Few regions of Egypt conjure as many Pharaonic images. This is the part of the country where some of the world’s most famous ruins and the mighty, ever-enlarging Nile take center stage. This area was busy with trade and commerce under pharaohs’ rule, taking advantage of the immense waterway that is the Nile. Upper Egypt also traded with nomads, as it was part of a desert caravan route that originated in neighboring Sudan. Archeological findings point out that this section of the country was heavily populated and urbanized as far back as six millennia ago. This was the location for legendary Thebes, the cultural and monumental capital of the New Kingdom. Not to be outdone by their exceptional heritage, artisans from Upper Egypt have brought us the equally legendary natural cotton and linen fabrics for thousands of years now. The softest linens, shirts, wraps and towels come to us from this region. Today, Upper Egypt is also home to Nubian populations who migrated to Aswan, where they settled and maintained their art and customs, including the production of their unique artisan goods, like their kaleidoscopic baskets. The proximity to sub-Saharan Africa is very apparent in their products, as Aswan remains a crossroads between middle-eastern Egypt and the rest of this vast continent.