Editing Lost city

{{Short description|Human settlement that has become uninhabited and largely forgotten by history}}
{{Other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2010}}
[[File:Peru Machu Picchu Sunrise.jpg|thumb|[[Agustín Lizárraga]] rediscovered the ruins of [[Machu Picchu]]  in 1902.]]
[[File:Lost City Ruins.jpg|thumbnail|Ruins of [[Ciudad Perdida]], a city built by the [[Tayrona]] in the [[Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta]], Colombia]]
A '''lost city''' is an [[Urbanism|urban]] [[Human settlement|settlement]] that fell into terminal decline and became extensively or completely uninhabited, with the consequence that the site's former significance was no longer known to the wider world. The locations of many lost cities have been forgotten, but some have been rediscovered and studied extensively by scientists. Recently abandoned cities or cities whose location was never in question might be referred to as [[ruins]] or [[ghost town]]s. Smaller settlements may be referred to as [[abandoned village]]s. The search for such lost cities by European [[Exploration|explorers]] and adventurers in Africa, the Americas, and Southeast Asia from the 15th century onward eventually led to the development of [[archaeology]].<ref>{{cite web|website=infoplease|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0856675.html |title=History of Archaeology}}</ref>

Lost [[City|cities]] generally fall into two broad categories: those where all knowledge of the city's existence was forgotten before it was rediscovered, and those whose memory was preserved in myth, legend, or historical records but whose location was lost or at least no longer widely recognized.

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== How cities are lost ==
Cities may become lost for a variety of reasons including natural disasters, economic or social upheaval, or war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/world/cities-destroyed-by-natural-disasters/index.html|title=Cities nearly obliterated by natural disasters|first=Holly|last=Yan|date=24 August 2016|website=CNN|access-date=6 April 2023}}</ref>

The [[Inca]]n capital city of [[Vilcabamba, Peru|Vilcabamba]] was destroyed and depopulated during the [[Spain|Spanish]] [[conquest of Peru]] in [[1572]]. The Spanish did not rebuild the city, and the location went unrecorded and was forgotten until it was rediscovered through a detailed examination of period letters and documents.<ref>{{Cite book|url={{GBurl|id=JKnZCwAAQBAJ|q=1572|pg=PA1}}|title=Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time|last=Adams|first=Mark|date=2012|publisher=Plume|isbn=978-0-452-29798-2|pages=306|via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[Troy]] was a city located in northwest [[Anatolia]] in what is now Turkey. It is best known for being the focus of the [[Trojan War]] described in the Greek Epic Cycle and especially in the ''[[Iliad]]'', one of the two epic poems attributed to [[Homer]]. Repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, the city slowly declined and was abandoned in the [[Byzantine]] era. Buried by time, the city was consigned to the realm of legend until the location was first excavated in the 1860s.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Troy |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Anthropology |year=2006 |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |location=Thousand Oaks, CA}}</ref>

Other settlements are lost with few or no clues to their abandonment. For example, [[Malden Island]], in the [[Central Pacific Area|central Pacific]], was deserted when first visited by [[Europeans]] in 1825, but the remains of temples and other structures on the island indicate that a population of [[Polynesia]]ns had lived there for perhaps several generations in the past. Typically this lack of information is due to a lack of surviving written or [[oral tradition|oral histories]] and a lack of archaeological data as in the case of the remote and fairly unknown Malden Island.

== Rediscovery ==
With the development of archaeology and the application of modern techniques, many previously lost cities have been rediscovered.

[[Machu Picchu]] is a [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] [[Inca Empire|Inca]] site situated on a mountain ridge above the [[Urubamba Valley]] in Peru. Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World. Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire. It was abandoned just over 100 years later, in 1572, as a belated result of the [[Spanish Conquest]]. It is possible that most of its inhabitants died from [[smallpox]] introduced by travelers before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area. In 1911, Melchor Arteaga led the explorer [[Hiram Bingham III|Hiram Bingham]] to Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley.<ref>{{Cite book|url={{GBurl|id=bBHrWwtr_pYC|q=In+1911,+Melchor+Arteaga+led+the+explorer+Hiram+Bingham+to+Machu+Picchu,+which+had+been+largely+forgotten+by+everybody+except+the+small+number+of+people+living+in+the+immediate+valley}}|title=Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas|last1=Burger|first1=Richard L. (C. J. MacCurdy Professor and Current Chairman of the Council on Archaeological Studies)|author-link1=Richard L. Burger |last2=Salazar |first2=Lucy C.|date=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-09763-8|via=Google Books}}</ref> Nevertheless, Peruvian explorer and farmer [[Agustín Lizárraga]] predated this discovery by 9 years, having found the Inca site on July 14, 1902. He left a charcoal inscription bearing the words "A. Lizárraga 1902".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heaney |first=Christopher |title=Cradle of gold: the story of Hiram Bingham, a real-life Indiana Jones and the search for Machu Picchu |date=2011 |publisher=MacMillan |isbn=978-0-230-11204-9 |location=New York}}</ref>

