There was a special post created in the 18th dynasty called Kings Son of Kush, which was a regional governorship for the lands of Kush below the 2nd cataract:
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The vice royalty of Kush
Amenemope, King's son of Kush, Source: The British Museum website A special case among regional governors, the viceroy of Kush bore the titles of King's Son of Kush and Overseer of the Gold Lands of the Lord of the Two Lands and ruled a territory which was not considered to belong to Egypt proper.
Nubia and Kush were important for their gold mines and the viceroy was a carefully chosen follower of the king, generally an official and seemingly a commoner rather than a nobleman. Their strategic position required also the stationing of garrisons which gave the viceroy military clout.
The first viceroy, Turi, was above all the military commander of the region, stationed at Buhen and answerable to the southern vizier. Later the viceroy's residence was moved to Aniba, and he was responsible directly to the king. Under Thutmose III Nubia became more closely integrated, stopped being an embattled frontier, and lost many of its own cultural traditions. The fortresses became towns and much of the administration was in the hands of Nubians educated in Egypt.
Occasionally there were outbreaks of unrest which were quelled by the Egyptian army, often led by the viceroy himself.
From: [
nefertiti.iwebland.com]
But over and above that, one must remember that there were various groups along the Nile to the South that the Egyptians dealt with. The problem is that lumping them all together as "nubians" not only glosses over this, but loses sight of the different relations between different groups in the Southern, Southwestern and Western regions. The Egyptians had relationships with a southwestern group of "libyans" called the Tehennu there were various groups like the Medjay who were allies of Egypt and became important as policemen and soldiers. There were different groups between the 1st and 2nd cataracts, among them were the principalities of Wawat and Yam. Further South you had the principalities of Kerma and Kush. So yes, there was diplomatic interaction between the ancient Egyptian state and other Africans.
