The Aswan High Dam was built across which river?

The Aswan High Dam was built across the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. Completed in the twentieth century, it transformed the Nile’s seasonal flooding, created a vast reservoir, and became one of the most important infrastructure projects in modern Egyptian history.

Construction began in 1960 and the High Dam was completed in 1970, with the reservoir filling over subsequent years. Lake Nasser, the reservoir behind the dam, stores water for irrigation and urban use while the dam’s hydroelectric power station supplies electricity. The project was intended to regulate floods, support agriculture, and help drive industrial development.

The dam stands upstream from the older Aswan Low Dam, built between 1899 and 1902. The High Dam was far larger and provided much greater storage capacity. Its construction also led to the relocation of communities and the rescue or relocation of major archaeological sites, including the temples at Abu Simbel.

The dam reduced the Nile’s natural flood cycle, which brought fertile sediment downstream. That improved control and reliable water supply, but it also increased dependence on artificial fertilizers and changed the river’s ecology. The river itself is the Nile, not the Niger, Congo, or Zambezi.