Lost City

Diamond gives several examples from the past. His account of the history of Easter Island is particular grim. Influenced by Heyerdahl's romantic interpretation of Easter Island's past, Diamond claims that the loss of the island's trees seems to overlap with a decline of its society around the 17th and 18th century. He remarks the fact that they stopped making the famous moai statues at that time and even started to topple the statues. According to Diamond, the extreme deforestation destabilized an already precarious ecosystem and as the island became increasingly overpopulated and resources diminished the society of the Easter Island simply collapsed.

The ancient Mayan cities in the southern lowlands were abandoned in the 9th century. This phenomena remains one of the most fascinating mysteries in history. What makes this so interesting is the abruptness of the decline at a period when the Mayan had a sophisticated society. The Mayan city of Tikal Guatemala for example was a vast metropolis with imposing structures. But as Tikal population grew to almost 100,000 people, the landscape around Tikal experienced deforestation, and erosion followed by a rapid decline in population levels.

Probably the most famous lost city in history is the legendary Atlantis, first cited in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias. In Plato's story, Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" that occupied many parts of Africa and Europe 9,000 years before the time of Solon. After a failed attempt to attack Athens, Atlantis sank into the sea and was lost forever.

There have been countless of sites proposed for Atlantis. Sites include Crete, Santorini, Cyprus, and Malta based on numerous indications found in Plato's story. The Santorini eruption for instance, dated to the 17th century BC, caused a giant tidal wave that could have devastated the Minoan civilization on Crete. Some historians think that this may have been the disaster that motivated Plato to write the tale of Atlantis. Some people have even hypothesized that the South Pole is the location of Atlantis, while others have proposed exotic locations such as Batabano Bay south of Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Bermuda Triangle.

Numerous actual lost cities have been found again in the previous century. The Arabian city of Ubar was deserted after much of the town sank into a sinkhole formed by the collapse of an underground cave. The site was only found again in 1992 when satellite images exposed evidence of the ancient trade roads leading to it. Machu Picchu, the famed "Lost City of the Incas", was accidently rediscovered by the American historian Hiram Bingha, though natives living in the nearby valley already knew about the Inca city.

In writing the book "Collapse" Diamond anticipated that its readers should learn from the past but also records a dozen environmental issues facing mankind in our day. In fact, four new factors may contribute to the weakening and collapse of present and future civilization including climate change and the lack of energy. Who knows, perhaps someday our cities will be abandoned and lost in time.