[[Helike]] was an ancient Greek city that sank at night in the winter of 373 BCE. The city was located in [[Achaea]], Northern [[Peloponnese|Peloponnesos]], two kilometres (12 stadia) from the [[Corinthian Gulf]]. The city was thought to be legend until 2001, when it was rediscovered in the Helike Delta. In 1988, the Greek archaeologist Dora Katsonopoulou launched the Helike Project to locate the site of the lost city. In 1994, in collaboration with the [[University of Patras]], a [[magnetometer]] survey was carried out in the midplain of the delta, which revealed the outlines of a buried building. In 1995, this target was excavated (now known as the Klonis site), and a large Roman building with standing walls was brought to light.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 30133726|title = Recurrent Submergence and Uplift in the Area of Ancient Helike, Gulf of Corinth, Greece: Microfaunal and Archaeological Evidence|journal = Journal of Coastal Research|volume = 24|issue = 1A|pages = 110–125|last1 = Alvarez-Zarikian|first1 = Carlos A.|last2 = Soter|first2 = Steven|last3 = Katsonopoulou|first3 = Dora|year = 2008|doi = 10.2112/05-0454.1|s2cid = 140202998}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Paul Kronfield |url=http://www.helike.org/paper.shtml |title=Helike Foundation - Discoveries at Ancient Helike |publisher=Helike.org |access-date=2009-11-12}}</ref>

== Lost cities by continent ==
=== Africa ===
==== Rediscovered ====
===== Egypt =====
* [[Akhetaten]] – capital during the reign of 18th Dynasty [[pharaoh]] [[Akhenaten]]. Later abandoned, almost totally destroyed. Modern day [[Amarna]].
* [[Avaris]] – capital city of the [[Hyksos]] in the [[Nile Delta]].
* [[Canopus, Egypt|Canopus]] – located on the now-dry Canopic branch of the [[Nile]], east of [[Alexandria]].
* [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] – administrative capital of ancient Egypt. Little remains. Now a UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]].
* [[Pi-Ramesses]] – imperial city of Rameses the Great, now thought to exist beneath Qantir
* [[Tanis]] – capital during the 21st and 22nd Dynasties, in the Delta region.

===== Maghreb ===== 
* [[Carthage]] – initially a [[Phoenicia]]n city in [[Tunisia]], destroyed and then rebuilt by Rome. Later served as the capital of the [[Vandal Kingdom]] of North Africa, before being destroyed by the Arabs after its capture in 697 CE. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Dougga]], [[Tunisia]] – Roman city located in present-day Tunisia. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Leptis Magna]] – [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] city located in present-day [[Libya]]. It was the birthplace of Emperor [[Septimius Severus]], who lavished an extensive public works program on the city, including diverting the course of a nearby river. The river later returned to its original course, burying much of the city in silt and sand. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Timgad]], [[Algeria]] – Roman city founded by the emperor Trajan around 100 CE, covered by sand in the 7th century. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Aoudaghost]], [[Mauritania]] – wealthy [[Berber people|Berber]] city in [[Ghana Empire|medieval Ghana]].

===== Horn of Africa =====
* [[Adulis]], [[Eritrea]] – a port city of the Aksumite kingdom built between 500 and 300 BC.
* [[Qohaito]], [[Eritrea]] – 1000 BC city of the [[Kingdom of Axum]].
* [[Metera]], [[Eritrea]] – 800 BC lost town.
* [[Keskese]], [[Eritrea]] – 700 BC lost city.
* [[Hubat]], [[Ethiopia]] – capital of [[Harla Kingdom]]

===== Subsaharan Africa =====
* [[Great Zimbabwe]] – built between the 11th and the 14th century, this city is the namesake of modern-day [[Zimbabwe]]. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Niani, Guinea|Niani]], [[Guinea]] – lost capital of the [[Mali Empire]]

==== Uncertain or disputed ====
* [[Lost City of the Kalahari]] – possibly invented

==== Undiscovered ====
* [[Itjtawy]], [[Egypt]] – capital during the 12th Dynasty. Exact location still unknown, but it is believed to lie near the modern town of [[el-Lisht]].
* [[Thinis]], [[Egypt]] – undiscovered city and centre of the [[Thinite Confederacy]], the leader of which, [[Menes]], united [[Upper and Lower Egypt]] and was the first [[pharaoh]].
* [[Kubar]], [[Ethiopia]] – a lost major city of the [[Kingdom of Aksum]]
* [[Dakkar]], [[Ethiopia]] – capital of the [[Adal Sultanate]]

=== Asia ===
==== Central Asia ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[Ai-Khanoum]] – site of a [[Hellenistic]] city in [[Afghanistan]], probably a military and economic center.
* [[Karakorum (palace)|Karakorum]] – capital of the [[Mongol Empire]] under [[Genghis Khan]].
* [[Khara-Khoto]] – [[Western Xia]] centre of trade located in [[Inner Mongolia]], mentioned in ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]'' as Etzina.
* [[Loulan Kingdom|Loulan]] – located in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road route.
* [[Mangazeya]], [[Siberia]] – a trade colony and eventual city, from the 17th century.
* [[Niya (Tarim Basin)|Niya]] – located in the [[Taklamakan Desert]], on the ancient [[Silk Road]] route.
* [[Old Urgench]] – capital of [[Khwarezm]]. Now a [[UNESCO]] World Heritage Site.
* [[Otrar]] – city located along the Silk Road, important in the history of [[Central Asia]].
* [[Poykent]] – also known as Paykend, a city in modern [[Uzbekistan]] located on the [[Oasis of Bukhara]].
* [[Subashi (lost city)|Subashi]] – located in the [[Taklamakan Desert]], on the ancient [[Silk Road]] route.<ref>[http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~pamlogan/silkroad/index.html Lost Cities of the Silk Road].</ref>

