Why Was Trade Important for Egypt and Kush? Egypt was rich in many ways, but it lacked some resources. Egypt used commerce, the buying and selling of goods and services, to get items from other countries. Egyptians also traded for luxury goods, such as animal skins and precious stones. The pharaohs sent merchants and officials to other lands to encourage trade. This trade covered a wide area. Egyptians traded for goods on the eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and other distant lands. To help encourage trade, Egyptian leaders sometimes signed treaties with old enemies or arranged marriages with foreign princesses to help strengthen foreign ties. An important trading partner with Egypt was Kush. Egyptians bought gold, elephant tusks, incense, and valuable woods. They sold grain, cloth, papyrus, glass, and jewelry. The trade created interdependence, or dependence by each country on the others. Trade also led to the spread of Egyptian culture to Kush.

How Did Kush Develop? Kush had some similarities and some differences with Egypt. Kush depended on the Nile, just as the Egyptians did. Its gifts helped produce food surpluses, a growing population, and cities. But Kush had less usable land for farming. It used gold and other resources to buy food from Egypt. Kush and Egypt depended on each other. They also fought each other. During Egypt's Middle Kingdom (the period from about 2055 to 1650 bce) and again during the New Kingdom (1550 to 1070 bce), Egypt conquered most of Kush. Egypt eventually weakened, and in the 700s bce, a Kushite king conquered an important Egyptian city, Thebes. The next Kushite king completed Egypt's conquest and declared himself pharaoh of a united Egypt and Kush. Kush rule over Egypt lasted until 665 bce.

What Were Kush's Accomplishments? Kush remained a highly developed civilization for almost a thousand years after it lost Egypt. It developed its own system of writing, economy, and government. The city of Meroë was an important center for the production of iron. This metal made better tools and weapons than those made in Egypt. The Kush also made beautiful objects of gold. The Kushites built hundreds of pyramids. Kush pyramids have very steep sides. The Kushites also developed one of the world's first alphabets. It is called Meroitic script. The Kush traded with lands as far away as India. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew the Kushites for their metalworking skills. In the 300s ce, Kush was conquered by the kingdom of Axum, which lay to the southeast. Kushite patterns of trade and farming, however, had a lasting impact on the region.