Eight Historical Cities destroyed by the Sea!

This is the story of those cities which were alive at some point in time. Some of the cities were the most developed in their era and people of these cities had every facility which was necessary for a lavish life style, Some were the biggest trade centers, some were the main points of food and goods, some had the most active sea shores of the world and some of them were so important that Empires used to fought for gaining the control of the city. These cities were the New York, Washington, London, Paris of the past but then a day came on each of these cities that were drowned by the Mighty sea water. Some of these cities of the past have been discovered with only the skeleton of theirs remaining while some are lost forever in the history.

I was reading about the countries which are today in danger of being taken over by the sea and thought that there must be some countries or cities that might as well have had the worse possible fate already, here are a few of those cities.

Port Royal, Jamaica.

This city was situated at the south eastern end of Jamaica near the Kingston sea port. These First citizens of this city were the Arawak Indians, people that now live in the Republic of Haiti. They lived in the city for a long time and were mostly fishermen. Then in 1494 Spanish cast people reached here in the leadership of Columbus to find gold and silver but they could not find anything here but instead of going back they decided to stay here and made the Arawak Indians their slaves and started  cultivating sugar cane as living, in short this city was now a property of the Spanish Empire.

These Spanish people had the control of the city for almost 146 years but then in late 1655 the British invaded the city. The aim of the Britishers was to control the sea and to make this area a trade zone. During the Spanish reign the people of this city lived a poor life and were mostly treated as slaves but when the Britishers took control a war between both of the empires started and the British gave the control of the city to the Pirates who controlled the city as well as people started to become rich because the only aim of the Pirates was money and the Britishers were willing to give them anything unless they had the control of the city.

In the year 1692 a high magnitude earth quake hit the city due to the which the capital of Jamaica was almost destroyed while the northern side of the city was swallowed by the sea. Then later in the same year a Tsunami came and further damaged the city and more part of which was now in the sea. Later in the 1700's when the chain of disasters stopped it was revealed that almost half the population of the city was no where to be found. Most of the Writers who wrote about this city say that people of that time thought that this fate of the city was written as the city was captured by the rich people who did everything bad.

After all the disasters there were several tries made to rebuilt the city but after some time the city was again destroyed due to some disaster. In 1703 fire broke in the city, In 1722 there was a devastating flood, In 1755 again fire, In 1815 again fire, In 1850 some disease broke out killing millions but the dent was in the year 1907 when the earth quake and flood destroyed the city altogether leaving no sings of the city at all. Most of the reigns of the city are still present under the sea.

Eastern Canopus, Egypt.

At the Northern end of the Egyptian territory, where the River Nile meets the sea, there were two cities present in the the 16th century. Eastern Canopus and Heraceleon were not only two of the most famous cities but were the most important cities of the pre historic times. Eastern Canopus was situated 25km away from the modern city of Iskandaria. It is also known as a port in ancient Egypt east of Alexandria where granite monuments have been found inscribed with the name of Rameses II and written in languages similar to those of the Rosetta stone. This city is now a part of the sea and its remains are found 2km within the present shore of the city of Iskandaria.

Before the city of Iskandaria was established this was the most important sea shore of the Early Egyptian Empire and was used for the trade between the Roman empire and the other world. In the Roman era the City of Eastern Canopus had the reputation of the city for the people who wanted to spend lavish time. It is obvious from the name of the city, Canopus in the roman language means Lavishness. Ancient history of this city is yet unknown and It is not known when the city was built, but one thing is clearly mentioned in the history that it was the point of war between the years 1798-1801 which damaged the city a lot.

These days the Town of Abu Qir is established here which has a population of around 1000 people.

Heraceleun, Egypt.

If we want to track the location of the city of HeraceleunThousands of artifacts, including bronze coins mostly belonging to the Ptolemic era, two gold coins, three colossal statues, two paintings with Greek inscriptions, some jewelry, several day-to-day utensils, earthenware and some amulets were found.

Due to a research it is revealed that this city was one of the most important city during (1333 to 1334 BC, )the time of Tutakhamun, the great ruler. Some of the researchers also think that the Sign of Power, Hercules is also buried in this city. Why were Heraceleun and Eastern Canopus were drowned in the sea? there are many stories regarding this. Some of the historians think that the cities were destroyed due to the mighty earth quakes. This city was basically the only way of entering Egypt from the sea. Especially the romans came here and after paying tax of 10% on the things they brought, were allowed to sell things in the rest of Egypt. Roman Historians talk about a myth that once the water of river nile was to destroy the cities in the form of a flood, Hercules, by his great power forced the water to change its course and saved the cities.

