The Search for Atlantis book and the documentary on DVD or VHS can be ordered from The A.R.E. Bookstore at 1-800-723-1112. (8am - 5:00 pm ET)

Ten free Quicktime video clips from the documentary The ARE's 2003 Search for Atlantis

Has the Location of the Center City of Atlantis Been Identified?

By Dr. Greg Little

In his now-classic 2000 book, Gateway to Atlantis, British author Andrew Collins makes a compelling case that the main island of the island empire of Atlantis was Cuba. Collins believes that the center city of Atlantis was somewhere around the Isle of Youth, located to the south of the main island of Cuba.

In his book, Collins related that a clue was left by the famous treasure hunter, Mel Fisher, before Fisher's death in 1998. Fisher spoke to Collins and told him that he had initially identified the center city of Atlantis using satellite images. He then secretly went to the site and reportedly confirmed that it was the actual city.

The center city of Atlantis was, according to Plato's account, a circular city about 2.5 miles in diameter ringed by a much larger body of water making the land immediately around the city about 7 miles in diameter. The center city was ringed by three circular canals and had a long canal leading south to the sea. To the north, a complex of smaller canals led to the city and a mountain range blocked the cold winds. There were springs in the center of the city, on top of a small hill, which housed Poseidon's massive temple.

During his discussion with Fisher, Collins relates that Fisher refused to divulge the location of the city, until a "certain country" had a change in political leaders. Fisher let it slip that Cuba was the location he had investigated, but not much else was discussed.

During our 2002-2003 investigations at Bimini and Andros, one of the other things we did was obtain satelite images of Cuba which were available to Fisher back in 1998. In August 2002 we carefully studied these images and found a location in Cuba which closely matched many of the descriptions given by Plato. We posted some of the information on the Edgar Cayce organization's website (www.edgarcayce.org/am) in September 2002 and dubbed the location the "Z" site. We planned to visit the Cuban site in 2003 during our Andros expeditions, but because the political situation took a serious turn for the worse, the plans were shelved. In our just-released book (The A.R.E.'s Search for Atlantis) and video documentary (The A.R.E.'s 2003 Search for Atlantis) we have revealed the location and other significant information.

The site is an underwater island at Zapata, located on the southern side of Cuba, north of the Isle of Youth and just to the west of the Bay of Pigs. The island is surrounded by a small ring of water and is about 7 miles in diameter, consistent with Plato's description of the outer ring of Atlantis. We obtained old depth and bottom contour charts of the site and found that the island has a series of rings comrising it.

To the north of the underwater island is a massive swamp, which is criss-crossed with manmade canals. The canals were enlarged during the 1930s and 40s for logging, but were present before that time. They have been attributed to the Taino Culture, a mound builder culture present in Cuba about 3,000-years ago. However, no one knows when they were actually made. Further to the north, a mountain range encloses the area and a wide river runs at the base of the mountain—again, consistent with Plato. In addition, we found that the center of the underwater island is not only the tallest portion, but also has several springs on it.

Dr. Greg Little is a frequent guest on radio shows: Greg Little's Upcoming Radio Shows

We have posted a few satellite images with this article as well as a few Quicktime clips of the video.

Below: 1st shot is satellite view of Andros and Cuba. 2nd satellite image focuses on Zapata (right hand side), the underwater island at Zapata, and the Isle of Youth (right hand side). 3rd satellite shot shows the underwater island enlarged and the Bay of Pigs.