Nan Madol
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How it came to be
Nan Madol is a group of more than 100 islets off the south-east coast of Pohnpei. Between 1200 and 1500 palaces, temples, tombs and houses were built there with walls of basalt and coral boulders. It was the ceremonial centre of the Saudeleur dynasty, which ruled the island.
The walls use columnar basalt quarried elsewhere on the island, laid in alternating headers and stretchers. On the royal mortuary islet of Nandauwas, walls 5.5 to 7.5 m high surround a central tomb. There was no fresh water or food on the islets, so both were brought in by boat.
People stopped living here by the 1820s, and since then plants, storm surges and collapsing stonework have damaged the site. The traditional paramount chief, the Nahnmwarki, still looks after it. Nan Madol was inscribed in 2016 and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger because silt in the channels lets mangroves spread and undermine the walls.
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