2500 BC to 1500 BC

Kerma, Egypt's southern rival

Around 2500 BC a kingdom grows at Kerma, near the third cataract of the Nile, the first great state in Africa south of Egypt. Egypt's Middle Kingdom builds a chain of mud brick forts at the second cataract to hold it back. Around 1500 BC the pharaohs of the New Kingdom conquer Kerma and rule Nubia for four centuries.