An ancient Egyptian fort site of Lower Nubia, near Wadi Halfa, where the ruins of an Egyptian colony of the Middle Kingdom are located. Pharaoh Snefru (c 2575 BC) raided Nubia and established an Egyptian outpost at Buhen on the west bank of the Nile at the north end of the Second Cataract, and it endured for 200 years. Graffiti and inscribed seals at Buhen document Egyptian presence until late in the 5th dynasty (c 2325 BC). It was a center for Egyptian mining expeditions and to secure Egyptian control of trade in gold and other commodities. Buhen was probably abandoned in the face of immigration from the south and the deserts.