Transcript The Empires of Egypt and Nubia Collide KEY IDEA

The Empires of Egypt
and Nubia Collide
KEY IDEA After Egypt conquered
Nubia, these two empires along
the Nile began trading and cultural
ties.
The Middle Kingdom
2080 BC –1640 BC
• The succession of weak pharaohs and
power struggles among nobles resulted in
chaos in Egypt and gave way to the
emergence of the Middle Kingdom.
The Second Intermediate Period
The Hyksos Invasion of Egypt
lasted for 70 years. They had
used their horse drawn
chariots to cross the desert.
This invasion left the
Egyptians feeling vulnerable.
Before the Hyksos invasion,
the desert had always
protected them from outsiders.
Technology had made their
barrier obsolete.
The New Kingdom
• After the Hyksos were driven out of Egypt, the
new rulers were determined to restore the power
of Egypt. They wanted to build a vast strong
empire.
• They used the technology of the Hyksos, bronze
weapons an horse-drawn chariots, to become
conquerors throughout the region.
Hatshepsut- The Female Pharaoh
1472 BC – 1458 BC
• Hatshepsut was a female
ruler of Egypt. She took
over the role of ruler
because her stepson,
Thutmose III was just a
child when he inherited the
throne.
• She was more interested in
creating a trade empire than
waging war.
Thutmose III
1458 BC – 1425 BC
• Thutemose III,
Hatshepsut’s stepson,
is believed to have
ordered her
assassination.
• He was not interested
in peaceful relations
with his neighbors,
instead he wanted to
increase the area of
the Egyptian empire.
Thutmose’s Empire
• During his rule,
Thutmose III
increased the
Egyptian empire to
include Syria,
Palestine and Nubia
The Battle of Kadesh
• In 1285 B.C. The
Egyptians and the Hittites
from the north found
themselves competing over
parts of Palestine. They
fought many battles and
neither side was able to
claim victory. To settle the
dispute, Ramses II and the
Hittite king entered into a
peace treaty that lasted
nearly 20 years and brought
peace to the region.
The Pharaohs and the Afterlife
• The Pharaohs of the New Kingdom did not want
to suffer the fate of the earlier pharaohs whose
bodies and treasure was looted from the
pyramids.
• Instead of building their tombs in plain sight,
they built their tombs hidden away in the desert
away from tomb robbers and looters. They were
buried near the city of Thebes in the Valley of the
Kings.
The Valley of the Kings
• This is an aerial view of the Valley of the Kings
Tombs of the Pharaohs
Tombs and Treasure
Ramses II
1290 BC – 1224 BC
• Ramses II, added to the
architecture of the Egyptian
Empire. He spent his vast
wealth erecting great
temples to glorify himself
at Karnak and the main
Egyptian god Amon at
Abu Simbel. He also
commissioned hundreds of
statues of himself to be
erected throughout the
empire.
Abu Simbel and Ramses’ Temple
Egypt is Invaded
• In about 1200 B.C. The “People of the Sea”,
most likely Philistines or Phoenicians, invaded
the Egyptian and Hittite kingdoms.
• The Egyptian empire was unable to recover, as a
result, Egypt split into regional units.
• Fractured, Egypt suffered invasions by many of
the neighboring people who had once been
dominated by the empire.
The Libyans Take Control
• Their neighbors to the west took the
opportunity to seize control of Egypt.
• The Libyans were able to easily defeat the
disunited region. Instead of imposing their
own culture upon the Egyptians, the
Libyans adopted many ideas and practices
of the Egyptians.
Nubia Restores The Egyptian Throne
• The Nubians (Sudan) had been connected
to the Egyptians for over a thousand years.
Their trade, governance and culture were
intermixed.
• Nubia provided a trade corridor to the
interior of Africa as well as a source of
slaves and other trade goods.
Piankhi Defeats the Libyans
• After the invasions of the
Libyans, the Nubians gained their
independence. However, they did
not cut their ties with Egypt.
They saw themselves as the
guardians of Egyptian culture.
• In 750 B.C. a strong Nubian king,
Piankhi, from the kingdom of
Kush defeated the Libyans and
retook the Egyptian throne after
200 years of Libyan control.
Assyrians Defeat Kush
• The Kushite control of Egypt did not last
long. In 671 B.C. the Assyrians, a war-like
people from northern Mesopotamia,
conquered the Nubian dynasty in Egypt.
• The royal family was forced to flee to the
south where they settled in a coastal city of
Meroë.
Meroë Become a Thriving City
• Under the control of the Kushites, Meroë
becomes a thriving center for trade
between Africa and Arabia and India.
• The Kushites found abundant supplies of
iron ore not present in Egypt. Meroë
became a main center for the manufacture
of iron weapons and tools.