14. Nan Madol: The ‘Venice of the Pacific’ that inspired H P Lovecraft.
In amongst the small collection of Pacific islands known, as Micronesia is the city of Nan Madol. Nan Madol began in the eighth or ninth centuries AD when local islanders began the construction of 100 small, artificial islets on the shallow eastern shore of Pohnpei Island. These islets, which occupied an area of 1.5 by 0.5 km, earned Nan Madol the epithet “The Venice of the Pacific“. However, it was not until the 12thand 13thcenturies that the city proper began to arise.
Archaeologists believe the city was the political and ceremonial seat of power for the ruling elite and that most of the islets housed local chiefs who were forced to move to Nan Madol so their activities could be monitored. At its peak, the entire population of the city was no more than 1000 people, with most of the city workers living on Pohnpei proper. These workers would have commuted into the city’s dedicated service islets. However, not all of Nan Madol’s islands were for the living. For several islets formed the city’s burial area known as Madol Powe and the royal mortuary isle of Nandauwas.
By the time the first European’s arrived in the sixteenth century, Nan Madol had been deserted. Quite how a society equipped with no metal tools and only rudimentary technology built this city of massive basalt blocks and coral columns perplexes archaeologists today. Archaeologists have estimated that the local population would only have been able to move 2000 tons of stone a year- meaning building Nan Madol would have taken 400 years to build.
The island’s mysterious nature is deepened by local legends that suggest that the city was constructed by the magic of two brothers, Olisihpa and Olosohpa who used a dragon to carry the stones. It is small wonder that Nan Madol became the model for HP Lovecraft’s city of R’lyeh in the Cthulhu mythos.