How did the Ancient Egyptians perceive their own identity?

How did the Ancient Egyptians perceive their own identity?

How did the Ancient Egyptians perceive their own identity?

Into which ethnic category did they place themselves?

What did they call themselves?

The Ancient Egyptians used a specific term to refer to themselves: “Kammau.”

• Kammau = Egyptians
• Kam, Kamm = “to be black”

While some argue that “Kmt” refers to the “Black Land” due to the color of the soil, it is important to note that the Ancient Egyptians did not use “Kmt” to describe themselves…

Instead, they identified as Kammau, Kam, or Kamm, terms that directly translate to “black.”

Please note that Kamau is a very common name amongst Kenyans…

“Egyptian tradition of the Dynastic Period held that the aboriginal home of the Egyptians was Punt. It is quite certain that a very large portion of it was in Central Africa, and it probably was near the country called in our times “Uganda”

SOURCE;

(Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge, ‘A Short History of the Egyptian People With Chapters on Their Religion, Daily Life, Etc’; 1914)

“We came from the origin of the Nile, where the god Hapi dwells, at the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon.”

SOURCE;

(Temple of Karnak, n.d.; possible association with Papyrus of Hunefer, c. 1300 BCE)

Where is the beginning of the Nile???

Lake Victoria is the primary source of the Nile, located in East Africa, primarily shared by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania…

The White Nile flows from Lake Victoria northward through Uganda and into Sudan, where it eventually joins the Blue Nile at Khartoum, Sudan…

The term “Nilotic” generally refers to ethnic groups that are traditionally associated with the Nile River basin, particularly in South Sudan, Uganda, and parts of Kenya and Tanzania…

In Uganda, Nilotic peoples include groups such as the Luo, Langi, and Acholi…

The region is characterized by a variety of languages and cultures linked to the Nile River and its tributaries…

The Tasian culture is possibly one of the oldest-known Predynastic culture in Upper Egypt, which evolved around 4500 BC…

The Badarian culture is often considered one of the earliest cultures in ancient Egypt and is a part of the Predynastic period…

It existed around 4400–4000 B.C.

The original inhabitants of ancient Kemet were these Predynastic people…

“The Tarifian, Badarian and Tasian cultures of Middle and Upper Egypt have strong ties with the Nubian/Nilotic pastoral tradition, as can be inferred, for instance, by the very similar pottery, economy and settlement pattern and by the latest findings in the deserts surrounding the Egyptian Nile valley” (Gatto 2011b, 2012a, b, 2013)

SOURCE;

(Prehistory and Protohistory of Ancient Civilizations; 2015)

In other words, Predynastic Ancient Egyptians (4500 B.C.— 3100 B.C.) are more closely related to Nubian / Nilotic peoples

The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages…

They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania…

Among these are the Burun-speaking peoples, Karo peoples, Luo peoples, Ateker peoples, Kalenjin peoples, Datooga, Dinka, Nuer, Atwot, Lotuko, and the Maa-speaking peoples…

The Nubians and Nilotic peoples are the original inhabitants of ancient Kemet, and they are the true founders of its civilization…