===== Undiscovered =====
*  [[Abaskun]] – medieval [[Caspian Sea]] trading port
*  [[Margiana|Alexandria in Margiana]] – historical region centered on the [[oasis]] of Merv, and a minor [[Satrap|satrapy]] within the [[Achaemenid Empire]]

==== East Asia ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[Shimao culture|Shimao site]] – Large stone settlements in [[List of Neolithic cultures of China|Neolithic China]].
* [[Yinxu]] – The capitals of [[Shang dynasty]].
* [[Shangdu|Xanadu]] – Important cities of the Yuan dynasty, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

==== Undiscovered ====

* [[Wanggeom-seong]] – historic capital of [[Gojoseon]], the first kingdom of [[Korea]], supposedly founded by the legendary king [[Dangun]].

===== Uncertain or disputed =====
* [[Yamataikoku|Yamatai]], [[Japan]] – ancient country in [[Wa (name of Japan)|Wa (Japan)]] during the late [[Yayoi period]]

==== South Asia ====
===== India =====
====== Rediscovered ======
* [[Dholavira]] – located in Gujarat. City of the [[Indus Valley civilization]].
* [[Dvārakā]] – ancient city of [[Krishna]], hero of the [[Mahabharata]]. Now largely excavated. Off the coast of the Indian state of Gujarat.
* [[Kalibangan]] – located in [[Rajasthan]], India – early city of the Indus Valley Civilization.
* [[Lothal]] – located in [[Gujarat]], [[India]] – early city of the Indus Valley Civilization.
* [[Pattadakal]] – located in [[Karnataka]], India. Now a UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]].
* [[Puhar, Mayiladuthurai]] – located in [[Tamil Nadu]], India.
* [[Rakhigarhi]] – located in [[Haryana]], largest Indus Valley Civilization site, dating back to 4600 BCE.
* [[Surkotada]] – located in Gujarat, India – early city of the Indus Valley Civilization.
* [[Vasai]] – located in India, former capital (1533–1740) of the Northern Provinces of Portuguese India
* [[Vijayanagara]] – located in [[Karnataka]], India. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

======Uncertain or disputed======
* [[Kumari Kandam]] – a fictional lost [[continent]] south of [[India]].<ref>{{Cite web|url={{GBurl|id=HKwzAwAAQBAJ|pg=PA91}}|title=Encyclopedia of Imaginary and Mythical Places|first=Theresa|last=Bane|date=March 8, 2014|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url={{GBurl|id=elYyJuYuAhwC|pg=PP1}}|title=The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories|first=Sumathi|last=Ramaswamy|date=September 27, 2004|publisher=University of California Press|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url={{GBurl|id=vMDgGwAACAAJ}}|title=Historical Method in Relation to Problems of South Indian History|first=Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta|last=Sastri|date=June 9, 1941|publisher=University of Madras|via=Google Books}}</ref>

====== Undiscovered ======
* [[Muziris]] – located near [[Cranganore]], [[Kerala]], southern India

===== Nepal =====
* [[Lumbini]] – located in [[Rupandehi district]], birthplace of [[Gautam Buddha]]. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Sinja Valley]] – located in [[Jumla district]], capital city of medieval [[Khasa Kingdom]] and origin of [[Khas language|Khas (Nepali) language]]. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

===== Pakistan =====
====== Rediscovered ======
* [[Chanhudaro]] – located in Pakistan's Sindh province, an [[Indus Valley civilization]] city
*[[Ganweriwal]] – located in the [[Cholistan Desert]] of Punjab, Pakistan – was a large town of the Indus Valley Civilization, not yet excavated.
*[[Harappa]] – located in [[Punjab, Pakistan]] – early city of the Indus Valley Civilization
* [[Kot Diji]] – located in Pakistan's Sindh province [[Indus Valley civilization]] city
* [[Mehrgarh]] – located in Pakistan's [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] province [[Indus Valley civilization]] city
* [[Mohenjo-daro]] – located in [[Sindh|Sindh, Pakistan]] — early city of the [[Indus Valley civilization]]. The city was one of the early urban settlements in the world.
*[[Seri Bahlol]] – located in [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] province — an ancient town, now the site of ruins.
*[[Sokhta Koh]] – located near the city of [[Pasni (city)|Pasni]] — another ancient settlement of the Indus Valley.
*[[Sutkagan Dor]] – located near the [[Dasht River]] — was a small settlement in the Indus Valley, now in ruins.
*[[Takht-i-Bahi]] – located in [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] province — an ancient [[Indo-Parthian Kingdom|Indo-Parthian]] Buddhist monastery site.
* [[Taxila]] – located in Pakistan's Punjab province.

