KOLMANSKOP, NAMIBIA
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After a significant amount of diamonds were found in the earth, a town developed in Africa to house the miners. When the mineral deposits were exhausted in the 1950s, the town was overpopulated, and sand took over.
HOUTOUWAN, CHINA
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This former fishing community was inhabited up until the early 1990s on Shengshan Island, close to Shanghai. But due to the island’s isolation, it was abandoned, and today the homes are completely surrounded by forest.
HASHIMA ISLAND, JAPAN
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An undersea coal mine was based on this island, but it was abandoned in 1974 once the reserves were depleted. It is now open to visitors after being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
BELCHITE, SARAGOZA, SPAIN
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A town destroyed in 1937 by civil war and reshaped by nature, it is now abandoned and can be visited.
BURJ AL BABAS, TURKEY
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This abandoned settlement, which may be found in the Mudurnu foothills, is the outcome of a bad investment. It was once intended to create a Disney-style town made up entirely of castles, with as many as 700 planned.