Nubia

Nubia is a comparatively modern name for a large region of Africa, formerly a portion of Ethiopia (q.v.), and extending on both sides of the Nile from Egypt to Abyssinia; touching the Red Sea on the east and the desert on the west. Nubia Proper, or Lower Nubia, extends from Assouan on the Egyptian frontier to Dongola; beyond that is Upper Nubia. But of late the name of Egyptian Soudan, properly applicable to a section of Upper Nubia, has come to be used for Nubia in its widest sense, together with the once Egyptian territory actually in the Soudan, and the equatorial provinces (see SOUDAN, also NILE). Under the Pharaohs Nubia was called Cush, but under the twentieth dynasty it was recovered by a series of native rulers, who adopted the civilisation of the Egyptians, and at a later date were Christianised (see ETHIOPIA). At present the country is occupied by races belonging to several different stocks, which have in most places become much mixed in blood. The chief elements are Arab, more or less mixed with Nilotic and Negro blood, mainly in Upper Nubia; Ababdeli and Bisharin between the Nile and the Red Sea; and Nubas and Barabira in Lower Nubia, on and near the Nile between Assouan and Dongola. The Semitic Arabs are comparatively recent intruders to this region. They entered Nubia after occupying Egypt in the 7th century, but were resisted by the Christian Dongolawi kings till the 14th century, when the Arabs, assisted by a large contingent of Bosnians, became masters of the land. Presumably, the aboriginal negro population and tongue have been gradually modified by the admixture of Hamitic and Semitic elements. The various tribes, most of them active and warlike, are Moslems by faith, and till 1820 were ruled by their own chiefs. In that year Ismail Pasha made Nubia an Egyptian territory; and till 1881 it shared the fate of Egypt. For its later history, see EGYPT, SOUDAN. Both in its lower and upper sections Nubia is for the most part an expanse of steppes or rocky desert, with patches where grass sometimes grows, and ravines in which moisture enough is found to keep alive a few mimosas or palms, and to raise pasture for gazelles and camels. There are also wells and small oases here and there, as on the chief caravan routes. The great 'Nubian Desert' lies east of the Nile, opposite the great western bend of the river. Below Khartoum rain is almost unknown; the climate is accordingly excessively hot and dry, and, except in the river-ports after the fall of the Nile, is very healthy. The only exception to the general aridity is the narrow strip of country on both sides of the Nile, which nowhere exceeds four miles in breadth, and in many places is only a quarter of a mile wide. The most fertile part is near Dongola. A mountain barrier bounds the valley on both sides of the Nile, and consists of granite and sandstone.