====== Undiscovered ======
* [[Naga Puram]] – located in Pakistan's Sindh province, a city of the [[Indus Valley civilization]]. The city was on the banks of the [[Ghaghara|Ghaghara River]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Durant |first=Will |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/23249604 |title=The story of civilization |date=1963 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |others=Ariel Durant |isbn=0-671-54800-X |edition=1st |volume=I: Our Oriental Heritage |location=New York |pages=394 |oclc=23249604}}</ref>

===== Sri Lanka =====
====== Rediscovered ======
* [[Anuradhapura]] – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Sigiriya]] – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Polonnaruwa]] – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

==== Southeast Asia ====
===== Rediscovered =====
[[File:Siem Reap Reflections (CAMBODIA-REFLECTION-ANGKOR WAT) VI (1070423631).jpg|thumb|[[Angkor]] was rediscovered by [[Henri Mouhot]] in 1860.]]
* [[Angkor]], [[Cambodia]] – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923054500/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 23, 2008|title=Metropolis: Angkor, the world's first mega-city|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]}}</ref>
* [[Ayutthaya (city)|Ayutthaya]], Thailand – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Mahendraparvata]], Cambodia
* [[Sukhothai historical park|Sukhothai]], Thailand – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Wilwatikta]], [[Indonesia]] – capital city of [[Majapahit Kingdom]], now in Trowulan, [[Mojokerto]], [[East Java]], Indonesia.

===== Undiscovered =====
* [[Gangga Negara]], [[Malaysia]]

===== Uncertain or disputed =====
* [[Kota Gelanggi]], Malaysia
* [[Ma-i]], [[Philippines]] – was a sovereign polity that pre-dated the Hispanic establishment of the Philippines and notable for having established trade relations with the Kingdom of Brunei, and with Song and Ming dynasty China. Its existence was recorded both in the Chinese Imperial annals Zhu Fan Zhi (諸番志) and History of Song.

==== Western Asia ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[Ani]] – medieval [[Armenians|Armenian]] capital, located on the Turkish side of the Armenia–Turkey border.
* [[Antioch]] – ancient Greek city, important stronghold in the time of the [[Crusades]].
* [[Babylon]] – Ancient Mesopotamian capital.
* [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]]
* [[Çatalhöyük]] – a [[Neolithic]] and [[Chalcolithic]] settlement, located near the modern city of [[Konya]], [[Turkey]].
* [[Choqa Zanbil]]
* [[Ctesiphon]] – Capital of the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and [[Sassanid Empire]]s in Iran.
* [[Göbekli Tepe]] – 12,000 years old [[Paleolithic]] settlement. It was likely not a city, but rather a temple complex.
* [[Hattusa]] – capital of the [[Hittite Empire]]. Located near the modern village of [[Boğazkale|Boğazköy]] in north-central Turkey.
* [[Karahan Tepe]] – Paleolithic settlement built by the same culture as Göbekli Tepe.
* [[Kourion]], [[Cyprus]]
* [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] – the ''[[Sumerian king list]]'' states that Kish was the first city to have kings following the deluge.<ref>[https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/as11.pdf] Thorkild Jacobsen, "The Sumerian King List", Assyriological Studies 11, Chicago: University of Chricago Press, 1939</ref>
* [[Lagash]] – Sumerian city.
* [[Mada'in Saleh]] (and capitol [[Petra]]) – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Sarai (city)|New Sarai]] – capital of the [[Golden Horde]]
* [[Nineveh]] – Second Capital of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].
* [[Persepolis]] – Ceremonial Complex built by [[Achaemenid]] kings.
* [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]]
* [[Tmutarakan]]
* [[Troy]] – Bronze Age anatolian city made famous by [[Homer]]'s [[Iliad]]. 
* [[Ur]] – Sumerian city.

===== Undiscovered =====
* [[Akkad (city)|Akkad]]
* [[Arimathea]]
* [[Balanjar]] – second [[Khazars|Khazar]] capital
* [[Ekallatum]]
* [[Khazaran]]
* [[Kussara]]
* [[Samandar (city)|Samandar]]
* [[Firozkoh|Turquoise Mountain (Firozkoh)]] – summer capital of the [[Ghurid dynasty]] of Afghanistan, destroyed 1223
* [[Washukanni]] – capital of the [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] kingdom of [[Mitanni]]

====== Uncertain or disputed ======
* [[Atil]] – final capital of the [[Khazars|Khazar Khagnate]], located in the vicinity of [[Samosdelka|Samosdelka, Russia]].
* [[Iram of the Pillars]]
* [[Irisaĝrig]] – Southern [[Iraq]], near the town of [[Afak]]<ref name="Jarus 2018">{{cite web |last=Jarus |first=Owen |date=2018-05-30 |title=Lost City of Irisagrig Comes to Life in Ancient Stolen Tablets |url=https://www.livescience.com/62688-lost-city-of-irisagrig-ancient-tablets.html |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=livescience.com}}</ref>
* [[Narbata]] – Hebrew: [[w:he:נרבתא|נרבתא]]. Jewish city in [[First Jewish–Roman War|The Great Revolt]].
* [[Sarai (city)|Old Sarai]] – capital of the [[Golden Horde]], its status as a separated city from [[New Sarai]] is still disputed.
* [[Saqsin]]

=== Europe ===
==== Austria ====
* [[Noreia]] – the capital of the ancient Celtic kingdom of Noricum. Possibly in southern [[Austria]] or [[Slovenia]].

==== Bosnia and Herzegovina ====
* [[Daorson]] – the capital of ancient Illyrian community in present-day [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]].

