Aswan

Aswan

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(Arabic: ?????? ????? Aswān )

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(, population 200,000) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the governorate of the same name. It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist center.

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Aswan is one of the driest inhabited places in the world; as of early 2001, the last rain here was 6 years ago. In Nubian settlements they generally do not bother to roof all of the rooms in their houses.

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This is identified with the ancient city of Syene, which is famous for providing a basis on which Eratosthenes disputed the Flat Earth theory and attempted to determine the circumference of the Earth, using Syene as the originating point and Alexandria as the terminal point of a measured arc to make an accurate estimate of the circumference of the Earth.

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See also: Aswan Dam, Elephantine, Kitchener's Island, Nag Hammadi

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Governorate: A governorate is a subnational entity. The term is mostly used to translate the Arabic muhafazah (plural muhafazat), also spelled mohafazah (mohafazat). It may also refer to the Governorates and Governor-Generalships of Imperial Russia (, tr.: guberniya)....

Nile: :For alternative meanings of "Nile", see Nile (disambiguation)...

First cataract: REDIRECTCataracts of the Nile...

Aswan related Images and Photos (experimental)

A Swan Guarding its Nest from a Child and a Spaniel	Aswan Sailboat Nile River Egypt	The Dam Across the Nile the Building of the Aswan Dam	Hieroglyphic Wall of Temple of Isis Hypaethral Court on Island of Philae in Nile Below Aswan
Western Colonnadel of the Temple of Isis on Island of Philae in Middle of the Nile Below Aswan