The history of dams goes back centuries. The first known dam was built four thousand years ago to divert the course of the Nile River in Egypt in order to establish the city of Memphis. The Babylonians also built dams as part of irrigation systems with the aim of transforming unproductive areas into fertile plains capable of accommodating a number of people. Large population. The Romans also built dams in all provinces of their empire. They built dams in Syria, North Africa, Spain, and Italy. These dams were often built with two stone walls with a space between them. This void was filled with low-cost materials such as dirt or various small stones, and BC, the Yemenis built the most famous Ma'rib Dam in history.
There are more than eight hundred thousand dams in the world today, but the large or heavy dams do not exceed fifty thousand, the most important and largest of which is the High Dam.