Kingdom of Kerma

Kingdom of Kerma was a state in Nubia and Sudan (North and West Africa) that lasted from c. 2500 to 1500 BCE, about 1,000 years. Its people spoke Nilo-Saharan languages (Kanuri, Songhai, Nubian, Luo, Maasai).

First great kingdom of sub-Saharan Africa, centred above the Third Cataract, with huge mud-brick temples and royal tombs holding hundreds of sacrificed retainers. Thutmose I destroyed it around 1500 BCE.

See Kingdom of Kerma on the interactive timeline

Facts

Dates

c. 2500 to 1500 BCE

Duration

1,000 years

Type

State

Region

Nubia and Sudan, North and West Africa

Language family

Nilo-Saharan

Capital

Kerma

Became

• Egyptian Nubia (Viceroyalty of Kush) c. 1500 to 1070 BCE

Neighbours in North and West Africa

• Old Kingdom of Egypt c. 2686 to 2181 BCE
• New Kingdom of Egypt c. 1550 to 1069 BCE
• Middle Kingdom of Egypt c. 2055 to 1650 BCE
• Land of Punt c. 2500 to 980 BCE
• Egyptian Nubia (Viceroyalty of Kush) c. 1500 to 1070 BCE
• First Intermediate Period c. 2181 to 2055 BCE
• Second Intermediate Period c. 1650 to 1550 BCE
• Hyksos (Fifteenth Dynasty) c. 1650 to 1550 BCE

Elsewhere in the world at the same time

• Minoan civilization c. 3100 to 1450 BCE, Europe
• Shang dynasty c. 1600 to 1046 BCE, East Asia
• Old Babylonian Empire 1894 to 1595 BCE, Middle East
• Akkadian Empire c. 2334 to 2154 BCE, Middle East

Questions