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Aswan
Aswan
is situated about 130 miles south of Luxor on what
was once the southern border of Ancient Egypt. It lies on the east bank
of the Nile at a point where the river cuts its way through the granite
rock of the first of the cataracts. Aswan is one of the driest inhabited
places in the world; as of early 2001, the last rain here was 6 years ago.
In Nubian settlements they generally do not bother to roof all of the rooms
in their houses.
This is identified with the ancient city of Syene, which is famous for providing
a basis on which Eratosthenes disputed the Flat Earth theory and attempted
to determine the circumference of the Earth, using Syene as the originating
point and Alexandria as the terminal point of a measured arc to make an
accurate estimate of the circumference of the Earth.
At Aswan the green, fertile belt of the Nile Valley is interrupted and replaced
in mid-desert. Sandstone is replaced by granite in the form of two rocky
barriers which hold back the Nile and also harbor the quarries exploited
early on in history by the great builder-pharaohs. Khnum is the lord of
the cataract and master of a gulf which was believed to be the source of
the Nile floods. From ancient times Aswan was a huge market situated at
the crossroads of the routes from Africa, the western deserts of Egypt and
India.
This frontier trading-post, visited by people from a number of different
countries, was also an important strategic point. It has served as a base
for Roman garrisons, for the Turkish troops of the Ottoman sultan Selim
in 1517, for the army of General Kitchener during the conquest of the Sudan
(1896-8) and is now a major garrison for the modern Egyptian army.
The British began construction of the first dam in 1899 and it was completed
in 1902. The project was designed by Sir William Willcocks and involved
several eminent engineers including Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird,
whose firm, John Aird & Company, was the main contractor. A gravity
dam, it was 1,900 m long and 54 m high. The initial design was soon found
to be inadequate and the height of the dam was raised in two phases, 1907–1912
and 1929–1933.
When the dam almost overflowed in 1946 it was decided that rather than raise
the dam a third time, a second dam would be built 6 km up-river(about 4
miles). Proper planning began in 1952, just after the Nasser revolution,
and at first the US and Britain were to help finance construction with a
loan of USD $270 million. Both nations canceled the offer in July 1956 for
reasons not entirely known.
A secret Egyptian arms agreement with the USSR and Egyptian recognition
of the People's Republic of China are cited as possible reasons. Soon thereafter,
Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, intending to use its tolls to subsidize
the High Dam project. This prompted Britain, France, and Israel to attack
Egypt, occupying the Suez Canal and precipitating the Suez Crisis.
The United Nations, US, and USSR forced the invaders to withdraw and the
canal was left in Egyptian hands. The Egyptian government continued to intend
to finace the dam project alone by using the revenues of the Suez Canal
to help pay for construction. But as part of the Cold War struggle for influence
in Africa the Soviet Union stepped in 1958, and possibly a third of the
cost of the dam was paid for as a gift. The Soviets also provided technicians
and heavy machinery. The enormous rock and clay dam was designed by the
Russian Zuk Hydroproject Institute.
Construction began in 1960. The High Dam, El Saad al Aali, was completed
on July 21, 1970, with the first stage finished in 1964. The reservoir began
filling in 1964 while the dam was still under construction and first reached
capacity in 1976. The reservoir raised concerns from archaeologists and
a rescue operation was begun in 1960 under UNESCO. Sites were surveyed and
excavated and 24 major monuments were moved to safer locations (see Abu
Simbel) or granted to countries that helped with the works (such as the
Debod temple in Madrid and the Temple of Dendur in New York).
Index of Real Estate Property for sale in Egypt:
Aswan links:
http://www.aswanguide.com/
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/aswan.htm
http://www.world66.com/africa/egypt/aswan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan