Why was Ancient Nubia less controlling than Ancient Egypt?

There is a fantastic new book on the kingdoms of Ancient Africa, including Egypt, Nubia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yoruba, Asante, Kongo, Buganda and Zulu.

“Great Kingdoms of Africa” begins with a very important premise. States were often coercive, so should not be celebrated as more ‘advanced civilisations’. I think this is a really important mentality. While grandiose palaces are aesthetically impressive, surplus was usually extracted from labourers who lived in squalor. This is a useful corrective to narratives that dismiss or denigrate small-scale societies, as well as to those who defensively hype-up small kingdoms.

Today, I wish to discuss David Wengrow’s fascinating chapter on Ancient Nubia, which I will supplement with insights from archaeologist Solonge Ashby. Together, they offer fascinating insights about the connections between geography, states, and culture.

Ancient Nubia presents a puzzle, suggests Wengrow. “How [did] its population manage to prevent the emergence of domination in their own midst, despite the existence of Egyptian models of governance on their doorstep and the effects of recurring Egyptian predation on their people and resources[?]”.

Nubia offers little evidence of complex administration, huge granary storage or territorial fortifications. Writing - a major instrument of state control - came much later. Egyptians developed hieroglyphs in 2700 BC. The Meroitic script emerged two thousand years later and was mostly confined to the royal court.

Seasonal trade fairs were hosted at ‘hafirs’ (artificial catchment basins), built alongside temples. Autonomous tribes moved with their herds.

His answer?