also spelled Assuan, or Assouan, mu?─fa?ah (governorate), Upper Egypt, embracing the Nile floodplain and immediately adjacent territories. Its area is 262 square miles (679 square km). Long and narrow in shape, it is the most southerly Egyptian governorate along the Nile; its short southern boundary forms part of the international frontier with The Sudan. The sandstone, granite, and diorite hills flanking the Nile are dissected by ancient, long-dried-up streams. At the capital of Asw─n and at Wadi ?alf─, at the Sudanese frontier, the Nile flows through granite formations that, having eroded more slowly, have produced rapids and islands in the river, called cataracts. These presented obstacles to river traffic and were a factor in the location of the frontier at Asw─n in pharaonic Egypt. Just above the city of Asw─n is the old Asw─n Dam. Some 4 miles (6 km) farther south is the Asw─n High Dam, one of the world's great engineering works, completed in 1970. South of the High Dam for nearly 150 miles (240 km) to the Sudanese border is a hilly, inhospitable desert wilderness without roads or railroads, with the original river valley flooded by Lake Nasser. Since 1968, when the High Dam became operational, many formerly summer-irrigated lands have been converted to year-round irrigation in Asw─n governorate. Sugarcane, lentils, corn (maize), and wheat are grown in the area north of Asw─n city. Industry in the governorate is centred on the High Dam and in the towns of Kawm Umb┗ and Idf┗, both of which have sugar refineries. Granite has long been quarried around Asw─n city, and marble quarries opened in modern times. Tourism also is important, as the governorate is rich in well-preserved ancient monuments. In the 1960s a massive international scientific effort removed the Egyptian temples threatened by the rising waters of Lake Nasser to higher ground; the most complex efforts involved Abu Simbel and Philae. Pop. (1986 est.) 796,000. |