==== Bulgaria ====
* [[Perperikon]] – the megalith complex had been laid in ruins and re-erected many times in history – from the Bronze Age until Middle Ages.
* [[Seuthopolis]] – an ancient Thracian city, discovered and excavated in 1948. It was founded by king [[Seuthes III]] around 325 BC. Its ruins are now located at the bottom of the [[Koprinka Reservoir]] near the city of [[Kazanlak]].

==== Croatia ====
* [[Heraclea (Croatia)|Heraclea]] somewhere in the Adriatic on the Croatian coast. Exact location unknown.

==== Denmark ====
* [[Høgekøbing]]
* [[Ræveleje]]
* [[Serridslev]]
* [[Sønderside]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/arkaeologer-finder-spor-fra-druknet-middelalderhavn-hvordan-kunne-den-forsvinde-saa-pludseligt/ | title=Arkæologer finder spor fra druknet middelalderhavn: Hvordan kunne den forsvinde så pludseligt? | date=5 February 2024 }}</ref>

==== Finland ====
* [[Teljä]]

==== France ====
* [[Quentovic]] – In 842, the ancient port of ''Quentovicus'' was destroyed by a Viking fleet.
* [[Thérouanne]] – In 1553, the city was razed, the roads broken up and the fields ploughed and salted by command of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].

==== Germany ====
* [[Damasia]] – An ancient hill-top settlement on the [[Lech (river)|Lech]], of the Licates, a tribe of the Celtic [[Vindelici]]. Commonly identified with either the [[Auerberg]] or pre-Roman [[Augsburg]]. According to folklore, sunken into the [[Ammersee]].
* [[Hedeby]]
* [[Rungholt]] – [[Wadden Sea]] in [[Germany]], sunk during the "[[Grote Mandrenke]]", a storm surge in the [[North Sea]] on January 16, 1362
* [[Niedam]] – near [[Rungholt]]
* [[Vineta]]

==== Greece ====
* [[Santorini#Minoan Akrotiri|Akrotiri]] – on the island of [[Santorini|Thera]], Greece.
* [[Chryse Island]] – in the Aegean, reputed site of an ancient temple still visible on the sea floor.
* [[Helike]] – sunk by an [[earthquake]] in the 4th century BC and rediscovered in the 1990s.
* [[Mycenae]]
* [[Pavlopetri]] – underwater off the coast of southern Laconia in [[Peloponnese]], is about 5,000 years old, and is the oldest submerged archaeological town site.

==== Hungary ====
* [[Avar Ring]] – central stronghold of the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]], it is believed to have been in the wide plain between the [[Danube]] and the [[Tisza]].<ref>[http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=morris&book=french&story=avars Charlemagne and the Avars].</ref>

==== Iceland ====
* [[Gunnbjörn's skerries]] - a group of islands between Iceland and Greenland that were briefly settled before being destroyed in a volcanic eruption.

==== Italy ====
* [[Acerrae Vatriae]] – a town of the Sarranates mentioned by [[Pliny the Elder]] as having been situated in an unknown location in [[Umbria]].
* [[Castro, Lazio|Castro]] – a city in [[Lazio]], capital of a Duchy ruled by the Farnese family. It was destroyed by a Papal army in 1649.
* [[Luni, Italy|Luni]]
* [[Paestum]] – Greek and Roman city south of Naples; three famous Greek temples.
* [[Pompeii]], [[Herculaneum]], and [[Stabiae]] – all buried during the eruption of [[Vesuvius]] in 79 AD and rediscovered in the 18th century.
* [[Sybaris]], [[Italy]] – ancient Greek colonial city of unsurpassed wealth utterly destroyed by its arch-rival [[Crotona]] in 510 BC.
* [[Tripergole]] – ancient Roman spa village on the eastern shores of the [[Lucrine Lake]] in the [[Campi Flegrei]]. The village and most of the lake were buried by [[tephra]] in 1538 during the volcanic eruption that created [[Monte Nuovo]]. The exact location of the village and its associated hot springs can no longer be identified.

==== Lithuania ====
* [[Apuolė]]

==== Netherlands ====
* [[Brittenburg]] – ancient Roman settlement
* [[Dorestad]]
* [[Verdronken Land van Reimerswaal|Reimerswaal]] – flooded in the 16th century.
* [[Saeftinghe]] – prosperous city lost to the sea in 1584.

==== Norway ====
* [[Kaupang]] – In Viksfjord near [[Larvik]], [[Norway]]. Largest trading city around the [[Oslo Fjord]] during the [[Viking]] age. As sea levels retreated (the shoreline is 7m lower today than in 1000) the city was no longer accessible from the ocean and was abandoned.

==== Poland ====
* [[Biskupin]]
* [[Truso]]
* [[Jomsborg]]

==== Portugal ====
* [[Ammaia]] - Roman villa Abandoned between the 5th and the 9th century AD.
* [[Conímbriga]] – early trading post dating to the 9th century BC. Abandoned in the 8th century AD.

==== Romania ====
* [[Sarmisegetuza Regia]] – the old capital of the Ancient Dacian Kingdom.
* [[Vicina (town)|Vicina]] – a port on the [[Danube]], near the [[Danube Delta|Delta]].
* [[Orașul de Floci]] – a former trading town on the [[Danube]].

