River development, focused on irrigation water provided by the Nile, has been essential to Egypt for thousands of years. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, a succession of efforts to manipulate the Nile has reflected the dominance of imperial powers, including Napoleon Bonaparte, and subsequently, the British, who sought to develop Egypt's capability to grow
cotton.

More recently, development of the Nile, particularly through the Aswan High Dam, has been crucial to the assertion of Egyptian nationalism. This project, one of the most famous dams in the world, has also perhaps contributed the most to generating awareness of the environmental impacts of dams. Completed in 1968, its ideological significance, its impacts on Egypt's economy and food-growing capacity, and on the Nile environment,
have generated intense controversy.

Sources:
o Biswas, Asit K., "The Aswan High Dam Revisited," Ecodecision, Sept. 1992: 67-69. [Concludes that "An objective evaluation of the impact of the Aswan High Dam clearly indicates that it has been overwhelmingly positive."]
o Pearce, Fred, "High and Dry in Aswan," New Scientist, May 7, 1994, vol. 142, no. 1924: 28-32. [The Aswan Dam in the context of the international politics of the Nile River basin.]
o Pearce, Fred , The Dammed, pp. 77-86, 115-122.
o Rycroft, Robert W., Joseph S. Szyliowicz, "The Technological Dimension of Decision Making: The Case of the Aswan High Dam," World Politics, 1980, 33(1): 36-61. [Survey of the process of decisions leading to the Aswan Dam. Concludes that political, not technical factors were of most significance.]
o Smith, Scot E., "General Impacts of Aswan High Dam," J. Water Resources Planning and Management, 1986, 112(4): 551-562.
o Walton, Susan, "Egypt After the Aswan Dam," Environment, 1981, 23(4): 30-36.
o White, Gilbert F., "The Environmental Effects of the High Dam at Aswan," Environment, 1988, 30(7): 4-11, 34-40. [An authoritative survey. Resists temptation to provide a definitive positive or negative assessment of the dam.]