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Buhen

Buhen, located just below the Second Cataract, was first established as an outpost in Nubia during the reign of the Fourth Dynasty King Sneferu. Grafitti and other inscribed items from the site show that the Egyptians stayed about 200 years, until late in the Fifth Dynasty, when they were probably forced out by immigration from the south.

The Twelfth Dynasty King Sesostris III conducted four campaigns into Kush and established a line of forts within signalling distance of one another; Buhen was the northernmost of these.

The Kushites captured Buhen during the Thirteenth Dynasty, and held it until it Ahmose recaptured it as the southern limit of his campaigns at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty. His successors would penetrate even farther into Kush.