==== Russia ====
* [[Bolghar]] – important [[Silk Road]] city on the [[Volga]] river, razed by the [[Tatars|Tatar]]. 
* [[Ilimsk]] – a small town in [[Siberia]]. Flooded by the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir in the mid-1970s.
* [[Kitezh]] – mythical city beneath the waters in central [[Russia]].
* [[Mangazeya]] – a trading colony on the [[Pomors]]' [[Northern Sea Route]], was abandoned in the 17th century after the Northern Sea Route was banned. Mangazeya was considered lost until it was re-discovered by archaeologists in 1967.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Watkins |first1=Thayer |title=Mangazeya: A 16th Century Arctic Trading City |url=http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/mangazeya.htm |publisher=[[San José State University]] |access-date=8 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021125045505/http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/mangazeya.htm |archive-date=25 November 2002 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Peremyshl, Muscovy|Peremyshl]] – town that was founded in 1152.
* [[Tmutarakan]] – a trading town of [[Rus' Khaganate]]

==== Serbia ====
* [[Stari Ras]] – one of the first capitals of the medieval Serbian state of Raška, abandoned in the 13th century.

==== Slovakia ====
* Myšia Hôrka (near [[Spišský Štvrtok]]) – 3500 years old town (rediscovered in the 20th century) and archaeological site.

==== Spain ====
* [[Amaya (Burgos)|Amaya]] – either the capital or one of the most important cities of the [[Cantabri]]. Probably located in what nowadays is called "Amaya Peak" in [[Burgos]], northern [[Spain]].
* [[Cypsela, Spain|Cypsela]] – drowned Ibero-Greek settlement in the Catalan shore, Spain. Mentioned by Greek, Roman and Medieval chroniclers.
* [[Reccopolis]] – one of the capital cities founded in Hispania by the [[Visigoths]]. The site was incrementally abandoned in the 10th century.
* [[Tartessos]] – a harbor city or an economical complex of small harbors and trade routes set on the mouth of the Guadalquivir river, in modern Andalusia, Spain. Tartessos is believed to be either the seat of an independent kingdom or a community of palatial cities devoted to exporting the mineral resources of the Hispanic mainland to the sea, to meet the Phoenician and Greek traders. Its destruction is still a matter of debate among historians, and one modern tendency tends to believe that Tartessos was never a city, but a culture complex.

==== Sweden ====
* [[Birka]]
* [[Ny Varberg]]
* [[Uppåkra]]

==== United Kingdom ====
* [[Calleva Atrebatum]], [[Silchester]], [[England]] – large Romano-British walled city {{convert|10|mi|km}} south of present-day [[Reading, Berkshire]]. Just the walls remain and a street pattern can be discerned from the air.
* [[Evonium]], [[Scotland]] – purported coronation site and capital of 40 kings
* [[Skara Brae]], [[Orkney]], Scotland – Neolithic settlement buried under sediment. Uncovered by a winter storm in 1850.

==== Ukraine ====
* [[Árheimar]] – a capital of the [[Goths]], that was located near the [[Dnieper]] river
* [[Bolokhiv]] – abandoned in the 13th century.

=== North America ===
==== Canada ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[L'Anse aux Meadows]] – Viking settlement founded in 1021 AD. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[The Lost Villages|Lost Villages]] – The Lost Villages are ten communities (Aultsville, Dickinson's Landing, Farran's Point, Maple Grove, Mille Roches, Moulinette, Santa Cruz, Sheek's Island, Wales, Woodlands) in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the former townships of Cornwall and Osnabruck (now South Stormont) near Cornwall, which were permanently submerged by the creation of the [[St. Lawrence Seaway]] in 1958.
=====Undiscovered=====
* [[Hóp (Vinland)|Hóp]] - A possible Viking settlement south of Staumsfjord in [[Vinland]] alluded to in the [[Saga of the Greenlanders]].

==== Caribbean ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[Port Royal]], [[Jamaica]] – Destroyed by the [[1692 Jamaica earthquake]].

==== Mexico and Central America ====
===== Maya cities =====
''Incomplete list – for further information, see [[Maya civilization]]''

====== Rediscovered ======
* [[Calakmul]] – One of two superpowers in the classic Maya period. Now a UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]].
* [[Chichen Itza]] – This ancient place of pilgrimage is still the most visited Maya ruin. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Coba]]
* [[Copán]] – In modern [[Honduras]]. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Naachtun]] – Rediscovered in 1922, it remains one of the most remote and least visited Maya sites. Located {{convert|44|km|mi|abbr=in}} south-south-east of Calakmul, and {{convert|65|km|mi|abbr=in}} north of Tikal, it is believed to have had strategic importance to, and been vulnerable to military attacks by, both neighbours. Its ancient name was identified in the mid-1990s as ''Masuul''.
* [[Palenque]] – in the Mexican state of [[Chiapas]], known for its beautiful art and architecture. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Tikal]] – One of two major powers in the classic Maya period. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Tulum]] – Mayan coastal city.

===== Olmec cities =====
====== Rediscovered ======
* [[La Venta]] – In the present day [[Mexican state]] of [[Tabasco]].
* [[San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán]] – In the present day [[Mexican state]] of [[Veracruz]].

