The Sudan Handbook

58

3. Early States on the Nile

by abdelRahman ali mohammed

& deRek Welsby

Sudan, Nubia and Egypt

Discussions of Sudan’s history before the late nineteenth century are

complicated by differences between present-day political and cultural

boundaries and those of earlier periods. The first cataract of the Nile near

present-day Aswan is a key reference point. From the emergence of the

Pharaonic state around  3000     bce onwards, the southern border of Egypt

lay hereabouts. Egypt often controlled territory further south, but to the

Egyptians the land beyond the cataract remained an alien realm. In later

periods, although the location of the frontier fluctuated , a major cultural

boundary remained. Following the Mahdist revolt in the 1880s and the

expulsion of Egypt from Sudan, Egyptian control was maintained as far

south as Wadi Halfa, and in January     1899     the official frontier between the

two countries was fixed along the Twenty-second Parallel, which lies just

north of the Second Cataract. In any treatment of the history of Sudan

prior to this time, the part of Egypt that lies south of the First Cataract

must be included.

Not only boundaries, but geographical and cultural terminology change

over time. Thus the term Nubia may be used historically to describe an

extensive cultural zone, reaching as far north as the First Cataract, but

in the present day it has a more restricted definition, signifying those

reaches of the river north of the Nile bend where speakers of Nubian

languages reside.

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors

(www.riftvalley.net).