Makuria: Map & History

History

By the early 4th century, if not before, the Kingdom of Kush with its capital Meroe was collapsing. The region which would later constitute Makuria, i.e. the Nile Valley between the third Nile cataract and the great Nile bend of the fourth/fifth cataract, has been proposed to have seceded from Kush already in the 3rd century. Here, a homogenous and relatively isolated culture dubbed as "pre-Makuria" developed. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the region of Napata, located near the fourth cataract and formerly being one of the most important political and sacred places of Kush, served as the center for a new regional elite buried in large tumuli like those at el Zuma or Tanqasi. There was a significant population growth accompanied by social transformations.

Government

Makuria was a monarchy ruled by a king based in Dongola. The king was also considered a priest and could perform mass. How succession was decided is not clear. Early writers indicate it was from father to son. After the 12th century, however, it seems clear that Makuria was using the uncle-to-sister's-son system. A Coptic source from the mid 8th century refers to king Cyriacos as "orthodox Abyssinian king of Makuria" as well as "Greek king", with "Abyssinian" probably reflecting the Miaphysite Coptic church and "Greek" the Byzantine Orthodox one. In 1186 king Moses Georgios called himself "king of Alodia, Makuria, Nobadia, Dalmatia and Axioma."

Little is known about government below the king.

Economy

The main economic activity in Makuria was agriculture, with farmers growing several crops a year of barley, millet, and dates. The methods used were generally the same that had been used for millennia. Small plots of well irrigated land were lined along the banks of the Nile, which would be fertilized by the river's annual flooding. One important technological advance was the saqiya, an oxen-powered water wheel, that was introduced in the Roman period and helped increase yields and population density. Settlement patterns indicate that land was divided into individual plots rather than as in a manorial system. The peasants lived in small villages composed of clustered houses of sun-dried brick.

Culture

Historians early on considered Christian Nubia as historically considered to be something of a backwater, because their graves were small and lacking the grave goods of previous eras. Modern scholars understand that this was due to cultural differences, and that the Makurians actually had rich and vibrant arts and culture.

In the riverine territories of Makuria the population spoke two Nubian languages: Old Nobiin, which was spoken in what was once Nobatia from the 1st cataract to about the 3rd cataract; and Old Dongolawi in Makuria proper.