===== Totonac Cities =====
====== Rediscovered ======
* [[Teotihuacan]] – Pre-Aztec Mexico.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/teot/hd_teot.htm Teotihuacan], The Metropolitan Museum of Art.</ref> Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

===== Other =====
====== Rediscovered ======
* [[Izapa]] – Chief city of the [[Izapa]] civilization, whose territory extended from the Gulf Coast across to the Pacific Coast of [[Chiapas]], in present-day [[Mexico]], and [[Guatemala]].
* [[Guayabo]] – In Costa Rica. It is believed that the site was inhabited from 1500 BCE to 1400 CE, and had at its peak a population of around 10,000.

==== United States ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[Ajacán Mission]] – an attempt by Spain to found a mission in Virginia in the mid-16th century. The entire party of 30 was massacred by Native Americans in February 1571. Only one survivor was left.
* The cities of the [[Ancestral Pueblo]] (or [[Anasazi]]) culture, located in the [[Four Corners]] region of the [[Southwest United States]] – The best known are located at [[Chaco Canyon]] and [[Mesa Verde]].
* [[Etzanoa]] – located in [[Arkansas City, Kansas]]. City of the [[Wichita people|Wichita culture]]. It was home to around 20,000 people at its height, and it was inhabited from c. 1450–1700 AD.
* [[Fort San Juan (Joara)]] - a Spanish fort build by the Pardo expedition in 1567. Destroyed by Indians one year later. Rediscovered in 2016.
* [[Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey|Bethel Indian Town, New Jersey]] – [[Lenape]] settlement which disappeared as the Lenape were pushed west.
* [[Cahokia]] – Located near present-day [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. At its height Cahokia is believed to have had a population of between 40,000 and 80,000 people, making it amongst the largest [[Pre-Columbian era|Pre-Columbian]] cities of the Americas. It is known chiefly for its huge pyramidal mounds of compacted earth. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Pueblo Grande de Nevada]] a complex of villages, located near [[Overton, Nevada]]
* [[Roanoke Colony]]
* Sarabay – a [[Mocama]] settlement in northeast [[Florida]], mentioned in both French and Spanish documents dating to the 1560s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.heritagedaily.com/2021/06/archaeologists-uncover-lost-indigenous-ne-florida-settlement-of-sarabay/139419 |title=Archaeologists uncover lost Indigenous NE Florida settlement of Sarabay |website=Heritage Daily |date=8 June 2021 }}</ref>

=== South America ===
==== Inca cities ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[Choquequirao]] – One of the last bastions of Incan resistance against the Spaniards and refuge of [[Manco Inca Yupanqui]].
* [[Machu Picchu]] – Possibly [[Pachacuti]]'s Family Palace. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Vilcabamba, Perú|Vilcabamba]] – Currently known as Espiritu Pampa, the capital of the [[Neo-Inca State]] (1539–1572).
* [[Vitcos]] – Currently known as Rosaspata, a residence and ceremonial center of the Neo-Inca State.

==== Other ====
===== Rediscovered =====
* [[Cahuachi]] – [[Nazca]], in present-day [[Peru]].
* [[Caral]] – An important center of the [[Norte Chico civilization]], in present-day [[Peru]]. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Chan Chan]] – [[Chimu]]. Located near [[Trujillo, Peru|Trujillo]], in present-day [[Peru]]. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Kuelap]] – A massive ruined city, still covered in jungle, that was the capital of the [[Chachapoyas culture]] in Northern Peru.<ref>[http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,24750678-5014090,00.html Amazon jungle gives up lost city of the 'Cloud People'], News.com.au.</ref>
* [[Moche City]] – Largest city of the [[Moche culture|Moche]] culture. Known for its large semi-pyramidal buildings, [[Huaca del Sol]] and [[Huaca de la Luna]].
* [[Nueva Cádiz]] – In [[Venezuela]], one of the first Spanish settlements in the Americas.
* [[Santa María la Antigua del Darién]] – First permanent [[Europe]]an settlement in the mainland of the continental [[Americas]], in the [[Darién Gap|Darién]] region between [[Panama]] and [[Colombia]]. Founded by [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]] in 1510. Found in 2012.
* [[Teyuna]] ([[Ciudad Perdida]]) located in present-day [[Colombia]]<ref>[http://www.lostcitytour.com/ Lost City Teyuna], Lostcitytour.com.</ref>
* [[Tiahuanaco]] – pre-[[Inca]] site, also known as Tiwanaku. Located in present-day [[Bolivia]]. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
* [[Upano Valley Sites]] – Urban complex in Ecuadorian Amazon, discovered in early 2024.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.science.org/content/article/laser-mapping-reveals-oldest-amazonian-cities-built-2500-years-ago | title=Laser mapping reveals oldest Amazonian cities, built 2500 years ago }}</ref>

===== Status Unknown =====
* [[La Ciudad Blanca]] – a [[Legend|legendary]] [[Landscape archaeology|settlement]] said to be located in the [[La Mosquitia (Honduras)|Mosquitia region]] of the [[Gracias a Dios Department]] in eastern [[Honduras]].

