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Kerma (also spelled Karmah) is an important archaeological site and the former capital of the ancient Kerma Kingdom, located in the Dongola Reach above the Third Cataract of the Nile in present-day Sudan.

The Kingdom of Kerma was a native Nilotic civilization that arose around the mid-third millennium BC, likely developing from the C-Group culture of southern Upper Nubia. At its height, the kingdom controlled several Nile cataracts and ruled a territory nearly as vast as that of Egypt.

When excavations began in the 1920s, archaeologists initially assumed Kerma had been an Egyptian outpost—perhaps a governor’s fortress—that later evolved into an independent monarchy. Today, however, Kerma is recognized as one of Africa’s earliest kingdoms. Referred to in Egyptian records as Kush, it flourished thanks to its strategic location on caravan routes connecting Egypt with the Red Sea, the Horn of Africa, and sub-Saharan regions.

The kingdom’s capital was a fortified metropolis that may have housed up to 10,000 people (though some estimates suggest closer to 2,000). Its layout included planned streets, residential quarters, a necropolis, and a religious district dominated by a massive adobe temple known as a Deffufa.

Kerma’s independence ended around 1504 BC, when Pharaoh Thutmose I of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty conquered Nubia and razed the city. The Egyptians installed a Viceroy of Kush (“King’s Son of Kush”) to govern the region and established a new administrative center at Dokki Gel (“red mound”), just north of Kerma.

Egyptian rule lasted until the decline of the New Kingdom during the Bronze Age Collapse, after which the Kingdom of Kush emerged—possibly as a successor state rooted in Kerma’s legacy.