The Second Intermediate Period

Between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the New Kingdom, Ancient Egypt experienced a second period of disorder known as the Second Intermediate Period. Hanns Stock, a German Egyptologist, created the name "Second Intermediate Period" in 1942. It is most remembered as the period during which the Hyksos people of West Asia first appeared in Egypt, and whose reign included the 15th Dynasty, which was founded by a monarch named Salitis, according to Manetho's Aegyptiaca.

As the power of the Middle Kingdom rulers waned around 1785 BC, the Hyksos, a Western Asian population who had already settled in the Delta, seized control of Egypt and founded their capital at Avaris, forcing the former central government to evacuate to Thebes. The king was viewed as a vassal who owed tribute. The Hyksos ("foreign rulers") kept Egyptian models of government and regarded themselves as kings, thus incorporating Egyptian components into their civilization. They and other invaders introduced new weapons into Egypt, including the composite bow and the horse-drawn chariot.

The native Theban rulers were stuck between the Canaanite Hyksos to the north and the Hyksos' Nubian allies, the Kushites, to the south after retreating south. After years of vassalage, Thebes amassed enough might to fight the Hyksos in a 30-year struggle that lasted until 1555 BC. The kings Seqenenre Tao II and Kamose eventually defeated the Nubians to Egypt's south but failed to destroy the Hyksos. That task was given to Kamose's successor, Ahmose I, who successfully launched a series of operations that effectively ended the Hyksos' position in Egypt. He founded a new dynasty, and throughout the New Kingdom, the military became a top concern for the kings as they strove to expand Egypt's frontiers and seize control of the Near East.

Period: 1674–1549 BC