Showing posts with label civilization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civilization. Show all posts

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Politics of the Kush (and not the kind from a Dr. Dre song)



If you're like me, you might not be terribly familiar with the Kush people of Africa, so here's a bit of background... the Kush civilization was a group located in the South of the Nile River valley, mostly in what is the modern day country of Sudan. For most of it's history it was the generally accepted belief that the Kushite culture was a result of the expansion of Egyptian rule into that area, but more recent discoveries in the latter half of the 20th century showed strong evidence that a thriving culture culture existed here prior to the First Egyptian Dynasty, and might have been a very influential force in the development of the Kemites. The Kush Civilization had rich architectural achievements, flourishing trade, a strong belief in divine kingship, and even matriarchy. They were under Egyptian rule for several centuries, but at their high point the Kingdom of Kush, based in Meroe, took control of Kemet and had a very prosperous dynasty of Kushite Pharaohs. But what made political landscape of the Kush kingdom unique?