== Undiscovered and fictional lost cities ==

=== Legendary ===
* [[Ai (Bible)|Ai]] – important city in the [[Hebrew Bible]]
* [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] [[Camelot]] – the legendary castle of [[King Arthur]]
* [[Atlantis]] – mythical lost continent, mentioned in two of [[Plato]]'s works, [[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]] and [[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]
* [[Aztlán]] – the ancestral homeland in Aztec mythology
* [[City of the Caesars|Ciudad de los Cesares]] (City of the Caesars, also variously known as City of Patagonia, Elelín, Lin Lin, Trapalanda, Trapananda, or Wandering City) – a legendary city in [[Patagonia]], never found
* [[Dvārakā]] – An ancient city of [[Krishna]], submerged in the sea. 
* [[El Dorado]] – a mythical city of [[gold]] in the Americas
* [[Iram of the Pillars]] – this may refer to a lost [[Arabia]]n city in the [[Empty Quarter]], but sources also identify it as a tribe or an area mentioned in the [[Quran]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Glassé|first=Cyril|url={{GBurl|id=focLrox-frUC&q=Iram+of+the+Pillars|pg=PA26}}|title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam|author2=Huston Smith|publisher=AltaMira Press|year=2003|isbn=0-7591-0190-6|edition=Revised|page=26|via=Google Books}}</ref>
* [[Kitezh]], [[Russia]] – legendary underwater city which supposedly may be seen in good weather
* [[Lemuria (continent)|Lemuria]] – An ancient, now sunken, land in the Pacific Ocean 
* [[Libertatia]], [[Madagascar]] – (Also known as Libertalia) was a [[Piracy|pirate]] colony founded in the 17th century by pirate Captain James Misson (occasionally spelled "Mission") that is still disputed by historians today.
* [[Lost City of Z]] – a city allegedly located in the jungles of the [[Mato Grosso]] region of [[Brazil]], said to have been seen by the British explorer [[Percy Fawcett|Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett]] some time before [[World War I]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Lost cities of the Amazon revealed|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3077413}}</ref>
* [[Lyonesse]] – a stretch of land from [[Cornwall]], England, into the Celtic Sea
* [[Otuken]] – legendary capital city of [[Gokturks]] in Turkic mythology
* [[Paititi]] – a legendary city and refuge in the [[rainforest]]s where [[Bolivia]], [[Brazil]], and [[Peru]] meet<ref>{{cite news|date=January 2008|title=Ancient 'Lost City' Discovered in Peru, Official Claims|work=National Geographic|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080116-lost-city.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117073334/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080116-lost-city.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 17, 2008}}</ref>
* The [[Seven Cities of Gold]]
* [[Shambhala]] – Mythical kingdom said to be located in [[Tibet]] 
* [[Sodom and Gomorrah]]
* [[Vineta]] – legendary city somewhere at the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coast of Germany or [[Poland]]
* [[Ys]] – legendary city on the western coast of France

That some cities are considered legendary does not mean they did not in fact exist. Some that were once considered legendary are now known to have existed, such as [[Troy]] and [[Bjarmaland]].

=== Fictional ===

* [[Brigadoon]] – from the musical of the same name
* [[Charn]] – from ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]''
* [[Leng (plateau)|Leng]] – Antarctic city described in [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''
* [[Númenor]] – from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and other works in [[Tolkien's legendarium]]
* [[Opar (fictional city)|Opar]] – from the [[Tarzan]] novels by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] (named for his long-time hometown of [[Oak Park, Illinois]]); the series features several such lost cities, but Opar is the one which appears most often
* [[R'lyeh]] – sunken city referenced in many of the works of [[H. P. Lovecraft]], where the godlike being [[Cthulhu]] is buried
* [[The Doom that Came to Sarnath|Sarnath]] – city described in H.P. Lovecraft's short story "[[The Doom that Came to Sarnath]]"
* [[Shangri-La]] – fictional place from [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]]'s 1933 novel ''[[Lost Horizon]]''
* [[King Solomon's Mines|Loo]] – capital of the lost African kingdom of Kukuanaland in [[H. Rider Haggard|Sir H. Rider Haggard's]] ''[[King Solomon's Mines]]''
* [[She: A History of Adventure|Kôr]] – created by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]] for his Ayesha series of adventure novels
* [[Allan Quatermain (novel)|Zu-Vendis]] – appearing in [[Sir H. Rider Haggard|Sir H. Rider Haggard's]] ''[[Allan Quatermain (novel)|Allan Quatermain]]''
* [[Ayesha (novel)|Kaloon]] – Central Asian lost city in ''[[Ayesha (novel)|Ayesha: The Return of She]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
* [[Heu-Heu|Walloo]] – appears in ''[[Heu-Heu|Heu-Heu; or, The Monster]]'', one of the eighteen [[Allan Quatermain]] stories by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]], many of which feature lost worlds, races and cities
* [[Skull Island (King Kong)|Skull Island]] – from the [[King Kong]] movies
* [[The Nameless City]] – ancient city in the Arabian desert described in [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s short story "[[The Nameless City]]"
* [[Carcosa]] – created by [[Ambrose Bierce]] in "[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa]]," and later used by [[Robert W. Chambers]] and many [[Cthulhu Mythos]] writers beginning with [[H.P. Lovecraft]]
* [[World of A Song of Ice and Fire|Valyria]] – from [[George R. R. Martin]]'s ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' universe

== See also ==
{{portal|Civilizations}}
* [[Abandoned village]]
* [[Ephemerality]] 
* [[Ghost town]]
* [[List of mythological places]]
* [[List of lost lands]]
* [[Ruins]]
* [[Societal collapse]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities]]
[[Category:Lists of cities]]
[[Category:Lost cities and towns| ]]