Egypt has attracted large numbers of Asiatics, partly in order to subsidize the extensive building works and mining undertaken by Amenemhat III.

Egyptian rulers of the Thirteenth Dynasty, which begins in approximately 1773 BCE, are struggling to cope with domestic famine and plague and both too preoccupied and too weak to stop new migrants from traveling to Egypt from Asia.

Egypt’s Middle Kingdom ends, and in the so-called Second Intermediate Period that ensues, the competing Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties rule Egypt while the Semitic-speaking migrants firmly establish themselves in the eastern Delta and adopt Egyptian culture.