The pharaohs of this time seemed to care about the welfare of the common people. Transportation and trade was made easier due to the canal that was dug from the NIle to the Red Sea. With the expansion in trade came increased wealth with which other public projects could be funded.

Huge dikes were built to improve farming. Water from the dikes was channeled to the farmland for irrigation. The swamps of Lower Egypt was drained creating even more farmland.

During the Middle Kingdom new religious beliefs showed the increased significance of the common people. The Old Kingdom belief was such that only pharaohs experienced after life. During the Middle Kingdom this belief in an afterlife was expanded to include ordinary people. People of all classes began planning for their burials, to ensure their place in the after life.

The prosperity of the Middle Kingdom did not last. Egypt's deserts were no longer an effective border against invasion. Libyans came from the west. Hyksos, horse-borne nomads, came from Asia. The Hyskos dominated the Valley of the Nile from 1640 B.C. to 1570 B.C. Although the Egyptians were not happy with their new rulers, they did learn several new skills from the Hyksos. Making bronze, waging war from horse-drawn chariots, powerful new bows and arrows, and spinning and weaving are all skills the Egyptians adopted from the Hyksos. The Theban king, Ahmose, vowed not only to reunite Egypt, but to pursue the vile new rulers and destroy them. This vow became the theme of the New Kingdom.