Lost cities facts for kids

Ruins of Ciudad Perdida, a city built by the Tairona people in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

A lost city is a city that was once a busy place but, for different reasons, became empty and forgotten. Many of these cities are also known as ghost towns. People often rediscover them centuries later, revealing secrets about ancient civilizations.

Lost Cities Around the World

Lost cities can be found on every continent. Each one tells a unique story about its people and why it disappeared.

Africa

Africa is home to many ancient lost cities. These places show us how powerful and advanced early civilizations were.

• Memphis, Egypt: This was once a very important capital city of ancient Egypt. Not much of it remains today, but it was a huge administrative center.
• Avaris: This city was the capital of the Hyksos people in the Nile Delta. It was a major center of power.
• Leptis Magna: This was a Roman city in what is now Libya. It was the birthplace of Emperor Septimius Severus. He spent a lot of money making the city beautiful. He even changed the path of a nearby river. Later, the river returned to its old path, burying much of the city in sand and mud.
• Carthage: This city started as a Phoenician settlement. It was destroyed and then rebuilt by the Romans. Later, it became the capital of the Vandals before being destroyed again in 697 AD.
• Great Zimbabwe: This was a large medieval city in southern Africa. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the country's Late Iron Age.
• Timgad: A Roman city in present-day Algeria. Emperor Trajan founded it around 100 AD. It was covered by sand in the 7th century, preserving many of its buildings.

Asia

Asia has many incredible lost cities, from ancient trading hubs to grand capitals.

Southeast Asia

• Angkor: Located in Cambodia, Angkor was once the capital of the Khmer Empire. It includes amazing temples like Angkor Wat. It was rediscovered in the 1860s.
• Ayutthaya: This was a major city in Thailand, known for its grand temples and palaces.

South Asia

• Mohenjo-daro and Harappa: These were two of the largest cities of the Indus Valley civilization in present-day Pakistan. They show advanced city planning from thousands of years ago.
• Taxila: An ancient city in Pakistan, important for trade and learning.
• Dwarka: An ancient city off the coast of India. It is believed to be the home of the Hindu god Krishna. Much of it has been excavated underwater.

Central Asia

• Ani: This was a medieval Armenian capital. It was once a thriving city on important trade routes.
• Niya and Loulan: These cities were located in the Taklamakan Desert along the ancient Silk Road. They were important stops for traders.
• Karakorum: This was the capital of Genghis Khan's vast Mongol Empire.

Western Asia/Middle East

• Babylon: An ancient city in Mesopotamia, famous for its Hanging Gardens.
• Çatalhöyük: A very old settlement from the Stone Age in Turkey. It's one of the earliest known cities.
• Hattusa: The capital of the Hittite Empire in Turkey.
• Nineveh: One of the oldest and greatest cities of ancient Mesopotamia, capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
• Persepolis: The ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
• Petra: A famous city in Jordan carved into rock cliffs. It was a major trading hub.
• Troy: An ancient city in Turkey, famous from the Greek myths about the Trojan War.
• Ur: An important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia.

South America

South America is home to many lost cities of the Inca and other ancient civilizations.

Inca Cities

• Machu Picchu: This famous Inca city in Peru is believed to have been a royal estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. Hiram Bingham III rediscovered its ruins in 1911.
• Vilcabamba: Known as the "Lost City of the Incas," it was the last stronghold of the Inca against the Spanish.
• Choquequirao: Another important Inca site, considered a last refuge for Inca resistance.

Other South American Cities

• Chan Chan: The capital of the Chimu kingdom in Peru. It was the largest adobe (mud-brick) city in the ancient world.
• Tiahuanaco: A pre-Inca city in Bolivia, known for its impressive stone architecture.
• Caral: One of the oldest cities in the Americas, located in Peru. It was a major center of the Norte Chico civilization.
• Tayuna: Also known as the "Lost City," this ancient city was built by the Tairona people in Colombia. It was discovered in 1972.

North America

North America has many lost cities, from ancient settlements to towns flooded for dams.

Mexico and Central America

• Chichen Itza: A very popular Maya ruin in Mexico. It was an important place for religious ceremonies.
• Copán: A major Maya city in modern Honduras, known for its detailed sculptures.
• Palenque: A beautiful Maya city in Mexico, famous for its art and buildings.
• Tikal: One of the most powerful Maya cities during the classic period.
• Teotihuacán: A huge pre-Aztec city in Mexico, known for its massive pyramids.

United States

• Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde: These are sites of the Ancestral Puebloans (also called Anasazi) in the Southwest United States. They built impressive cliff dwellings and large communities.
• Cahokia: Near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri. At its peak, Cahokia was one of the largest cities in the Americas before Europeans arrived. It is known for its huge earthen mounds.
• Kennett, California and Kane, Wyoming: These towns were lost underwater when dams were built to create reservoirs.

Canada

• L'Anse-aux-Meadows: A Viking settlement in Newfoundland, Canada, founded around 1000 AD. It's the only confirmed Viking site in North America.

Europe

Europe has many lost cities, some buried by natural disasters and others abandoned over time.

• Akrotiri: On the island of Santorini in Greece. This Minoan city was buried by a volcanic eruption, much like Pompeii.
• Helike: In Greece, this city was sunk by an earthquake in the 4th century BC and rediscovered in the 1990s.
• Pompeii and Herculaneum: These Roman cities in Italy were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. They were rediscovered in the 18th century, preserving incredible details of ancient Roman life.
• Rungholt: A prosperous German city that was swallowed by the Wadden Sea during a storm surge in 1362.
• Skara Brae: A Neolithic settlement in Scotland, United Kingdom. It was buried under sand and uncovered by a winter storm in 1850, showing a well-preserved Stone Age village.
• Dunwich: A once-important port city in England, United Kingdom, that was lost to coastal erosion over centuries.
• Old Sarum: In England, United Kingdom. People moved from this old settlement to nearby Salisbury, but the site kept the right to elect a Member of Parliament for a long time.

Images for kids

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  Hiram Bingham III discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu in 1911

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  Angkor was rediscovered by Henri Mouhot in 1860

See also

In Spanish: Ciudad Perdida (desambiguación) para niños