Nile connection

Africa and Mesopotamia

By Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw

where humanity began and how our paths crossed, I always come back to the ancient connection between Mesopotamia and Africa. These two regions, often spoken of separately, were never isolated. They were breathing together, exchanging breath and memory, carrying the first seeds of civilization.

Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, not only as the “Cradle of Civilization” but as a mirror of Africa’s Nile Valley, Nubia, and Kush. Both landscapes cultivated kingship, sacred order, and survival through rivers. Both carried the weight of the divine into the daily life of their people.

Trade was not simply about goods it was about relationships. Gold and ivory from Nubia, incense and ebony from the Horn of Africa, met with Mesopotamian barley, dates, and wool. Across the Red Sea and the Arabian Peninsula, caravans and seafarers built bridges of exchange. In those routes, I imagine the first whispers of solidarity, long before the world carved borders and separated destinies.

I often think about the flood myths that rise from both lands: Mesopotamia’s Epic of Gilgamesh and the Nile’s sacred cycle of inundation. They both spoke of death and renewal, of survival and divine order. These myths are not accidents—they are reflections of a shared struggle and a shared hope.

For me, as a mother, I see in these stories the earliest attempts of humanity to protect children, families, and generations. The first laws—Mesopotamia’s codes, Egypt’s Maat—were born not to dominate, but to ensure continuity, fairness, and balance. They remind me that even now, in times when corruption and injustice target the most vulnerable, humanity’s duty is to protect life with justice.

The connection between Mesopotamia and Africa is also the connection between us all. The Horn of Africa–Yemen corridor carried humanity itself across continents. From there, languages, ideas, and dreams spread. We are not separate civilizations; we are branches of the same tree.

When I speak of Babylon, I do not speak only of a city or a myth. I speak of a heritage that belongs as much to Africa as it does to Mesopotamia. A shared memory of humanity’s first attempt to rise, to build, to legislate, to worship, to dream.

Today, as the world too often tries to divide, I choose to remember these ancient connections. They are proof that the survival of our species has always depended on exchange, empathy, and solidarity across rivers and continents.

And in that sense, Mesopotamia and Africa are not just history—they are a compass for the future.

Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw

6 September 2025 Saint Germain Des Pres