completion, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mandu is a fortress town in Madhya Pradesh, dating back at least as far as 555 AD. Old Goa was once the center of Christianization in the east, but it became largely abandoned in the 17th century, due to an outbreak of malaria and cholera. Ross Island was the administrative center of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands until the 1941 Andaman Islands earthquake, leaving the settlement in ruins. Vijaynagara was possibly the second-largest city in the world in 1500, with around 500,000 inhabitants. It was captured and destroyed by Muslim armies in 1565, and has been abandoned ever since. Hampi is a World Heritage Site within this town. Lakhpat was once a bustling port town at the mouth of Kori creek of Kutch. After the earthquake of 1819, the Indus river changed its course of flow resulting in the abandonment of the port by people. The town surrounded by a fort wall now houses only a few hundred people and a large number of ruined buildings. Bhangarh Fort, a 17th-century fort built by King Sawai Madho Singh in Rajasthan was abandoned following a curse, according to legends. Kuldhara is an abandoned town near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Prabalgad, a hill fort near Matheran, Maharashtra which was abandoned due to its difficult access and scarcity of water. Madh Fort near Mumbai is a small fort that is in disuse following a decline in its importance. Golkonda Fort near Hyderabad was a fort city and the seat of the Qutb Shahi dynasty was destroyed after defeating by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Iran Soltaniyeh was the 14th century capital of the Mongol Ilkhanid rulers of Persia, but is now "a deserted, crumbling spread of ruins". Japan Hashima Island was a Japanese mining town from 1887 to 1974. Once known for having the world's highest population density (in 1959 at ), the island was abandoned when the coal mines were closed down. Ōkuma, Fukushima was a large Japanese town with a population of 11,515 people. It was completely evacuated along with the ( voluntarily) zone surrounding the nuclear plant in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Ikeshima Island was a mining town in Nagasaki Prefecture. The town had an estimated population of over 10,000, but after the coal mines closure in 2001 thousands left. In 2018 it had a population of 130. Kazakhstan Chagan, former Soviet air