Aswan

The Nile at Aswan, seen from Elephantine Island

Aswan (أسوان Aswān) (, 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.

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.

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.

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