diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/descartes/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/descartes/default.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index a4df1fe20c99..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/descartes/default.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-{ lib, buildPythonPackage, fetchPypi,
-  matplotlib, shapely
-}:
-
-buildPythonPackage rec {
-  pname = "descartes";
-  version = "1.1.0";
-
-  src = fetchPypi {
-    inherit pname version;
-    sha256 = "0nq36w9ylvfwmwn5qd9c8fsp2jzsqpmy4xcr6pzxcpmg8qhm0nhk";
-  };
-
-  propagatedBuildInputs = [
-    matplotlib
-    shapely
-  ];
-
-  meta = with lib; {
-    description = "Python library to use Shapely or GeoJSON objects as matplotlib paths";
-    homepage = "https://bitbucket.org/sgillies/descartes/";
-    license = licenses.bsd3;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ knedlsepp ];
-    # all tests are failing
-    broken = true;
-  };
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-aliases.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-aliases.nix
index c030823624ee..cba9445284e6 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-aliases.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-aliases.nix
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ mapAliases ({
   dask-xgboost = throw "dask-xgboost was removed because its features are available in xgboost"; # added 2022-05-24
   dateutil = python-dateutil; # added 2021-07-03
   demjson = throw "demjson has been removed, it was using setuptools 2to3 translation feature, which has been removed in setuptools 58"; # added 2022-01-18
+  descartes = throw "descartes has been removed, since it is abandoned and broken"; # added 2023-06-21
   detox = throw "detox is no longer maintained, and was broken since may 2019"; # added 2020-07-04
   dftfit = throw "dftfit dependency lammps-cython no longer builds"; # added 2021-07-04
   dictpath = pathable; # added 2023-01-28
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index edf300b44989..0c89bbc6c4b0 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -2505,8 +2505,6 @@ self: super: with self; {
 
   derpconf = callPackage ../development/python-modules/derpconf { };
 
-  descartes = callPackage ../development/python-modules/descartes { };
-
   desktop-notifier = callPackage ../development/python-modules/desktop-notifier { };
 
   detect-secrets = callPackage ../development/python-modules/detect-secrets { };