The Eighteenth Dynasty ushered in the New Kingdom by defeating and expelling the Hyksos.

The Eighteenth Dynasty ushered in the New Kingdom by defeating and expelling the Hyksos. The Two Lands were finally united again under indeginous rule, and successive pharaohs expanded the empire through force and diplomacy. The wealth gained led to an era of prosperity and massive building projects as art and architecture flourished.

In those ancient times Egyptians called themselves “remetch en Kermet”, which means the “People of the Black Land”. Inscriptions refer to the origins of the 18th Dynasty being, the Land of Punt or Pwenet, which is present-day Somalia and northern Kenya. They point to these southeastern regions as being their ancestral homeland.

Queen Hatshepsut’s inscriptions at the Temple of Deir el-Bahir reveal she considered Hathor her divine mother, and addressed her as Hathor, the Lady of Punt – with strong indications that the pharaohs considered the origin of their culture to be Punt Land, what scholars like to call “Sub Saharan Africa”. The following is a step in the direction of exploring the pharaohs’ roots and establishing a trip along history and time.

Punt Land is described in ancient Egyptian texts as Ta-Netjer, the “Land of the Gods” and a region rich in resources. After Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered the pharaoh’s hieroglyphics in 1822 AD, western scholars began reading the texts. Debates started as to the origins of the pharaohs and the location of Punt Land.

Punt Land became a semi-mythical land for the pharaohs, but it was a real place through the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BC). During the reign of Amunhotep II (1425-1400 BC) delegations from Punt were accepted. The reign of Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC) and of Ramesses III (1186-1155 BC) mentioned Punt as well. The pharaohs were fascinated by Punt as a “land of plenty” and it was best known as Ta Netjer – “God’s Land.”
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