The Hyksos in the Nile Delta

The name means rulers of foreign lands. Semitic settlers had been coming into the delta for centuries and gradually became the majority there; then their chiefs proclaimed themselves pharaohs and made their capital at Avaris. For the first time Egypt was under foreign rule: the south, with Thebes, paid tribute, while the north traded with Canaan and Cyprus. The Hyksos brought the chariot, the composite bow and bronze of a new quality — the very arms with which Egypt itself would later fight. The memory of them remained bitter, and later texts wrote of the time when foreigners ruled.