Nile River at Aswān

The waters of the mighty Nile flow past the high banks at Aswān in Upper Egypt. The Aswān High Dam, completed in 1970, altered the course of the river and enabled Egypt to control the perpetual flooding that had plagued it for centuries. The large dam project increased the country's amount of arable land and provided much-needed additional electricity. Controversy ensued, however, when it became known that the project would submerge valuable antiquities. The most famous of these monuments, the temples of Abū Simbel, were painstakingly moved to higher ground and thereby saved from destruction.

Geoffrey Clifford/Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc.

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