New Valley Governorate<\/a> to the west and Sudan to the south.<\/p>\nDemographics<\/h2>\n
The population grew from 960,510 at the 1996 census to 1,473,975 in 2017 and an estimated 1,656,218 in July 2023. Almost everyone lives on the riverbank between Edfu and the High Dam; the desert and the lake shore south of it are near empty. Aswan has Egypt’s largest Nubian population, most of it in the city, in the Kom Ombo resettlement villages and on Elephantine and the west bank. Nubian, in its Kenzi and Fadicca forms, is still spoken alongside Arabic.<\/p>\n
Economy and Local Life<\/h2>\n
The High Dam power station, finished in 1970, generates around 2,100 megawatts and made Aswan an industrial centre. The Kima plant north of the city has produced fertiliser from that power since 1960. Granite and sandstone are still cut from the quarries that supplied the pharaohs. Sugarcane is the main crop, with factories at Kom Ombo and Edfu, and Lake Nasser supports a commercial fishery. Tourism carries the winter season, and the Benban solar park north-west of the city, opened in 2019, is one of the largest in the world.<\/p>\n
History<\/h2>\n
Aswan was Swenett, the southern frontier of ancient Egypt and its gateway to Nubia. Elephantine Island guarded the border and held a garrison for three thousand years. The granite quarries there produced obelisks for temples across the country, and an unfinished one still lies in the rock. The old Aswan Dam was completed in 1902, the High Dam between 1960 and 1970. The reservoir behind it flooded Nubia, and between 1963 and 1964 about 50,000 Nubians were moved north to Nasr al-Nuba. A UNESCO campaign cut the temples of Abu Simbel into blocks and rebuilt them 65 metres higher between 1964 and 1968, and moved Philae to Agilkia Island in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Getting There<\/h2>\n
Aswan International Airport is about 16 km south-west of the city, with daily flights from Cairo. Abu Simbel has its own airport, and a desert road runs the 280 km south from Aswan. The Cairo to Aswan railway ends here after about 880 km, with sleeper trains taking around 13 hours. Cruise boats work the river between Aswan and Luxor, and the Qustul crossing on Lake Nasser links to Sudan.<\/p>\n
FAQ<\/h2>\nWhat is the capital of Aswan Governorate?<\/h3>\n
Aswan city, on the east bank of the Nile at the First Cataract.<\/p>\n
How many districts does Aswan have?<\/h3>\n
Six marakiz, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Daraw, Nasr al-Nuba, Aswan and Abu Simbel, plus two urban aqsam and two new cities.<\/p>\n
What is the population of Aswan Governorate?<\/h3>\n
CAPMAS estimated 1,656,218 people in July 2023. The 2017 census counted 1,473,975.<\/p>\n
How many villages are in Aswan?<\/h3>\n
This page lists 177 named settlements across the six marakiz.<\/p>\n
Why do Nubian villages near Kom Ombo have the names of drowned villages?<\/h3>\n
When Lake Nasser flooded Nubia, the displaced communities were rehoused at Nasr al-Nuba in 1963 and 1964. Each new village kept the name of the one it replaced.<\/p>\n
How far is Aswan from Cairo?<\/h3>\n
About 880 km south. Flights take about an hour and a half, sleeper trains about 13 hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aswan Governorate (Arabic: \u0645\u062d\u0627\u0641\u0638\u0629 \u0623\u0633\u0648\u0627\u0646) is the southernmost governorate of Egypt, running from Edfu down to the Sudanese border and taking in most of Lake Nasser. Its capital is Aswan, on the east bank at the First Cataract. CAPMAS estimated the population at 1,656,218 in July 2023, spread over 62,726 km² that are almost entirely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Aswan Governorate: Towns, Villages & Population","_seopress_titles_desc":"Aswan Governorate, southern Egypt: capital Aswan, 1.66 million people, 6 marakiz and 177 towns and villages listed by district, plus economy and history.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-egypt","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}