Second Intermediate Period Egypt
Around 1786 BC the Hyksos invaded Egypt, starting the Second Intermediate Period. The Hyksos, who were invaders from Western Asia, took over the eastern part of the Nile Delta (North-Eastern Egypt, the part closest to Asia), having their capital at Memphis. We still aren't sure who the Hyksos were, but they seem to have been Amorites, who spoke a Semitic language (related to Hebrew and Arabic) and came from the area around Syria and Israel, an area which had traded extensively with the Egyptians during the Middle Kingdom. The Hyksos did very well for about a hundred years, but then (as in the First Intermediate Period) the southern rulers from Thebes again began to reconquer the north of Egypt. In these "wars of liberation," the brothers Kamose and Ahmose fought both the Hyksos and the Nubians, Africans who lived to the south, and succeeded in reuniting Egypt.
To find out more about Egypt in the Second Intermediate period, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Eyewitness: Ancient Egypt, by George Hart. For kids.
The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, by Ian Shaw (2002).
History of Ancient Egypt: An Introduction, by Erik Hornung (1999). A college textbook. On the conservative side - not much on new developments.
Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture, by William H. Stiebing (2002). Expensive for a paperback, but brief and very up to date. And yes, it includes Egypt in the Near East.
