2023-10-06 20:13:48
Hello good! If I mention the word “pyramid” you probably think of Egypt. And yes, history takes us directly back to the pharaohs and the Ancient Ages. However, it is not the only country in Africa with these enormous structures. In this new edition of #OtroMundo we travel to Sudanthe country with the largest number of pyramids on the planet.
To the north of this nation is the region of Nubia, where lives a group of ethnolinguistic people descended from the first inhabitants of the central area of the Nile Valley, a place considered the cradle of civilization. At this site there are no more and no less than 255 pyramids, almost double the number in Egypt.
But how is it possible that its existence is not so well known? Well, to explain this we have to go back in ancient history. Come on! After ruling Egypt’s 25th dynasty, the Nubian pharaohs fled to Sudan and formed the Kushite kingdom, incorporating Egyptian culture into this new city. They built dozens of steep sandstone and granite pyramids between 6 and 30 meters high between 1070 and 350 BC.
Many of them are tombs of the kings and queens who ruled the region in ancient Sudan. and their sizes depend on the years of reign of the monarchs. In addition, the majority are located in the city of Meroe, an ancient location where its inhabitants depended on the iron industry traded with India, and the rest in El Kurru and Jebel Barkal.
Today, Meroe is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. and can be visited with guides. However, not everything is rosy at this historic site. The region is known for having temperatures of more than 40 degrees in desert areas and, therefore, in recent times sand storms have begun to become more frequent and the most iconic pyramids on the continent have deteriorated. This phenomenon is not new in the region, in fact, it dates back to the 5th century BC when the inhabitants advised “cleaning the sand from the road” so that the pyramids would not be buried. But in recent times it has begun to be more frequent due to climate change.
Según National Geographic, The lack of conservation, harsh weather conditions and the negligence of some visitors have destroyed the monuments. Furthermore, already in 1880 the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini razed some pyramids in the search for the Kushite treasure and many other pyramids were ruined by looting.
To address the problem of sandstorms, governments and various cultural organizations presented a project that seeks to reforest the area with vegetation suitable for this type of climate and thus counteract the impact of these particles.
To do this, more than 100 million hectares have to be reforested in the Sahara, from Senegal to Djibouti, which represents a million-dollar investment and a process of many years. So far, only 4% of the goal has been met.
So, If you are thinking about visiting this historic and unique place in the world, this is a good time to do it before the pyramids are buried under the sand.
Until next time!
This content was originally published in RED/ACCION and is republished as part of the ‘Human Journalism’ program, an alliance for quality journalism between RÍO NEGRO and RED/ACCION
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