NUBIA, a large region of Africa, formerly a portion of Ethiopia, and ex tending on both sides of the Nile from Egypt to Abyssinia; touching the Red Sea on the E. and the desert on the W. Nubia proper, or Lower Nubia, extends from Assuan on the Egyptian frontier to Dongola; beyond that is Upper Nubia. But of late the name of Egyptian Sudan has come to be used for Nubia in its widest sense, together with the once Egyptian territory actually in the Su dan, and the equator:al provinces. Under the Pharaohs Nubia was called Cush, but under the 20th dynasty it was re covered by a series of native rulers, who adopted the civilization of the Egyptians, and at a later date were Christianized. At present the country is occupied by Arabs mixed with Nilotic and Negro blood, mainly in Upper Nubia; Ababdeh and Bisharin between the Nile and the Red Sea; and Nubas and Barabira in Lower Nubia. The Semitic Arabs are comparatively recent intruders to this region. They entered Nubia after oc
cupying Egypt in the 7th century, but were resisted by the Christian Dongo lawi kings till the 14th century, when the Arabs, assisted by a large contin gent of Bosnians, became masters of the land. The various tribes, most of them active and warlike, are Moslems by faith, and till 1820 were ruled by their own chiefs. In that year Ismail Pasha made Nubia an Egyptian territory; and till 1881 it shared the fate of Egypt. Both in its lower and upper sections Nubia is for the most part an expanse of steppes or rocky desert, with patches where grass sometimes grows. There are also wells and small oases here and there, as on the chief caravan routes. The great "Nubian Desert" lies E. of the Nile, opposite the great W. bend of the river. Below Khartum rain is almost unknown. The only exception to the general aridity is the narrow strip of country on both sides of the Nile.