In the beginning there were four different ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia, The Nile River Valley, Indus River Valley, and Shang and Zhou China. All four civilizations were completely different in terms of the government and community. I have decided to compare and contrast the political and social structures of The Nile River Valley and Mesopotamia. They are among the first ancient civilizations to be created. The Nile River Valley is a civilization that has been created along the Nile River, hence the name of the kingdom. In about 3100 B.C., the king of Upper Egypt, Menes, united two regions and he and his successors used the Nile as a highway to link the north and the south, thus helping make Egypt the world’s first unified state. According to the World History book, on page 25, “The river also served as a trade route. Egyptian merchants traveled up and down the Nile in sailboats and barges, exchanging the products of Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean world.” The Nile was a big part of the start of this civilization and what made it run so smoothly. During this time Egypt was split into…show more content… For example both civilizations built pyramids but for two separate reasons. The Nile River Valley people built pyramids to preserve their dead leaders for the afterlife, but the Sumerians built ziggurats as a shrine to chief god or goddesses of that city and in order to win favor of the gods, the people would pray and offer sacrifices of animals. The Egyptians had mummification and the Sumerians did not. The Sumerian people had a pessimistic view of the world. “This view of the afterlife contrasts with the Egyptian vision of the Happy Field of Food. Difference in geography may explain this contrast. The floods of the Tigris and Euphrates were less regular and more destructive than those of the Nile. As a result, Sumerians may have developed a pessimistic view of the world” page