بيان رقم (1) اعلان التحالف النوبى

Quote: The Lost Land of Nubia: Egypt's Southern Neighbor in Africa Robert K. Ritner The Land and Its History The term "Nubia" designates a land now shared between the modern states of Egypt and the Sudan. Stretching for some 1,600 miles along the river Nile south of the Egyptian border town of Aswan, Nubia is a land of contrasts in both geography and peoples. Encroaching sands along the shore and rocky outcrops, or "cataracts," in the river make the northern section often inhospitable to large settlements and easy transportation, while farther south near the modern city of Khartoum the Nile divides to produce vast grasslands and fertile fields. Taking its name from the south to north direction of the Nile's flow, "Lower" (or northern) Nubia was continually in contact with Egyptian civilization, whether as trading partner, rival, colony or conqueror. Despite its poor agricultural resources, this portion of Nubia contained major deposits of gold, and for that reason Egypt repeatedly occupied and fortified the north. The modern name "Nubia" probably derives from the ancient Egyptian word for "gold" (nub). Other Egyptian names for the territory have also survived into modern times, including "Cush" (found in the Bible) and "Nehsy" in the personal names Phineas and Pincus (which both mean "the Nubian"). The peoples that the Egyptians encountered in the north have histories that can be traced as long as those of Egypt, but with significant differences. Despite cultural similarities in the earliest periods, the northern Nubians were slow to develop anything resembling a unified state, and the earliest evidence of political unity appears only 2,500 years after the First Dynasty of Egypt. Unlike Egypt, where writing appears before 3200 BC, Nubian societies remained unable to write their own languages until Roman times, although rulers adopted the dominant Egyptian script and language for official monuments from about 700 BC. As a result of these factors, Nubian groups were often small tribal bands near the river or mobile bedouin in the deserts who left no imposing monuments or texts to describe their lives.