1920's Plan To Drain Mediterranean

[alphacat]

A plan from the 1920s to drain the Mediterranean Sea and create the nation of Atlantropa



A plan from the 1920s to drain the Mediterranean Sea and create the nation of Atlantropa On the cusp of the Great Depression, architect Hermann Soergel had a radical idea: Why not expand the landmass of Europe by draining part of the Mediterranean? It was all part of his plan to found the nation of Atlantropa.

Here you can see one of his plans for the dams that would be part of this geoengineering project. He'd also create canals in the Sahara Desert with the excess water.

Science historian and rare book afficionado John Ptak recently acquired a monograph where Soergel explains his grand scheme:

His most spectacular contribution-incubated in the mid-1920's and still clinging by its fingertips as an idea among some current thinkers-was to put a dam across the straights of Gibraltar. The dam would generate electricity of course, but most importantly to Soergel, it would also empty an enormous amount of water (lowering the sea by 200 metres) from the Mediterranean leaving vast new expanses of land to be developed and colonized over generations into the future. The water of course would have to go somewhere, and that somewhere was the Sahara Desert, somehow in its wake creating farmable and productive lands. Soergel was creating a certain, very wide, fantastical future of uncertain monumental prospects . . .

A plan from the 1920s to drain the Mediterranean Sea and create the nation of Atlantropa Soergel thought that this plan would add at least 660,000 KM2 to the base of the surrounding countries of the Mediterranean, or roughly the equivalent of the combined land masses of Italy and Germany. Having the sea pulled back from hundreds if not thousands of seaside towns and cities would no doubt be a "problem", for them; but that doesn't matter to Soergel, as they were inferior thoughts to the grand idea of emerging a new continent . . . The master plan at work was that the world would be divided into three economic spheres in the future, all beginning with the letter "A": American, Asia, and the new land to be created by Soergel, "Atlantropa", which was the former Europe expanded into the new dry beds of the Mediterranean and North Africa. And also of course Egypt, which would be covered with "thousands" of canals and become semi-submerged by the new borders of the meandering sea. This would be the way for Europa to compete with the rest of the world in the future.

Some of Soergel's contemporaries got so excited by the idea that they started designing architecture for the new city, including the bridge you see above, which would have spanned the entire (drained) sea. Hey, if you can't colonize the countries bordering the Mediterranean anymore, why not colonize the sea itself?

Read the whole article on John Ptak's Science Books blog.

[drokkr]

I love your posts mate

[alphacat]

Thanks kindly bruv. I feel compelled to share the fruits of my workplace ADD with you all.

[nowaysj]

Fuck the Mediterranean! Let's drain that bitch!

[alphacat]

Yeah! Water, sheesh - who needs that shit? Am I right? Eh?



Oddly enough it seems that the San Francisco Bay was well on course to being drained by the late 40's until some local housewives organized the first "Save the Bay" coalition. Thank goodness they did, too.

[test_recordings]

Crackers! Still, Waterworld-style floating cities look more viable and likely to be needed than ever before... If they drained all that where would the rest of the water go, conservation of matter principle and all that? Would it be like Holland and dyked-up (not cross-dressing as a lesbian, 'damns' for English speakers)?

[noam]

amazing

[AntlionUK]

badman post

would this idea still be doable?

[pompende]

Having the sea pulled back from hundreds if not thousands of seaside towns and cities would no doubt be a "problem", for them;

made me
i hope Soergel also included that as an inconsequential afterthought.

has anyone read this Borges' "Shakespeare’s Memory" story?

Thanks kindly bruv. I feel compelled to share the fruits of my workplace ADD with you all.

you're making a difference!
I'll be happy to write a letter recommending a raise for you and explaining your importance to your employer.
you're providing myself and literally 30s and 40s of other peoples with entertainment on a daily basis.
:salute corn:

[test_recordings]

badman post

would this idea still be doable?

Probably more so than it was then but it'd be a very bad idea in the long-term due to the Med' being one of the most important fishing grounds in the world! It's a haven for loads of sea-water fish that would just become extinct if that place dried up

[nowaysj]

But we could skate it like a giant swimming pool!

[faust.dtc]

I love your posts mate

Ill second that, you always post really interesting articles, unlike some of conspiracy priks on here.

Thanks for sharing and keep them coming.

[AntlionUK]

badman post

would this idea still be doable?

Probably more so than it was then but it'd be a very bad idea in the long-term due to the Med' being one of the most important fishing grounds in the world! It's a haven for loads of sea-water fish that would just become extinct if that place dried up

but we'd get a shit load of land init.

and canals in africa.

in-it.

[test_recordings]

badman post

would this idea still be doable?

Probably more so than it was then but it'd be a very bad idea in the long-term due to the Med' being one of the most important fishing grounds in the world! It's a haven for loads of sea-water fish that would just become extinct if that place dried up

but we'd get a shit load of land init.

and canals in africa.

in-it.

You don't get canals in Africa without doing something to get them? Draining the Mediterranean doesn't directly cause cannals to appear in the southern landmass

[ashley]

What if you dug a fuck off big river through the middle of germany

[yoowan]

What if you dug a fuck off big river through the middle of germany

but.. which way would it flow???

[CowardlyLion]

As long as the water gets thrown out into space I'm cool with it. Who doesn't want a ball of ice orbiting the Earth that would soon crash into it? It's like a lottery, whichever country it crashes into gets to inhabit Atlantropia.

[test_recordings]

What if you dug a fuck off big river through the middle of germany

but.. which way would it flow???

You could enlarge the Rhine to make it akin to the Suez Canal?

[hayze99]

As someone who was raised about a 10 minute walk from the Mediterranean -

drain the fucker, it's a polluted, cold piece of a shit.

[nowaysj]

You don't get canals in Africa without doing something to get them?

shows how little you know