The ancient country of Cush was in the eastern Sudan region of Africa. During the Middle Ages, the Sudan was not united and organized as a single country. The Afro-Asian world considered the Sudan to be that territory extending from the Sahara Desert almost to the F. ciuator, its widest part nearly 1000 miles; also it extended from the Atlantic Ocean to tlie highlands of Ethiopia in the east, its longest part about 4000 miles. This vast area includes such countries as the modern Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, Ciuinea, Senegal, Gambia, Upper Volta, etcclra. During the colonial period, this area was clivided into two parts called the French Sudan in the west and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in the east.
The word Sudan is an Arabic word meaning black. The Arabs called this vast area Bilad es Sudan (the territory of the black) because the tribes here were very black, unmixed tribes.
In dealing with the kingdom of Cush, we find that it is located in the eastern Sudan near the Red Sea. The country of Cush was situated on both sides of the Nile River between the third and sixth cataracts. The modern nation called the Sudan occupies tliis territory. The important cities of ancient Cush were Napata, .Meroe, Musawarat, Kurru, Kurgas, and Naga. 'Fhcre were two civilizations of the Ethiopian people in the continent of Africa: one was in the liighlands of Ethiopia-* rvith its capital at Axum; the second was located in the region of the present-day Sudan with its capital at Napata and at other times, at Meroe.
'Flic people in the ancient country of Cush svere called Nuba or Nubians as subnames; other subnames they use are Hejas or Bisharin, which arc sub-tribes. These people, it svoulcl be correct to say, are northern Ethiopians who live in the Sudan. European writers make a practice of calling various tribes in Africa by the infamous name Negroes. True Africans are indeed Africans regardless of what they Look like. The Afric. nns have their own tribal names and they do not need the Kuropean appellations of Nigritians, Negroes, Negri Hoes, or Negroids.
World History
