Chapters › Kush: Napata & Meroe · Egypt
Middle Kingdom Egypt
2055 BCE – 1650 BCE Arabic under review
Approximate area of control
Research in progress No sourced map of this era's territory yet, so no area is drawn.
Key events
- Fortresses at the Second Cataract (Buhen, Semna)
Capitals / sites
Itjtawy
Geopolitics
Under the 12th Dynasty, Nubia was 'effectively occupied as far as Semna', where Senusret III set up a stela as 'an unmistakable boundary mark' forbidding Nubians to pass downstream (GHA II ch.9, p.255). Senusret III reduced Lower Nubia to 'the status of a province of Egypt' (ch.2, p.98). The kings built fourteen forts in Nubia 'to safeguard their frontiers and trading expeditions' (ch.4, p.143). After the Middle Kingdom collapsed, an independent kingdom of Kush held Nubia south of Elephantine, and the Hyksos king Apophis sought its alliance (ch.9, p.261).
Culture
Stelae from Buhen show Egyptian families living in Nubia for long periods in the Middle Kingdom. They had Egyptian names and 'worshipped the local gods' (GHA II ch.4, p.143). Abu Bakr suggests Amenemhet I may have founded the fortified trading post at Kerma, 'seemingly a centre of Egyptian influence from the reign of Senusret I' (ch.2, p.98). Sherif notes that this reading of Kerma's Western Deffufa has been questioned (ch.9, p.259).
Economy
Rocks in the Second Cataract were circumvented by a slipway for hauling boats, and a dam was built at Semna to ease navigation (GHA II ch.8, p.239). Adam argues that the Theban pharaohs knew Africa south of Semna was 'richly endowed with the raw materials and manpower Egypt lacked' (p.241). Inscriptions of Senusret I's reign record expeditions to Punt by sea (ch.4, p.145).
Regional power
Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.
Open data flags
- regional_power: no actors scored
- Pass 20 text: [WORKING TRANSLATION – needs native Arabic review] for every Arabic field
- CONTESTED – Kerma as Egyptian trading post (GHA II p.98) vs Sherif's doubts (p.259)
Sources
- A. Abu Bakr (1981) Pharaonic Egypt, ch.2 (General History of Africa II) UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- A.H. Zayed (with J. Dévisse) (1981) Egypt's relations with the rest of Africa, ch.4 (General History of Africa II) UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- S. Adam (with J. Vercoutter) (1981) The importance of Nubia: a link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean, ch.8 (General History of Africa II) UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- N.M. Sherif (1981) Nubia before Napata (−3100 to −750), ch.9 (General History of Africa II) UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- K. Michałowski (1981) The spreading of Christianity in Nubia (General History of Africa II, ch.12) UNESCO link [en]
- Wikipedia contributors Middle Kingdom of Egypt Wikipedia link [en]