Askut in Nubia

Why did Egyptian imperialism in Nubia change from a system of equilibrium stressing separation of the Egyptians from the native population during the Middle Kingdom, to a new policy of acculturation bringing Nubia directly into Egyptian civil and religious systems in the New Kingdom? The interaction of two factors can explain this change - the needs of imperial power, in this case the exploitation of minerals and maintenance of trade routes, and the degree to which organization of the indigenous peoples can meet this need. In a study embracing anthropology and other theoretical approaches, Stuart Tyson Smith shows how with both ideological and socio-economic systems, the Egyptians created one of the earliest and most successful expressions of imperialism.