She was known for its people, which provided good soldiers. Since the ancient empire, the Pharaohs would recruit Nubians in their army and used them in their police (medjai).
But aware of their increasing power the Nubians started to take advantage of their position.
At the end of the ancient empire and during the invasion of the Hyksos, the Nubian kingdom of Napata was created, south of the first cataract of the Nile.
Allies of the Hyksos, they fought the new empire at its birth and completed the conquest of a part of the Upper Nile.

Beaten and chased during the ensuing centuries, the Nubians, later known as the Ethiopian, cut themselves off progressively from Egypt to form the civilization of Meroe.