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Historical SummaryIn the eighth year of his reign Sesostris III (1887–1849 B.C.) fixed a boundary line between Egypt and negro Africa just above the Second Nile cataract with an inscription showing what appears to be not so much a prejudice against the blacks as a political policy:
He erected on each side of the river a stela marking the boundary line, and one of these two important landmarks has survived; it bears the following significant inscription: "Southern boundary made in the year eight, under the majesty of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Sesostris III, who is given life for ever and ever:—in order to prevent that any negro should cross it by water or by land, with a ship, or any herds of the negroes; except a negro who shall cross it to do trading . . . or with a commission. All kind treatment shall be accorded them, but without allowing a ship of the negroes to pass by Heh [Semneh] going downstream, forever."2
The erection of a pyramid for the placenta of Egyptian kings and a parallel custom in Uganda were mentioned in Chap. II. Both Egyptian and Ganda kings are classed as Hamitic and a common origin of the practice may be assumed. This view is confirmed by the fact that the custom in Uganda is applied only to royalty; the common person is buried with the expectation that he will be reincarnated. On the other hand, we may suspect here, and in other cases of Egyptian and Bantu similarities, that the trait was borrowed from neither group by the other but that both derived it from a common proto-Hamitic source.
2Breasted, J. H.n/an/an/an/a, , 184 (Charles Scribner’s Sons. By permission).
Chicago:
A History of Egypt in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed June 16, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PNJ9XE6XZWRZEIW.
MLA:
. A History of Egypt, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 16 Jun. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PNJ9XE6XZWRZEIW.
Harvard:
, A History of Egypt. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 16 June 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PNJ9XE6XZWRZEIW.
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