farmers became too much. Apparently, raiders using chariots
swept out of the northern Sahara and drove the farmers out.
Th e Greek historian Herodotus (ca. 484–between 430 and
420 b.c.e.) suggested the attackers were the Garamantes, a
Berber group from the northern coastal area of North Africa.
Th e fi ghting was probably very one-sided, with the attackers
using not only chariots but also javelins and shields against
farmers who had only bows. Th e farmers were probably part
of an ethnic group that already occupied much of West Af-
rica. Th eir descendants may have been the Bantu-speaking
people who eventually spread over most of the continent.
Warfare as modern people think of it, with large num-
bers of warriors or soldiers united in a single cause, may have
taken place in Africa in many places, but this is not known
because of the lack of archaeological or written evidence. Th e
earliest records of war tend to come from the earliest literate
peoples of Africa, the Egyptians, Kushites, and Axumites of
northeastern Africa.NUBIA
Egyptian culture may have begun around 5000 b.c.e. in
farming communities in Upper Egypt—the southern half of
what became ancient Egypt. By 3500 b.c.e. the culture was
spreading north. At the same time, a strong local culture was
developing in Nubia, which was south of Egypt. Th e Nubians
of this time were several diff erent groups, some farmers and
others pastoralists. By about 2250 b.c.e. a Nubian confedera-
tion had formed under one chief just south of Egypt in an
area called Wawat. Th is confederation and Egypt traded with
each other. Nubian warriors were noted for their ferocity, and
for most of their history aft er 2250 b.c.e. t hey were in dema nd
as mercenaries in armies as far away as Mesopotamia. None-
theless, Wawat and much of the region around it were rich in
gold, and for this prized commodity Egypt sent an army to
occupy Nubia.
Th is was not easily done, even though the Nubians’ mil-
itary technology was inferior to that of the Egyptians. Th e
Egyptians had composite bows, an import from the Near
East. A composite bow had an inner lining of bone, a middle
lining of wood, and an outer lining of animal skin. It some-
times was made of more than one kind of wood, each kind
intended to provide strength or springiness. Th e composite
bow was powerful, and the arrows it launched could pen-
etrate the animal-skin shields of the Nubians. Some of the
nomads among the Nubians continued to fi ght for decades
by raiding the Egyptians, but the Egyptians built several forts
in the region that eventually enabled them to defeat eff orts to
drive them away.KUSH
Th ere seems to have been much activity south of the Egyp-
tian conquests in Nubia. A kingdom called Karmah, aft er
one of its most important cities, became an important trad-
ing center for eastern Africa. Whatever Karmah’s military
problems, they were signifi cant enough for the kingdom tofortify its cities with walls. By 1650 b.c.e. Karmah had ex-
tended its territory almost as far north as the fi rst cataract on
the Nile. Karmah had taken advantage of a period of political
chaos in Egypt, the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1640–ca.
1532 b.c.e.). Th e Egyptian king Th utmose I (r. ca. 1504–ca.
1492 b.c.e.) invaded Karmah. His army sacked the city and
extended Egyptian infl uence south of the fi ft h cataract of the
Nile. Over the next 400 years Egypt tried to make the land it
called Kush into a cultural disciple of Egypt. Th e children of
the political elite of Kush were raised in Egypt, where they
were taught to worship Egyptian gods, to follow Egyptian
customs, and to speak, read, and write Egyptian. By 950 b.c.e.
the Kushites had developed a strong kingdom, and its leaders
regarded themselves as the true inheritors of ancient Egyp-
tian culture.
Egypt had fallen again into chaos, having become di-
vided among many petty kings who contended for power. Th e
Nile Delta had several independent city-states. A strong dy-
nasty had been founded in Kush by King Alura (r. ca. 780–ca.
760 b.c.e.). Th e wars in Egypt had cut the Kushites off from
worship at important sites of their religion. Th us, Alura’s suc-
cessor, Kashta (r. ca. 760–ca. 747 b.c.e.), sent his son Piankhi
(r. 751–716 b.c.e.) in 748 b.c.e. to secure Th ebes.
Th e exact details about the army Piankhi took with him
are not known, but it probably numbered more than 10,000
troops. Its principal soldiers were spearmen, still mostly
equipped with spears with stone tips. Th ey had chariots but
not in great numbers. Th e Kush had war elephants of a species
now probably extinct that was easier to train than the notori-
ously irritable African elephants from farther south. Piankhi
himself probably rode an elephant; at least, Kushite kings are
depicted in Kushite art as riding elephants. Th eir bows were
probably still not composite. Th e organization of the army
probably was into infantry, chariots, and elephants. Women
could be military leaders in Kush, and it is likely that some of
Piankhi’s offi cers, including generals, were women. Th is sug-
gests that women played other roles in the army, but evidence
is scant for their participation in infantry or other units.
Regional Egyptian governors and chieft ains usually sub-
mitted to Piankhi on his way to Th ebes. His object was not to
destroy but to preserve, so he did not loot and sack. Instead,
he secured access to Th ebes, where he worshipped. When he
assumed the throne of Kush, he made his capital in Napata,
far to the south of Egypt, along the Nile. Napata was a major
site for the worship of the Egyptian god Amun, who at the
time was the principal deity in Kush.
In the early 720s b.c.e. the Egyptian chief of the city of
Saïs in the Nile Delta, Tefnakhte (r. ca. 724–717 b.c.e.), raised
an army and navy and marched and sailed south along the
Nile. King Nimlot of the city of Hermopolis surrendered to
Tefnakhte. Tefnakhte then sent his fl eet toward Th ebes. How
Piankhi actually regarded these events is unclear, but he may
have viewed Tefnakhte’s aggression toward Th ebes as a threat
to Kush’s infl uence in Upper Egypt, of which Th ebes was the
capital. Piankhi sent an army into Egypt. He divided it intowar and conquest: Africa 11230895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1123 1123 10/10/07 2:31:10 PM