Aswan High Dam

The **Aswan High Dam** is a dam on the river Nile. It was built from 1960 to 1971, and created Lake Nasser. The dam is located in the Aswan governorate in the south of Egypt. The dam improved agricultural activity in the region, provided a lot of electrical power to the country and protected the surrounding cities and farms from dangerous floods. It also caused the moving of hundreds of thousands of nomads and inhabitants of the region because of the creation of the water reservoir. For the same reason the Abu Simbel temple complex needed to be removed along with many other temples and monuments in southern Egypt and northern Sudan.

## Construction 
### Aswan Low Dam 
The construction of the Aswan Low Dam began in 1898 and was completed in 1902. In the years after the completion the dam had to be raised between 1907 and 1912 and once again between 1929 and 1933.  Finally, the Soviet Union provided the money for the construction of the new Aswan High Dam. A team of Soviet and Egyptian engineers worked together to build the Aswan High Dam.

The location of the High Dam is 6.5 kilometers south of the Low Dam.

For the creation of the dam, techniques were used for forming a rock-fill dam. This type of dam is usually made from materials including, dumped and pressed together rock, stones, mud, sand, and clay. This same combination of materials forms the center of the High Dam.

The High Dam has 180 sluice gates. The sluice gates regulate the flow of water and the water level, in order to attain control over flooding. Within the sluice gates, a power system is installed which contains 12 Francis turbines. This lake was formed by the construction of the High Dam. It is named after Gamal Abdel Nasser. The water in the reservoir is shared by Egypt and Sudan according to an agreement on water allocation, which is called the Nile Waters Agreement.

### Agricultural Benefits 
The building of the dam led to around 2.5 million acres (10,117&nbsp;km2) of land to be transformed into farmable lands. This brought up the total to 8.6 million acres (34,803&nbsp;km2) of the total country, which is around 3.4%. This increase in farmable land caused an increase in agricultural activity.
## Disadvantages and Controversies 
### Relocation of Local Inhabitants 
The creation of the dam’s water reservoir (Lake Nasser) flooded a big part of Lower Nubia in the south of Egypt. For this, between 100.000 and 120.000 Egyptian peasants (Fellahin) and Sudanese Nubian nomads had to be moved out of their homes. The Egyptian peasants were moved to the Kawm Umbuvalley which is located 48 kilometers north of the dam. There would be a planned city of New Nubia, or al-Nuba al-Jadida.

Around 50.000 to 70.000 of the Sudanese nomads were moved to Wadi Halfa in Sudan while others were moved to different cities inside Sudan.
=== Relocation of the Abu Simbel Temple complex These were then carefully put together again 200 meters further and 65 meters higher. The Abu Simbel temple complex was among 22 monuments that had to be moved due to the flooding of the region. being rebuilt.]]

Not only the Abu Simbel temples were moved. Several other and smaller temples and monuments that were moved are:

In Egypt:
* The temple of Qertassi
* The large temple of Kalabsha
* The temple of Beit el Wali
* The rock temple of Ramses at Gerf Husein
* The Dakka temple
* The Roman temple of Maharraqa
* The temple of Ramses II
* An old temple built by Thutmosis III and Amenophis II
* The rock temple of Derr
* The rock-cut chapel of Thutmosis III
* The small rock-cut chapel of Horemheb
Egypt gave 4 temples that had to be moved to countries who helped in the big operation of moving all the temples and monuments to safety.
* The temple of Ellesyia, was gifted to Italy and is now in "Museo Egizio" in Turin.

In Sudan:
* The temple of Ramses at Aksha
* The fortified town of Buhen with two temples of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty
* Two temples of the same period in the fortresses of Semna East and West

## Related pages 
*Abu Simbel temples
*Aswan Low Dam
*The Nile river

## References