Around 3,100BC, an Upper Egyptian citizen from the province of Thinite, known as Menes, amassed sufficient political and military power to unite the two kingdoms of Egypt under a centralized monarchy. His was the first dynasty of 30 in a line spanning 3,000 years. A new capital was symbolically built at Memphis, the juncture of the country's two parts, with the intention to rule the country as a whole rather than treating the Delta as a conquered territory. This historic merger set the stage for Egypt's transformation into a culturally advanced state over a comparatively short period.
