However, according to Plato, the people of Atlantis became too proud and greedy in their desire for other lands, so Zeus, the King of the Gods, decided to punish Atlantis and its people. He sent terrible floods and earthquakes; the entire population of the island was buried in the earth, and the island of Atlantis was swallowed up by the sea in one terrible day and night. Plato's version of the story is the only source for believing that Atlantis ever existed;
for centuries afterward nothing more was written about the legend. Then, after Europeans found the Americas, the "New World", some people began to wonder if these newly discovered lands could have been the lost kingdom.The legend grew in popularity. Atlantis has been suggested as somewhere in Africa, Europe, even Russia, as well as possibly being in America.Until now over 20,000 books have been published about this land.