Aswan (Arabic: أسوان, Coptic: Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ,) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. The place, which had 300 thousand inhabitants in 2012, is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract.

It used to be the frontier town of Ancient Egypt facing the south. The city stood upon a peninsula on the right bank of the Nile, immediately below the first cataract of the flowing waters, which extended to it from Philae. Navigation to the delta was possible from this location without encountering a barrier.

It was equally important as a military station and as a place of traffic. Under every dynasty it was a garrison town; and here tolls and customs were levied on all boats passing southwards and northwards. The stone quarries of ancient Egypt located here were celebrated for their stone, and especially for granitic rock. They furnished the colossal statues, obelisks, and monolithal shrines that are found throughout Egypt, including the pyramids.

The city is mentioned by numerous ancient writers, including Herodotus or Strabo. More than 2200 years ago, Greek polymath Eratosthenes calculated earth’s circumference here, because of the latitude of the city and the fact that on the day of the summer solstice, a vertically positioned staff cast no shadow.

Aswan today is the greatest adventure of the River Nile. According to locals nowhere else in the world is there such yellow coloured sand, because the sand of the desert here has magical power. This world is the realm of the sky painted yellow by sand and of dazzlingly white sheets.