The Nubia terrain in southern Egypt and northern Sudan is the type area for strata of mainly Cretaceous age. Because "Nubian Sandstone" or "Nubian Formation" or similar terms were used for strata in other areas and of other stratigraphic positions, the name "Nubian" has become meaningless. This paper summarizes results of field work done in Egypt and Sudan since 1976. Reconstruction of the tectonics and paleogeography of northeast Africa since the early Paleozoic permits division of all strata related broadly to the "Nubian" into three cycles. The Paleozoic cycle (Cambrian to Early Carboniferous) is mainly marine. This cycle was interrupted by the collision of Gondwana with northern continents. The resultant Karoo cycle, representing purely continental sedimentation, exte ded from the Late Cretaceous until the Early Jurassic. The disintegration of Pangea led to a third cycle that began in the Late Jurassic and resulted in the marginal marine to continental strata of the Nubian cycle that ranges in age from Late Jurassic to latest Cretaceous.