What in the world could cause an entire city to be abandoned ? Causes vary from natural disasters (earthquakes) to nuclear meltdowns. Anyway, here are 5 abandoned cities across the world

Deserted Ghost City of Humberstone, Chile

Humberstone Chile was built around the rush to produce sodium nitrate as fertilizer. However, when the American economy went bust during the Great Depression demand dropped and by the time the world economy had recovered sufficiently most interested had shifted to other fertilizers leaving this town quite literally in the dust. Structures left behind include an abandoned swimming pool, schools, grocers a market place and a theater.

Deserted Walled City of Kowloon, Hong Kong

Kowloon Walled City was a loophole, a glitch never meant to exist. It grew organically devoid of building codes and largely absent of legal oversight, a kind of organic tent city times one thousand. As it grew without rules some areas were cut off entirely from natural light and air, crime ebbed and flowed and everything grew densely packed until the government finally intervened – evacuating the city and demolishing what remained.

Ancient Sunken City of Alexandria, Egypt

Lost for 1600 years the fabled city of Alexandria was lost – until just 16 years ago. The famed stage of historic interactions between Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony and Octavius was lost under the water. The royal residences, as archeologists discovered, were slowly sent to the bottom of the sea after a series of earthquakes and tsunamis. The ancient Alexandria had over 500,000 residents and was known for its library with over 700,000 scrolls.

Abandoned Disaster City of Beichuan, China

A sudden and devastating earthquake leveled or unbalanced virtually every major building in Beichuan, leaving thousands dead and tens of thousands displaced to public buildings in nearby cities. Due to the extent of the damage it is unclear whether this city will be rebuilt or simply left to go to ruin – its reconstruction would require the leveling of most or all of the buildings that remain from the disaster.

Abandoned War-Torn City of Agdam, Azerbaijan

Once the proud 150,000+ capital city of Azerbaijan this dense and thriving city was taken by the Armenians and utterly trashed, vandalized and then abandoned. However, the Armenians still claim the territory as their own so no one has returned to reclaim the wrecked and ravished ruins of the city. However, some explorers still make their way to photograph what is left of this city whose residents may never see it again.

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Tags: Agdam, Alexandria, Beichuan, Cool Photos, ghost, ghost towns, Humberstone, Interesting, Kowloon, town