Mythical continents

A map showing Atlantis and Mu

Mythical Continents

Ancient Greek

The most famous mythical continent is Atlantis.^[1]^[2] Like Hyperborea and Thule, Atlantis is ultimately derived from ancient Greek geographic speculation.

Mayan

The name of the hypothetical vanished continent Mu originated from the first attempted translation of the Madrid Codex, one of only four remaining Maya codices.

Sanskrit

Something similar seems to have happened upon the discovery of the Sanskrit literature by Europeans. Louis Jacolliot claimed to have learned from this literature about a sunken continent called Rutas. This in turn seems to have influenced Madame Blavatsky and her speculations about Lemuria. Speculations about Kumari Kandam also seem to be linked to this field. The name Lemuria originated from the scientific hypothesis about a land bridge between India and South Africa.^[3] With the discovery of the continental drift, however, this hypothesis is now considered obsolete.

Medieval European

Other mythical continents include Terra incognita, such as Terra Australis Incognita, which were probably based on garbled accounts from early explorers, but subsequently shown to have a basis in reality, and to be valid after scientific investigation and concept refinement.

Modern Fiction

Mythical continents are a great theme for fantasy and science fiction writers. Many modern occult or New Age writers speculate about ancient civilizations that dwelled on continents now submerged below sea level. As the study "Lost Continents" by L. Sprague de Camp seeks to show, there is no real scientific evidence for any lost continents in recent history; however, some rather large islands did sink when the sea levels rose after the end of the last interglacial, possibly being the origin of many lost continent legends, and some lost continents are likely to have existed millions of years ago. De Camp himself wrote some fiction stories on this theme.

The landmasses of Tolkien's Middle-earth were greatly detailed; especially mythical is the land of Valinor where the angelic Valar and Maiar along with the Elves lived.

References

↑ ATLANTIS SEARCH SHIFTS TO AEGEAN; Lost Continent Legend Held Based on False Statistics 1966 New York Times
↑ "Ignatius Donnelly has recently published at work in defence of the story that a continent known among the ancients as Atlantis was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by an earthquake." A Submerged Continent April 4, 1882 page 1 Los Angeles Times
↑ [1] November 28, 1932 The Sydney Morning Herald

[1] ATLANTIS SEARCH SHIFTS TO AEGEAN; Lost Continent Legend Held Based on False Statistics 1966 New York Times

[2] "Ignatius Donnelly has recently published at work in defence of the story that a continent known among the ancients as Atlantis was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by an earthquake." A Submerged Continent April 4, 1882 page 1 Los Angeles Times

[3] [1] November 28, 1932 The Sydney Morning Herald

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v t e Earth's primary regions and subregions
Africa	Mediterranean Saharan Northern Maghreb Middle East Middle East and North Africa Mashriq Sub-Saharan Western East Horn Great Lakes Central Southern Islands
North America	Northern Pacific Northwest Northeastern United States New England Midwest Mid-Atlantic Western United States Southwest Mountain states South Central United States Southern United States East Coast West Coast Bible Belt Appalachia Great Lakes Eastern Canada Western Canada Canadian Prairies Northern Canada Atlantic Canada Northern Mexico Aridoamerica Caribbean West Indies Central Middle Mesoamerica Anglo French Latin Ibero Hispanic Portuguese Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
South America	Southern Northern (Guianan states) Western West Indies Patagonia Amazon LAC
Asia	Central Aral Sea Aralkum Desert Caspian Sea Far East Russian Eastern Northeastern Inner Asia Southeastern Mainland Maritime Northern Siberia Ural Southern Eastern South Asia Himalayan states Indian subcontinent Western Levant Dead Sea Mediterranean Iranian plateau Arabian Peninsula Caucasus South Caucasus Middle East Middle East and North Africa Near East Mashriq Asia–Pacific
Europe	Central Northern Baltic British Isles Nordic Northwestern Scandinavia Scandinavian Peninsula Eastern Southeastern Balkans Caucasus South Caucasus North Caucasus Southern Russia European Russia Southern Iberia Italy Italian Peninsula Balkans Southeastern Mediterranean Middle East Western Low Countries Northwestern Germanic Romance Celtic Slavic
Oceania	Australasia Australia New Guinea Zealandia Pacific Islands Micronesia Melanesia Polynesia
Polar	Antarctic Arctic
Oceans	World (Sea) Antarctic/Southern Convergence Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Great Barrier Reef Mariana Trench Ring of Fire List of seas
Continents of Earth / List of seas / Physical Earth

Mythical continents

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