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.

See also

• Continent
• Continental fragment
• Lost lands
• Mountains of Kong
• Subcontinent
• Submerged continent
• Supercontinent

References

Regions of the world
Africa	Mediterranean Northern  Gibraltar Arc Maghreb (Barbary Coast) Barbara (region) Atlas Mountains Sahara Sahel Egypt (Upper Egypt, Middle Egypt, Lower Egypt, Bashmur) Nubia (Lower Nubia) Nile Valley Nile Delta Middle East Sub-Saharan Western East East African Rift: Great Rift Valley, Western or Albertine Rift Valley, Eastern or Gregory Rift Valley, Southern Rift Valley, Rift Valley Lakes (Great Lakes) Central Mittelafrika Southern Horn Ethiopian Highlands (Roof of Africa) Sudan (region) Guinea region Rhodesia (region) (Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia) Negroland Mayombe Igboland (Mbaise) Maputaland Congo Basin Chad Basin Swahili coast Pepper Coast Gold Coast Slave Coast Ivory Coast Tropical Africa Islands Madagascar Anglophone Africa Francophone Africa Lusophone Africa Arabophone Africa
North America	Contiguous United States Northern Pacific Northwest Northeastern United States New England Midwest Mid-Atlantic Western United States Southwest Llano Estacado Mountain States South Central United States Southern United States East Coast West Coast Gulf Coast Bible Belt Rust Belt Appalachia Great Plains Great Lakes Eastern Canada Western Canada Canadian Prairies Northern Canada Atlantic Canada North Mexico Gulf of Mexico West Indies Caribbean (Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, Lucayan Archipelago Western Caribbean Zone Central Isthmus of Panama Mosquito Coast Middle Mesoamerica Aridoamerica Oasisamerica Anglo French Latin (Hispanic) American Cordillera Ring of Fire
South America	Southern Northern (Guianan states) West South America (Andean States) West Indies Patagonia Pampas Pantanal Amazon Amazonia Altiplano Andes Brazilian Highlands Caribbean South America Gran Chaco Llanos Atacama Desert Cerrado Latin (Hispanic) American Cordillera Ring of Fire
Asia	Central Aral Sea Aralkum Desert Caspian Sea Dead Sea Sea of Galilee Transoxiana (Turan) Greater Khorasan Ariana Khwarezm Sistan Kazakhstania Far East Russian Far East Extreme North Eurasian Steppe Pontic–Caspian steppe Wild Fields Yedisan Muravsky Trail Ural (region) Volga region Idel-Ural Kolyma Transbaikal Pryazovia Bjarmaland Kuban Zalesye Ingria Novorossiya Gornaya Shoriya Tulgas Siberia Eastern  Northeastern Inner Asia Manchuria Outer Manchuria Tibet Guanzhong Huizhou (region) Wu (region) Ordos Loop Yangtze River Delta Northern Southern Southeastern Mainland (Indochina) Maritime (Malay Archipelago) East Indies (Greater India) Indian subcontinent Himalayas Mahabharata Range Hindu Kush Ganges Basin Ganges Delta Balochistan Rajputana Punjab (region) Thar Desert Indus Valley Indus River Delta Indo-Gangetic Plain Eastern Coastal Plains Western Coastal Plains Hindi Belt Doab Great Rann of Kutch Little Rann of Kutch Deccan plateau Coromandel Coast Konkan Lakshadweep Andaman and Nicobar Islands Maldive Islands Western Red Sea Middle East (Near East) Arabian Peninsula Persian Gulf Pirate Coast Najd Hejaz Tihamah Eastern Arabia Southern Arabia Hadhramaut Mediterranean Sea Eastern Mediterranean Zagros Mountains Tigris–Euphrates river system Mesopotamia (Upper Mesopotamia, Lower Mesopotamia, Sawad) Canaan Aram (Biblical region) Levant (Mashriq) Southern Levant Levantine Sea Gaza Strip West Bank Galilee Gilead Judea Samaria Arabah Transjordan Jordan Rift Valley Sinai Peninsula Caucasus Transcaucasia Arabian Desert Syrian Desert Fertile Crescent Syria (region) (Greater Syria) Palestine (region) Anatolia (Asia Minor) Cilicia Cappadocia Asia-Pacific Tropical Asia Ring of Fire
Europe	Central Mitteleuropa Danubian countries Prussia (region) Lithuania Minor Northern Nordic Northwestern Scandinavia Scandinavian Peninsula Fennoscandian Peninsula Sápmi Eastern Baltic Crimea Donbass Sloboda Ukraine Southeastern Balkans (Balkan Peninsula) North Caucasus Kabardia Southern Russia European Russia Middle East Southern Italian Peninsula Insular Italy Iberia Gibraltar Arc Southeastern Mediterranean Western Alpine countries Benelux Low Countries Northwestern British Isles Channel Islands Germanic Romance Celtic Slavic countries Eurasian Steppe Pontic–Caspian steppe Wild Fields Pannonian Basin Volhynia Karelia (East Karelia, Karelia (historical province of Finland))
Oceania	Australasia Australia Capital Country Eastern Australia/East Coast of Australia (Eastern Seaboard) Lake Eyre basin Murray–Darling basin Northern Australia Nullarbor Plain Outback Southern Australia Sunraysia Great Victoria Desert New Guinea Zealandia Pacific Islands Micronesia Melanesia Polynesia
Polar	Antarctic Arctic
Oceans	World (Sea) Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Great Barrier Reef Mariana Trench Ring of Fire Southern Convergence List of seas
Continents of the world / List of seas / Physical Earth