Geography , we may say , is partly discovered and partly invented , but for a given community the geography is considered as a sort of familiarity , a part of the identity of a given population . Every inhabited region is also a landscape of the mind of that population who has always a different interpretation of that of the intruders .
The same concept is to be applied on the history of those inhabitants; the history of this community is the record of events registered by the observers of the community all the generation long .
These considerations are applied clearly to the case of geography and history of the Nubians , the record source of the Nubian history came basically by the Egyptian history record and very few of the Greek and bible writings . And there also at least incipiently an indigenous Nubian image of
Nubia
and its peoples involving its own set of biases , and that we will discuss in the coming pages .
There is no a modern political entity called Nubia . The area known by this name lies today partly in
Egypt
and partly in the Republic of Sudan . A large portion of the northern part of ancient Nubia currently lies submerged under the reservoir formed behind Egypt's
High Dam
at
Aswan
. The following information describes the geographic and topographic area as it existed before the construction of the High Dam , the reason that thousands of Nubians from the north were forced to relocate from their endangered homelands to be resettled in Egypt and Sudan , so the major part of the land of Nubia was covered by the dam water . For the ancient Mediterranean world , the land to south of Egypt was a land of mystery and legend . The land of the riche and exotic products coming from the black people . It is the home of the Nubians , whom
Greeks
called the Ethiopian . This land , which now sited between Egypt and Sudan , is a land of vast distances , and its exploration was long hampered by transport problems and political disturbances all the history long . In the last hundred years , Nubia has been given its secrets slowly; their people missing , abandoned cities and lost their kingdoms after the construction of the Aswan High Dam .
The land of Nubia is a desert , fragmented by the River Nile . Due to the lack of water and poor soil , most of Nubia has never been able to support large populations over long periods . However
, some of the greatest civilizations of Africa came here , centers of achievement whose existence was based on industry and commerce .
In ancient times , however , the Nubian landscape became well known for others , more exotic resources that attracted the attention of neighboring countries , particularly Egypt . Materials commonly exported from or through Nubia were gold , ivory , and ebony . Some of these materials actually originated in areas south of Nubia , so Nubia served as a corridor for trade . Sometimes the Egyptians controlled this trade , so it was only when the Nubian's were able to serve as middlemen that Nubia itself profited from these resources
)
)
)
)
