Geography
Upper Egypt is between the Cataracts of the Nile above modern-day Aswan, downriver (northwards) to the area between Zawyet Dahshur and El-Ayait, which is south of modern-day Cairo. The northern (downriver) part of Upper Egypt, between Sohag and El-Ayait, is also known as Middle Egypt. In Arabic, inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis; they generally speak Sa'idi Arabic.
In Pharaonic times Upper Egypt was known as Ta Shemau which means "the land of reeds." It was divided into twenty-two districts called nomes. The first nome was roughly where modern Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih (Aphroditopolis), just to the south of Cairo.
Read more about this topic: Upper Egypt
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)