- Do you know about these places that aren't "aren't" around anymore?
Do you get into the history of places that no longer exist? Do you think you know all the places on the list?
Port Royal, Jamaica
Once one of the Caribbean’s wealthiest and most notorious cities, Port Royal was famous for pirates, privateers, taverns, and extraordinary wealth. In 1692, a massive earthquake struck Jamaica. Much of Port Royal slid into the sea, killing thousands. The remains of the city now lie underwater, making it one of the most famous submerged settlements in the Caribbean.
Heracleion, Egypt
For centuries, Heracleion was an important Egyptian port on the Mediterranean. Then it seemingly vanished from history. Earthquakes, rising water, soil liquefaction, and flooding eventually caused parts of the city to sink beneath the sea. Archaeologists rediscovered its remains underwater in the early 2000s, including enormous statues, religious artifacts, coins, and architectural fragments. Did you know this as one of the places that no longer exist?
Centralia, Pennsylvania
Centralia was once a small Pennsylvania coal-mining town. In 1962, a fire began in an abandoned section of a coal mine beneath the town. The underground coal seam continued burning for decades. Toxic gases, sinkholes, and concerns about the unstable ground eventually led most residents to leave. Only a handful of people remained, while much of the former town was demolished.
Dunwich, England
Dunwich was once a major medieval port and an important religious center on England’s Suffolk coast. Coastal erosion gradually destroyed the settlement. Churches, houses, and streets were swallowed by the sea. Today, the medieval city is largely underwater or beneath the beach, and Dunwich is remembered as one of England’s most dramatic “lost cities.” Did you know this as one of the places that no longer exist?
Hashima Island, Japan
Hashima, commonly called Gunkanjima or “Battleship Island,” was once an intensely crowded coal-mining community. Apartment blocks, schools, shops, and other facilities were packed onto the tiny island. When the coal mine closed in 1974, the entire population left. The buildings remained behind, slowly deteriorating into an eerie abandoned city.
Pripyat, Ukraine
Pripyat was built in the Soviet Union in the 1970s to house workers at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was a modern planned city with schools, apartments, shops, and recreational facilities. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, its roughly 49,000 residents were evacuated. The city remains largely abandoned, with vegetation gradually overtaking its streets and buildings. Did you know this as one of the places that no longer exist?
Thonis-Heracleion’s Neighboring Settlements
Several ancient settlements along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast disappeared through a combination of earthquakes, flooding, subsidence, and rising sea levels. Their disappearance illustrates something easily forgotten about ancient cities: they weren’t necessarily destroyed in one dramatic event. Sometimes a place simply became increasingly difficult to inhabit until the population left—and centuries later, almost nothing remained visible above ground.
What do you think of these places that no longer exist? Tell us all your thoughts in the comments!