Most of the Nubian population are located in Northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilization. They speak their own Nubian language, part of the Northern Eastern Sudanic languages. Early Neolithic settlements have been found in the central Nubian region dating back to 7000 BC, with Wadi Halfa believed to be the oldest settlement in the central Nile valley. Parts of Nubia, particularly Lower Nubia, were at times a part of ancient Pharaonic Egypt. At one point, all of Egypt was united with Nubia, extending down to what is now Khartoum.

The descendants of the ancient Nubians still inhabit the general area of what was ancient Nubia. They currently live in what is called Old Nubia, mainly located in modern Egypt and Northern part of Sudan. Plenty of the Sudanese Nubians moved to Southern Egypt in the 1960s, when the Egypt Aswan’s Dam was being built on the Nile River to prevent the flooding. Some Nubians decided to stay in Aswan, Egypt and continued working as farmers on farms whose landowners lived in large metropolitan cities in Egypt.

Nubian architecture in Sudan typically features a large courtyard surrounded by a massive size walls. A large, ornately decorated gate or gates, preferably facing the Nile, dominating the property. Brightly colored stucco usually is decorated with symbols mimicking the family inside, tell a story, or some motifs as geometric patterns, and palm trees