Nubia is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue and White Niles and the First Cataract. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa, the Kerma culture, which lasted from around 2500 BC until its conquest by the New Kingdom of Egypt under Pharaoh Thutmose I around 1500 BC. Egyptian heirs subsequently ruled much of Nubia for the next four centuries.