The Aswan High Dam, a rock-filled dam across the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt, was completed in 1970 (officially opened in January 1971) and cost about 1 billion dollars.

The Aswan High Dam brings huge benefits to the Egyptian economy. For the first time in history, the annual floods of the Nile are under human control. The dam captures floodwaters and releases them when needed to make the most of irrigated land, to irrigate hundreds of thousands of new hectares, to improve navigation above and below Aswan, and to generate massive amounts of hydroelectric power (the dam's 12 turbines can produce 10 billion kilowatt hours per year). Fishing industry is also developed in the dam pond.

The dam has a height of 111 meters (364 ft), a crest length of 3830 meters (12,562 ft) and a volume of 44300000 cubic meters (57940000 cubic yards).

Installing the dam's reservoir required the costly relocation of the ancient Egyptian temple complex of Abu Simbel, which would otherwise have been submerged. Ninety thousand Egyptian fellahin (peasants) and Sudanese Nubian nomads had to be relocated. Fifty thousand Egyptians were moved to the Kawm Umbū valley, 50 km north of Aswan, where a new agricultural zone called Nubariya was formed, while most of the Sudanese were moved to the Khashm al-Kirbah area in Sudan.