AHC: Keep the Venice of the Pacific Inhabited

Nan Madol, ancient capital of the Saudeleur dynasty that ruled Micronesia, is a fantastic example of megalithic architecture. It is an island city on Pohnpei that is completely artificial; approximately one hundred artificial islets surrounded by a sea wall and linked by canals. Somewhere between the early 16th Century and 17th Century, according to Pohnpeian legend, a man named Isokelekel invaded the city and overthrew the Saudeleur. He then ruled the island from Nan Madol; however, his descendants abandoned it, due in some versions to a sharp population decline, or to the city's lack of fresh water and the new decentralized system's inability to provide this water. My challenge to you, then, is keep this city occupied all the way up to 2014, and by occupied, I mean fully so. Butterfly away Isokelekel's invasion, keep the chiefs in Nan Madol, have European colonists take over the city, do whatever as long as it keeps the amazing Venice of the Pacific alive.

EDIT: You get an internet cookie if your mini-TL involves the Saudeleur still ruling the islands at least in name in the modern age.
 
Was Nan Madol's engineering and stonework capable of building aqueducts? Pohnpei gets enough rain that supplying the city with water seems to be largely an issue of infrastructure.
 
Was Nan Madol's engineering and stonework capable of building aqueducts? Pohnpei gets enough rain that supplying the city with water seems to be largely an issue of infrastructure.

That was part of my thought as well. There was no infrastructure in place simply because there was no need to; the Saudeleur simply forced commoners to bring water to the city along with food. The chiefs later on, however, gathered their own food and water, so this idea was weird for them. Now, I think it might be a bit difficult to get an aqueduct up, though I am absolutely sure they could do it. First, you'd need to have there be a lack of water in the city before the invasion, because the stoneworking methods were lost. Secondly, you'd need the Saudeleur to want to build an aqueduct and avoid relying on the inhabitants of the island. I think the best way to accomplish this would be a rebellion by the commoners that leaves the city without a reliable source of water for at least a few weeks, and though it is crushed, gives the kings a conception of how precarious Nan Madol really is.
 
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