Historical names of Nubia

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Nubia is the land south of ancient Egypt, stretching from Elephantine to modern-day Khartoum. It is one of the oldest inhabited regions in the world. For much of its early history it interacted with Egypt, and Nubia became independent in the 10th century BC. Its gold deposits attracted many powers, including Egypt, Greece, Rome, and later Arab empires.

Ancient Egyptians used several names for Nubia. The name Nubia comes from nub, the Egyptian word for gold, because Nubians mined gold and shared it with Egypt. Nubians were famous archers, so the southern land near Elephantine was called Ta-Seti, or "Land of the Bow," and its people were called Iuntiu-setiu, meaning "Bowmen." Other terms include Ta-Nehesy and Ta-Nehasyu for Nubia, with Nubians sometimes called Nehesy. Some scholars think Ta-Netjer, meaning "God's Land," and Punt may refer to a part of Upper Nubia near Medja.

Greeks ruling Egypt during the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC) called the land south of Egypt Aethiopia, a name the Romans later used for Nubia. After the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, Arabs called Nubia Bilad al-Sudan, or "The Land of the Blacks." That name remained in use, and by 1820 it was still in use when Mohammed Ali Pasha became viceroy. The English later adopted the name Sudan for the region.