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This article was first published 12 years ago

World's 10 abandoned cities

Last updated on: May 25, 2011 12:15 IST

Image: There are many reasons why cities die.
Some cities die due to natural catastrophe, some die due to economic changes and some simply die because they have outlived their functions.

The world is full of abandoned cities, or ghost towns, where buildings remain standing while people have moved on.

Let's take a look at 10 abandoned cities around the world.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: Kayakoy has been a ghost town since 1923.
Location: Kayakoy, Mugla, Turkey

Abandoned since: 1923

This place has been a virtual ghost town since the end of the Greco-Turkish War.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: It was a gold rush outpost.
Location: Bodie, California, United States

Abandoned since: 1942

The town, over 8,000 feet up in the Sierra Nevadas, was a gold rush outpost.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: It was once a saltpeter refinery.
Location: Humberstone, Northern Atacama desert, Chile

Abandoned since: 1960

Humberstone was once a bustling saltpeter refinery in the desert of northern Chile.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: Fires have been buring in the city since 1962.
Location: Centralia, Pennsylvania, United States

Abandoned since: 10 or so people still live in Centralia.

In 1962, a fire broke out in a landfill near the Odd Fellows cemetery. The fire quickly spread through a hole to the coal mine beneath the city, and the fires have been burning ever since.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: Nazis destroyed the city.
Location: Oradour-sur-Glane, Limousin, France

Abandoned since: 1944

During World War II, the Nazi troops came upon Oradour-sur-Glane and completely destroyed it, killing 642 people.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: It has been abandoned since 1974.
Location: Hashima Island, Nagasaki, Japan

Abandoned since: 1974

During the industrial revolution in Japan, the Mitsubishi company built this island civilization around large coal deposits in the Nagasaki islands.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: It was a diamond mining community.
Location: Kolmanskop, Namibia

Abandoned since: 1954

Once a successful diamond mining community, Kolmanskop is now a desert ghost town where the houses welcome only sand.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: Earthquakes and landslides forced people to abandon Craco.
Location: Craco, Basilicata, Italy

Abandoned since: 1963

After being rocked by a number of earthquakes and subsequent landslides, Craco was abandoned for lower ground.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: It was orginally a resort town.
Location: Sanzhi district, New Taipei, Taiwan

Abandoned since: 1980

Sanzhi was originally a vacation resort catering to US servicemen north of Taipei.

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World's 10 abandoned cities

Image: Pripyat is an abandoned shell of a city.
Location: Pripyat, Ukraine

Abandoned since: 1986

After the Chernobyl reactor meltdown in 1986, Pripyat is an abandoned shell of a city frozen in a 1980's Soviet time-warp.