Nubian Village
Brightly painted houses and warm hospitality greet visitors on the banks of the Nile. The Nubian villages around Aswan keep alive the culture of a people whose homeland stretched south along the river.
The people of Nubia
Nubia is the historic region along the Nile from Aswan south into present-day Sudan. Its people have their own languages and traditions, and they were neighbors, rivals and trading partners of ancient Egypt for thousands of years. Many Nubians today speak both Nubian and Arabic.
Color on the walls
Nubian homes are known for their brightly painted walls and decorated doorways. Patterns and pictures give each house a personal character, and the colors stand out sharply against the sand and the river. Music and storytelling are also central to Nubian cultural life.
Much of old Nubia lies under the lake, yet its colors and its welcome live on along the river.
A homeland beneath Lake Nasser
The building of the dams at Aswan, above all the High Dam, flooded much of the Nubian homeland and forced many families to move. They carried their culture with them, and the villages around Aswan remain a place to meet it.
- Region
- Nubia
- Languages
- Nubian, Arabic
- Known for
- Painted houses
