Aswan is one has been in Egypt for a long time. It's in Upper Egypt and is north the the First Cataract, by cataract I mean a water fall, not the clouding in your eye. This place was founded in the Early Dynastic Period, which is 3050 BC and the first city was in this country was Sewnwt. For a long time Aswan was the gateway to Africa and Nubia. Elephantine Island, an island in Aswan that used to be named Yeb, it was a mayor trade center with Nubia and the rest of Africa. Up until the Islamic times, caravans, camels, gold and ivory markets were traded. Since the location was Aswan was in upper Egypt, it was made the capital, not of Egypt but of Upper Egypt. The Ptolemies, which were the last dynasty in Egypt, used Aswan as a base to enter Nubia, Sudan, and Central Africa, and it was also the Ptolemies that built the amazing Temple of Philae. Aswan was very important in the Dynastic Period because it was a trade and without it Egypt and Africa probably wouldn't be what it is today, close.