Sudan is home to more ancient pyramids than its neighbour Egypt! Despite years of tampering and looting, these unique pyramids still stand tall today. So which ones are older and hold more secrets of the African continent?
The Nubian people are to thank - an ancient community living by the Nile since 5,000 BC. They once ruled both Egypt and Sudan in what is known as the Kush Kingdom.
These structures are grouped in clusters at formerly grand sites like El Kurru, Gebel Barkal, and Meroe.
Debate rages about whether Egypt’s or Sudan’s pyramids are the oldest. What is known is that both are more than 2,000 years old.
Some sites in Sudan were sacred to the Egyptians…Jebel Barkal is a mountain that symbolised creation and fertility - being the presumed birthplace of their god of gods Amun.
A British expedition in 1897 discovered there were no burial chambers inside the Sudanese pyramids. Instead, these were underneath the pyramids - making them not tombs but colossal headstones.
Interestingly, the way they’re built - flat sides, solid on the inside - is very similar to pyramid structures in Central America. But this also made them easier to loot.
Italian treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferlini - who found gold under the pyramid in Meroe - is one of many looters to blame for truncating the pyramids……in other words, stealing the top part!
Despite years of vandalism and looting, these unique pyramids still stand tall today. And Sudan is in fact the country with the most pyramids in the world!
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This is the story of how Belgium’s Leopold II colonised, exploited, murdered, enslaved and maimed the people of the Congo - and how Brussels’ dark past is catching up with it today.
Between 1885-1908, Belgium’s King Leopold II was responsible - directly or indirectly - for the deaths of 10-15mn people, in what’s today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Belgium joined the Scramble for Africa in the late 1800’s. Leopold colonised the Congo while maintaining that it was a civilising mission to spread Christianity.
President Macron wants to distance himself from France's colonial past. However, the crimes committed in Algeria over a period of 132 years have not been forgotten and Paris still does not want to apologise.
During Algeria’s war of independence (1954 - 1962), 1.5-million Algerians lost their lives seeking freedom.