Egyptian Expansion (2900 - 1600 BC)

A gift for Pepi
       The rulers of the Old Kingdom, such as Snofru (2613 - 2494 BC), were also interested in military expansion. However, Egypt's main goal was not random booty but control over the exploitation of Lower Nubian deposits of gold and copper, diorite and carnelian. The demand for exotic products was as large as it had been centuries earlier. By the king's order an Egyptian dignitary Harkhuf organized several large-scale trading expeditions into the country of Yam (today's Butana or the region of modern Dongola). During one of them Harkhuf bought "a little man", possibly a pygmy, who was to be a gift for the child-pharaoh Pepy II.

Fortresses on the Nile
       The Imperial aspirations of Egypt reached their zenith under 12 th Dynasty (1985 - 1773), when the Egyptian army took control over the territory reaching beyond the 2 nd cataract, then known as the land of Wawat . In the region of today's Batn el-Hagar, the pharaoh Senusret (or Sesostris) I initiated the construction of a long chain of fortresses of dimensions unparalleled at the time (e.g., the forts at Ikkur, Kuban, Mirgissa, Uronarti, Semna and the best-preserved one in Buhen). The system of frontier fortifications functioned successfully until the 17 th century BC, when at last the Egyptian garrisons abandoned the never-conquered fortresses.