section_path: History/Kerma culture (2500–1500 BC)
section_name: Kerma culture (2500–1500 BC)
paragraph_text: Kerma culture (2500–1500 BC)
  
  The Kerma culture was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or " Upper Nubia " (in parts of present-day northern and central Sudan), and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of several Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700–1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Saï and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt.