LOCATION

Traditionally, Nubia is considered to be located between the 18^th and 24^th degrees latitude North, between Aswan (in Egypt) to Ed-Debba above the Fourth Cataract (in Sudan). In Antiquity, the ethnic, linguistic and political borders varied, and according to some, reaching the confluence of the White and Blue Nile. In the present day, the term ‘Nubia’ may be applied to the ‘Land of the Cataracts’.

Today we use the term ‘Middle Nile’ to designate a region between the Second and Fourth Cataracts, and ‘Upper Nile’, a territory beginning south of Khartoum. Depending on the period, Nubia has seen the emergence of cultures and civilisations that have established themselves along the Nile valley.

The ancient Egyptians called the Land of the Cataracts ‘To-sety’, while the Greeks referred to it as ‘Ethiopia’. In Nubia, Bilad as-Sudan, is ‘The Land of the Black’, those of the burnt faces.