21st July 1970: Construction of the Aswan High Dam completed in Egypt

A dam had already been built across the Nile near the southern Egyptian city of Aswan in 1902. This was designed to store the Nile’s annual floodwater and release it during the dry season in order to irrigate the farms and settlements further downstream. Despite being heightened twice by the 1930s the dam still did not provide enough water for future development. Consequently designs for a new dam were sought.

Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 led by the Free Officers Movement, President Gamal Abdel Nasser began searching for funding for the new dam. The US, Britain and the USSR all initially offered financial support, but after the USSR promised funding at just 2% interest the other powers pulled out. Income from the Suez Canal following Nasser’s nationalisation of the waterway provided further funds.

Construction of the High Dam took just over ten years and cost nearly $1 billion. It is estimated that this cost was recovered in less than five years thanks to income from increased agricultural production and hydroelectric generation, as well as savings from flood protection and improved navigation.

The completed dam is almost 4km long and 111 metres tall. At its centre is the monument of Arab-Soviet Friendship that commemorates it completion. The 550km long reservoir formed when the dam was flooded is known as Lake Nasser, and holds 132 cubic kilometres of water. The creation of the reservoir forced the relocation of over 100,000 people and a number of archaeological sites that would otherwise have been lost beneath the water.