So far, an area of almost 1000 m x 800 m has been explored. Remains of vast buildings, harbor basins and the wreckage of a dozen old sunken ships have been examined.. Various theories on why the area sank into the Mediterranean have been discussed, including theories of earthquakes and large waves.

Atlit Yam, Israel.

Atlit Yam is an ancient submerged Neolithic village off the coast of Atlit, Israel. Atlit-Yam provides the earliest known evidence for an agro-pastoral-marine subsistence system on the Levantine coast. There are also some sings near the city of Haifa that suggests that a village, if not a city was established here some point in time. Signs show that the city was alive here around 6900-6300 BC. 

For now the city is 8-12 meter deep in the sea and is estimated to be 40000 square km long.

It is said that during the days of the Great Ice era, when the Ice started to melt the sea level rose to a very high level and then about 8500 years ago a devastating Tsunami destroyed the city. In the year 1960, for the first time the geologists found of the remains of this city. All the houses and buildings that have been discovered here are made from stones, human bones have also been found. Many wells are also discovered here and the experts feel that when the sea water polluted the wells, people started to migrate to other places. After further research in 2008, skeleton on a woman and a boy have also been found. Skeletons of fishes are found in such a way that it is thought that some point here a fish market of huge magnitude existed. 

Yonaguni, Japan.

This was the last Island of southern Japan which was situated about 108 km away from the Taiwanese territory which is famous for its stony structure. Its population was about 1700 and according to some Japanese myths this city was called the City of Gods. People of that area had the view that to find happiness it was must to visit this city.

Japanese expert, Masaki Kemura after 15 years of research revealed that this city was 5000 years old which was destroyed due to a deadly earth quake 2000 years ago. But some other experts think that this city is 1000 years old and connects with the end of the Ice Age. If their claim is considered correct then the history of the world will have to be changed which says that the European traditions are most advanced.

The city which had Japanese pyramids was discovered in 1986 when a sea diver discovered a building some 25 meters in the sea. Uptill now the highest pyramid found is 600 feet wide and 90 feet tall. many ornaments have also been found within the pyramids.

Atlantis.

Atlantis the Island of Atlas is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias. It is also considered as the biggest kingdom that was an Island. In Plato's dialogues it is written that the Island existed almost 9000 years ago. But some of the Historians think that there was some mistake made while translating the Plato's dialogues and this Island existed 900 years ago not 9000. For a long period of time people did not considered the Plato's information reliable but now after years of research they have agreed to everything that plato said.

Where did this city exist? There are many people who have different point of view on this query. Some say that it was near the Pacific ocean, while some say that it was near northern europe the Atlantic ocean, but there are many others who think that this city was situated near the dead sea. Interestingly enough there are also some people who think this city is in the arabian sea while others think that this city never existed and was just a myth. But Plato and the Historians who are 
working on it firmly believe this city exists. When and why was this city destroyed, no one knows yet although after the recent tsunami it is thought that the city has again been discovered. An empire ranging from Northern Africa to Asia, its destruction means the destruction of a complete civilization.

Palvopetri, Greece.

The city of Palvopetri, underwater off the coast of southern Laconia in Greece, is about 500 years old and is the oldest submerged archaeological town site. It is unique in the way that it has almost complete town plans, including streets, buildings and tombs. It was discovered in 1967 by Nicholas Fleming and mapped in 1968 by a team of archaeologists from Cambridge. It has at least 15 buildings submerged in three to four meters of water. The newest discoveries were made in 2009 alone covering 9000 square meters.

Dunwich, England.

1500 years ago this city was a famous Island and a busy city with a sea port. Major exports of this city were wool and wheat and its major imports were fish, wine, and wood. Not only this city had the biggest sea port of the country it was among the 10 largest cities of the United Kingdom with a population of about 3000. There were two hospitals for this minor population which tells that how much care was taken.

This city has always been a troublesome territory but it was most damaged in 1286 when a sea storm struck the city. This sea storm was so dangerous that people had not seen anything like this in their life time and it did not stop for many days. When it did stop it had destroyed all of the city and the sea port was almost finished and the big city was reduced to a small town. Then in 1328 another sea storm struck the 'New Town' and further damaged it. This fight with nature kept on and now only a small village is left.

In 1754 British historian published some photos of this city which were not accepted by anyone. Researchers are of the view that the city was totally destroyed in the 13th century and only a few remains of the city are left. People of the village living near the shore say that they still hear bells of the church ringing from the sea. In 2008 the British Government planned to find the lost city with latest technology.