aswan

English - English

Definition of aswan in English English dictionary

City (pop., 1996 est.: 219,017), southeastern Egypt. It lies on the Nile River just north of Lake Nasser. In ancient times it was the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt. Later known as Syene, it served as a frontier garrison post for the Romans, Ottomans, and British. Modern Aswn is located near the old Aswn Dam (completed 1902) and the Aswn High Dam

{i} city in Egypt

an ancient city on the Nile in Egypt; site of the Aswan High Dam

Related Terms

Aswan Dam

dam on the Nile River

Aswan High Dam

a dam built across the River Nile in southern Egypt. It is one of the largest dams in the world and is used to produce electricity and provide water for farming. Dam across the Nile River, north of Aswan, Egypt. Built 4 mi (6 km) upstream from the earlier Aswan Dam (1902), it is 364 ft (111 m) high and 12,562 ft (3,830 m) long. Differences with Gamal Abdel Nasser led the U.S. and Britain to withdraw their financial support of the project in 1956, whereupon Nasser turned to the Soviet Union for assistance. The dam, completed in 1970, impounds the reservoir Lake Nasser and controls the annual Nile flood, releasing floodwaters when needed for irrigation; it also enables the production of great amounts of electric power. Its construction necessitated the relocation of the ancient Abu Simbel ruins

aswan high dam

one of the world's largest dams on the Nile River in southern Egypt

Hyphenation

As·wan