dialects.

Geographically, Nubia runs from the first cataract below Aswan in Egypt to roughly Khartoum in Sudan, with communities along the Nile’s banks. For much of its long history Nubia maintained distinct political centers while engaging in extensive trade and cultural exchange with Egypt and other neighbors.

In antiquity Nubia gave rise to the Kerma culture, followed by the Napatan and Meroitic kingdoms. The Kushite state expanded north to rule Egypt as the 25th Dynasty and founded Meroë, noted for iron production and distinctive pyramids. The Meroitic script is among Nubia’s early writing systems. After centuries of interaction with Egypt and Rome, Nubia’s political prominence declined, but Christian Nubia persisted in medieval kingdoms such as Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia.

From about the 14th century onward Nubia experienced gradual Islamization and Arabization, and today Nubians live mainly in southern Egypt and northern Sudan, with diaspora communities elsewhere. They maintain distinctive cultural traditions, crafts, and music, and speak Nubian languages, a branch of the Eastern Sudanic subgroup within the Nilo-Saharan language family. The most widely spoken contemporary Nubian language is Nobiin; other varieties include Kenzi-Dongola and several endangered dialects.