The Nile River and the Aswan High Dam are called "Egypt's Lifeline" because about 95% of Egypt's population lives within twelve miles of the river. It is thought that were it not for the Nile River and its sediment, the great civilization of ancient Egypt probably would have never have been built. The Nile River has a total length of about 4,160 miles. The two main tributaries of the Nile River are called the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The source of the White Nile is the Sobat River Bahr al-Jabal (The "Mountain Nile"). It and the Blue Nile begins in the Ethiopian Highlands. These two tributaries converge in Khartoum, which is the capital of Sudan where they become the Nile River. Almost every year, Egypt experienced annual floods from the Nile River which deposited tons of nutrient-rich sediment along the shore, which enabled agricultural production. To control the flooding the construction of the first dam at Aswan was started by the British Government in 1889. It was and finished in 1902 by the British. It was made of Aswan Granite and it was 100 feet high, 88 feet deep at its base and about one and a half miles long. It was unequal to the job of controling the irrigation needs downstream. It was widened and heightened two times in 1912 and 1933, without being able to solve the problems. Then in 1946, the water in the reservoir peaked near the top of the dam and threatened to overflow. It was replaced by the Aswan High Dam (Sadd el-Aali). However, both dams seem to have functions concerning irrigation. In 1952, the interim Revolutionary Council government of Egypt decided to finially build a High Dam at Aswan, about four miles upstream of the old dam. In 1954, the Egyptian Government requested loans from the World Bank to help pay for the cost of the dam (which eventually added up to about US $1 billion). At first, the United States agreed to loan Egypt the money but then withdrew their offer. Finially the old Soviet Union offered to help and Egypt accepted. Thus a large rockfill dam called the Aswan High Dam, and known as Saad el Aali in Arabic, was completed in 1970 after about ten years of construction. It captures the world's longest river, the Nile River, thus forming the world's third largest reservoir, Lake Nasser. The shore along the Nile between Aswan and Abu Simbel was lined with temples. Therefor an international rescue operation was organized by UNESCO. This saved many of the temples that still attract tourists to Egypt. However, at the time of our writing of this, there are still conflicts between the Nubians and Egyptian Government over this area. In these pictures we are on the bus coming from the airport to Aswan. The pictures are as taken in a series from left to right and from top to bottom on the page.
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