Editing History of Sudan (section)

===Kingdom of Kush===
{{main|Kingdom of Kush|Kushite religion}}
[[File:Su-map.png|thumb|250px|right|Sudan combines the lands of several ancient kingdoms.]]

Northern Sudan's earliest historical record comes from ancient Egyptian sources, which described the land upstream as ''Kush''. For more than two thousand years after the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] ({{circa}} 2700–2180 BC), Egypt had a dominating and significant influence over its southern neighbor, and even afterward, the legacy of Egyptian cultural and religious introductions remained important.<ref name="locearlyhist" />

Over the centuries, trade developed. Egyptian caravans carried grain to Kush and returned to Aswan with [[ivory]], [[incense]], [[hide (skin)|hides]], and [[carnelian]] (a stone prized both as [[jewelry]] and for [[arrowhead]]s) for shipment downriver. Egyptian governors particularly valued [[gold]] in Nubia and soldiers in the [[pharaoh]]'s army. Egyptian military expeditions penetrated Kush periodically during the Old Kingdom. Yet there was no attempt to establish a permanent presence in the area until the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] (c. 2100–1720&nbsp;BC), when Egypt constructed a network of forts along the Nile as far south as Samnah in [[Lower Egypt]] to guard the flow of gold from mines in Wawat, the area between the First and Second Cataracts.<ref name="locearlyhist" />
[[File:Sudan Meroe Pyramids 2001.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Aerial view of the [[Nubian pyramids]] at [[Meroë]] (2001), capital of the [[Kingdom of Kush]]]]
Around 1720&nbsp;BC, [[Canaan]]ite nomads called the [[Hyksos]] took over Egypt, ended the Middle Kingdom, severed links with Kush, and destroyed the forts along the Nile River. To fill the vacuum left by the Egyptian withdrawal, a culturally distinct indigenous Kushite kingdom emerged at [[Kerma]], near present-day [[Dongola]]. After Egyptian power revived during the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] (c. 1570–1100&nbsp;BC), the pharaoh [[Ahmose I]] incorporated Kush as an Egyptian ruled province governed by a [[viceroy]]. Although Egypt's administrative control of Kush extended only down to the Fourth Cataract, Egyptian sources list tributary districts reaching to the [[Red Sea]] and upstream to the confluence of the [[Blue Nile]] and [[White Nile]] rivers. Egyptian authorities ensured the loyalty of local chiefs by drafting their children to serve as pages at the pharaoh's court. Egypt also expected tribute in [[gold]] and [[slavery|workers]] from local Kushite chiefs.<ref name="locearlyhist" />

Once Egypt had established political and military mastery over Kush, officials, priests, merchants, and artisans settled in the region. The [[Egyptian language]] became widely used in everyday activities. Many rich Kushites took to worshipping Egyptian gods and built temples for them. The temples remained centres of official religious worship until the coming of [[Christianity]] to the region during the sixth century. When Egyptian influence declined or succumbed to foreign domination, the Kushite elite regarded themselves as central powers and believed themselves as idols of Egyptian culture and religion.<ref name="locearlyhist" />

By the 11th century&nbsp;BC, the authority of the New Kingdom dynasties had diminished, allowing divided rule in Egypt, and ending Egyptian control of Kush. With the withdrawal of the Egyptians, there ceased to be any written record or information from Kush about the region's activities over the next three hundred years. In the early eighth century&nbsp;BC, however, Kush emerged as an independent kingdom ruled from [[Napata]] by an aggressive line of monarchs who slowly extended their influence into Egypt. Around 750&nbsp;BC, a Kushite king called [[Kashta]] conquered [[Upper Egypt]] and became ruler of [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] until approximately 740&nbsp;BC. His successor, [[Piye]], subdued the [[Nile Delta]] and conquered Egypt, thus initiating the [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt|Twenty-fifth Dynasty]]. Piye founded a line of kings who ruled Kush and Thebes for about a hundred years. The dynasty's interference with [[Assyria]]'s sphere of influence in the Near East caused a confrontation between Egypt and the powerful Assyrian state, which controlled a vast empire comprising much of the [[Middle East]], [[Anatolia]], [[Caucasus]]{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}} and the Eastern [[Mediterranean Basin]] from their homeland in [[Upper Mesopotamia]].

[[Taharqa]] (688–663&nbsp;BC), the last Kushite pharaoh, was defeated and driven out of the Near East by [[Sennacherib]] of Assyria. Sennacherib's successor [[Esarhaddon]] went further, launching a full-scale invasion of Egypt in 674 BC, defeating Taharqa and quickly conquering the land. Taharqa fled back to Nubia, and native Egyptian princes were installed by the Assyrians as vassals of Esarhaddon. However, Taharqa was able to return some years later and wrest back control of a part of Egypt as far as [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] from the Egyptian vassal princes of Assyria. Esarhaddon died in his capital [[Nineveh]] while preparing to return to Egypt and once more eject the Kushites.<ref>Georges Roux – Ancient Iraq</ref>

Esarhaddon's successor [[Ashurbanipal]] sent a general with a small army which again defeated and ejected Taharqa from Egypt. Taharqa died in Nubia two years later. His successor, [[Tantamani]], attempted to regain Egypt. He successfully defeated [[Necho I]], the puppet ruler installed by Ashurbanipal, taking Thebes in the process. The Assyrians then sent a powerful army southwards. [[Tantamani]] was heavily routed, and the Assyrian army sacked Thebes to such an extent it never truly recovered. A native ruler, [[Psamtik I]] was placed on the throne, as a vassal of Ashurbanipal, thus ending the Kushite/Nubian Empire.