Construction of Aswan Dam

The Aswan High Dam, built across the Nile in southern Egypt, was one of the great engineering projects of the twentieth century. Its construction started under President Gamal Abdel Nasser after the United States and Britain withdrew their funding offer, a decision that contributed to the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the Soviet Union provided technical and financial support. The dam, completed in 1970, created Lake Nasser, controlled the Nile's seasonal floods, and supplied hydroelectric power. It also displaced many Nubian communities, cut the flow of fertile silt to the Nile valley, and forced an international campaign to move the temples of Abu Simbel and others to higher ground.

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