When mentioning the Nile River, many people immediately think of ancient Egypt. However, there exists another ancient and mysterious civilization here, known as Kerma.
When asked about the most famous ancient civilization in the history of Africa, most people would quickly answer Egypt. But in fact, regarding ancient Egyptian civilization as an unbroken lineage of Pharaohs ruling the banks of the Nile for millennia is a misconception.
Today, we know that there are three periods in which Egypt can truly be considered a unified kingdom, known as the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom. Between these periods were centuries of internal conflict and chaos referred to as the Intermediate Period.
Even during the three unified periods of ancient Egypt, the Egyptians did not have complete control over the Nile River. Especially during the Middle Kingdom, they faced significant competition from a neighboring country to the south, a civilization that existed even longer than the Pharaohs: Kerma.
The Kerma civilization is located in present-day Sudan.
Named after their capital city, the Kerma civilization is located in present-day Sudan and emerged around 5,500 years ago. In fact, Kerma is currently one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia.
Numerous excavations and studies in the area have led to the discovery of many tombs and residential areas of the main city. More recent discoveries about other Kerma settlements show that at its peak, this civilization was immensely developed and was at least comparable in size to ancient Egypt.
The Kerma civilization once controlled over 200 miles (322 km) upstream of the Nile River. Their capital housed a massive temple at its center, and they were capable of creating artifacts that could rival anything produced by Egypt at that time.
The Origins of Kerma
Before Kerma rose to prominence, the area was ruled by the Naqada Kingdom. The Naqada kings are considered the predecessors of the first Pharaohs of Egypt, with ambitions to conquer Nubia and control the entire territory along the Nile River.
In this regard, they were widely successful, establishing the Old Kingdom of Egypt and controlling most of the Nile until around 2400 BC. However, with the collapse of the Old Kingdom, control over the southern part of the Nile weakened and was eventually lost.
Most records related to the periods between the great Egyptian kingdoms are extremely fragmentary, but it appears that Kerma moved into the abandoned areas to the south of the Nile. By the time Egypt stabilized again around 2000 BC, Kerma had emerged as a powerful kingdom.
The city of Kerma was the first urban center in southern Egypt.
As a result, the newly unified Pharaohs of Egypt had to acknowledge the existence of Kerma and view it as a peer nation. Trade links between the two nations were established, particularly involving jewelry and blue pottery, which were exported from Kerma along the Nile.
However, the memory of their lost lands was never forgotten by the Egyptians, and the Pharaohs regarded the territories to the south as occupied lands that rightfully belonged to them.
From archaeological data, we also know that clashes at the Egypt-Kerma border occurred frequently, but both sides avoided fierce battles, each wary of the other’s power. Neither the Kerma people nor the Egyptians could significantly penetrate each other’s territories, as the power balance between them was quite similar.
Kerma and the Hyksos
Although Kerma was a nation with developed trade routes and good access to resources in sub-Saharan Africa, the threat of a belligerent Egypt always loomed to the north.
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt was also the shortest-lived of the three golden periods of Egypt, ending around 1800 BC. In the following decades and centuries, Egypt weakened due to internal strife among dynasties, and Kerma sought to take advantage of this.
The Kerma civilization once controlled over 200 miles (322 km) upstream of the Nile River.
To maximize their advantage, in 1650 BC, the Kerma people proposed an alliance with the Hyksos to besiege and attack Egypt.
As a result, they triumphed and opened a period in which Egypt was ruled by “foreign” Pharaohs for the first time. While the Hyksos ruled the Nile Delta and northern Egypt, the kingdom of Kerma claimed the entire southern Nile for itself.
At this time, the power of the old Egyptian royalty was confined to a small territory around their former capital, Thebes. The people of Upper Egypt accepted Kerma’s control, ushering in a “golden” era for the kingdom of Kerma.
Bronze and bone dagger from the golden age of Kerma.
The Three Stages of the Kerma Kingdom
The Kerma Kingdom can be divided into three stages, known as Early Kerma, Middle Kerma, and Classic Kerma. Early Kerma spans from around 2500 BC to 2050 BC, though very little is known about this period.
Middle Kerma refers to the period from around 2050 BC to 1750 BC, during which Kerma was a major rival of southern Egypt. And Classic Kerma, regarded as the golden age of the Kerma Kingdom – following their conquest of Egypt with the Hyksos, lasted from approximately 1750 BC to 1500 BC.
In this final period of Kerma, the rulers successfully controlled the Egyptian fortresses and gold mines in the southern Nile. The kingdom then continued to expand its territory until they encountered Pharaoh Thutmose I.
Classic Kerma, regarded as the golden age of the Kerma Kingdom.
Thutmose was the third Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, the first dynasty of the final and greatest unified kingdom of Egypt: the New Kingdom.
Pharaoh Thutmose I led an army southward into Kerma territory, destroying and seizing their kingdom. Egypt then restored its lost lands, and the Kerma people, rivals of Egypt for centuries, were subsequently annihilated.
However, in the 200 years that followed, the Egyptians continued to face uprisings from the remnants of the Kerma kingdom, who refused to allow their culture to be absorbed by Egypt.
But the successors of the remnants of the Kerma kingdom continued to live in the region known as Kush. And many centuries later, they achieved victory and ruled Egypt as the Pharaohs of the 25th dynasty.
