Aswan High Dam

The Aswan High Dam is a rock-fill dam across the Nile at Aswan in southern Egypt, built between 1960 and 1970 with Soviet finance and engineering after the United States and Britain withdrew their offer of support in 1956. It ended the annual Nile flood, provided water for irrigation and much of Egypt's electricity, and created Lake Nasser, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. Its reservoir displaced some 100,000 Nubians and required the rescue of ancient monuments such as the temples of Abu Simbel.