underwater cities that will amaze you
TRANSCRIPT
Underwater cities that will amaze youBy Kenny Slaught
Atlantis is perhaps the best known city in the world. Everyone has heard about it, and many have even looked for it in different ways. However, despite the huge efforts done through the centuries, Atlantis still remains underwater, hiding all its secrets from us. But that is not the case with the cities that you will find in this list. They have been found and studied by archaeologists in different parts of the world, and have opened many of their secrets for us, which has helped us to understand how people lived in other times. All of them are beautiful cities full of mysteries and cultural treasures for people of all generations to enjoy. You will surely want to visit them and find out what they may have for you.
Port RoyalLocated in Jamaica, Port Royal was at some point in its history a place that pirates loved for its alcohol, women and parties. It was also a very rich city due to its large plantations. However, an earthquake hit the city in 1692. It was a really powerful earthquake that killed more than 2000 people, and covered the city with sand and water. Some people claimed that the earthquake was a divine retribution for the excesses lived there. In any case, it is nowadays still sinking in the sand, so it is becoming harder and harder to see.
Image courtesy of Christian y Sergio Velasco at Flickr.com
The Lost Villages Most underwater cities belong to rather ancient civilizations. But that is not actually the case always. And the Lost Villages, located in the province of Ontario, Canada, are a very good example of this. They were submerged in 1958 due to the creation of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The Lost Villages are remarkable for all the details that can still be seen in them. DwarkaLocated in India, many hindu people think that Dwarka is in fact the lost city of Krishna. It is for that reason a very important place of pilgrimage. Dwarka was built on the borders of the river. But it was finally abandoned, until the water covered it. Believers think that all this happened after the death of Krishna.
Yonaguni Jima PyramidsLocated in Japan, there still exist many disagreements about whether these pyramids were built by human beings, or were rather the result of different natural forces. However, the perfection of its forms and shapes makes it hard to believe that they can be simply the consequence of natural processes. They seem to be a product of human intention. But if that is the case, then they had to be built around 10000 BC, when the sea level was much lower.
Image courtesy of Liangtai Li at Flickr.com
Lion CityLocated in China, Lion City is perhaps the most beautiful city in this list. And the main reason is that its monuments are very well conserved and can still be seen easily. The city was built by the Han Dynasty, and it was full of white temples, memorial arches, paved roads, and many houses. In fact, it was at some point the centre of politics and economics in the region. But it was intentionally flooded in 1959 by the Chinese government, due to the need to built a new hydroelectric power station. Paradoxically, this turned the city into a very popular attraction for tourists afterwards. PavlopetriLocated in Greece, Pavlopetri is about 5000 years old, which makes it the oldest underwater city discovered so far. It was discovered in 1967 by Nicholas Flemming, and later mapped by a team of archaeologists from Cambridge.
Dian KingdomPeople from Yunnan, China, used to say in the old days that they could see weird figures of a ghost city underwater when the water was still. However, nobody seriously believed in those stories until a group of archaeologists did in fact discovered the inundated remains of a city of the Dian people under Fuxian Lake in 2001. They could verify the age of these remains with carbon dating, and established that the city dates from 1750 years ago. It seems that part of the structure of the city collapsed at some point, and that is the reason why it is now underwater. AlexandriaLocated in Egypt, Alexandria is perhaps the most famous city in this list. The pictures of this underwater city are amazing, and it is somehow surprising to realize that nobody actually knew about it for 1600 years. This was Cleopatra’s hometown, a powerful place respected by everyone in ancient times. However, the submerged city was discovered only in 1998 by a group of archaeologists that decided to go to the bottom of the sea to find out what it was hiding from them. And what they saw was magnificent, with sculptures and monuments still standing on the floor. It is believed that as happened with Port Royal, an earthquake was the main reason why the city is now submerged.
