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Lost lands areislands orcontinents believed by some to have existed duringprehistory, but have since disappeared as a result ofcatastrophic geological phenomena.
Legends of lost lands often originated as scholarly or scientific theories, only to be picked up by writers and individuals outside the academy.Occult andNew Age writers have made use of lost lands, as havesubaltern peoples.Phantom islands, as opposed to lost lands, are land masses formerly believed bycartographers to exist in thecurrent historical age, but to have been discredited as a result of expanding geographic knowledge. The classification of lost lands as continents, islands, or other regions is in some cases subjective; for example,Atlantis is variously described as either a "lost island" or a "lost continent". Lost land theories may originate inmythology orphilosophy, or in scholarly or scientific theories, such ascatastrophic theories ofgeology.[citation needed]
With the development of plate tectonic simulation software, new lost land has been discovered and confirmed by the scientific community (likeGreater Adria in 2019).
Although the existence of lost continents in the above sense is mythical (aside from Zealandia[1] and Greater Adria[2]), there were many places on Earth that were once dry land, but submerged after the end of theice age around 10,000 BCE due torising sea levels, and possibly were the basis forNeolithic andBronze Ageflood myths. Some were lost due tocoastal erosion or volcanic eruptions. An (incomplete) list follows:
Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu are among the most widely known examples of supposed “lost lands,” a term applied to places that have vanished or disappeared due to catastrophic events. Although each lost land originated from different contexts, their many interpretations are shaped bypseudoscientific,occult, andNew Age ideas. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, these lost lands are still prominent cultural influences and popular in discussions about ancient mysteries and possible vanished civilizations of the past. These lost lands continue to foster speculation, imagination, reinterpretation, theory, and debate about the possibility of their existence.
The fictitious story ofAtlantis originates from two dialogues,Timaeus andCritias, created by the Greek philosopherPlato in the 4th century BCE. In these writings, the island of Atlantis is described by Critias as a rich, successful, and powerful empire that grew morally corrupt over time. Ultimately, Atlantis collapses through war, defeated byAthens, and "all of Atlantis was destroyed in a tremendous cataclysm of earthquakes and floods”[3]. Most scholars agree that the story of Atlantis was never meant to be true history but more so an entertaining story that conveys moral lessons[4].
Throughout history, the idea of Atlantis was reinterpreted many times, especially throughIgnatius Donelly, who is considered the modern “father of the nineteenth-century Atlantis revival”[5]. In 1882, he published a book titledAtlantis: The Antediluvian World, which discussed that Atlantis was the source of origin forEgyptian,Mesoamerican, andMediterranean cultures[6]. Donnelly sought to prove his diffusionist Atlantis claim by drawing archaeological comparisons between the civilizations, though these comparisons were widely rejected by mainstreamarchaeology and scholars. However, his ideas laid the foundation for later pseudoscientific interpretations of Atlantis.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, Atlantis has emerged as a central subject inpseudoarcheology, where it is often associated with globalcultural diffusion, ancient aliens, or lost advanced technologies[7]. Modern fringe theories deviate from Plato’s writings entirely and relocate Atlantis to different places across the world like the Mid-Atlantic, theCaribbean, orAntarctica. Atlantis also plays a significant role in popular culture, influencing movies, literature, television shows, and other media.
Despite alternative interpretations and influences Atlantis still has today, the scholarly consensus remains the same that no geological or archaeological evidence indicates the true existence of Atlantis. Because of this, Atlantis is regarded as a mythical land attributed to the mind and imagination of the Greek philosopher, Plato[8].
Lemuria, as a lost land, was first presented by the British zoologistPhilip Lutley Sclater inThe Quarterly Journal of Science published in April of 1864. Sclater proposed that the existence of a now-submerged landmass linkingMadagascar andIndia would explain the geographic distribution oflemurs[9]. He was in favor of this theory because he found their distribution to be difficult to account for through the knowledge of species migration that was present at the time. Others like Sclater also used the idea of land bridges to explain continental species distribution before the idea ofplate tectonics , a theory proposed byAlfred Wegener , became accepted as moderngeology developed in the mid-20th century. Sclater’s hypothesis about Lemuria was then abandoned as plate tectonics now provided a clear explanation forcontinental drift and the distribution of lemurs that Sclater was studying[10].
Despite this scientific consensus, the idea of Lemuria was reimagined byHelena Blavatsky and theTheosophical Society in the late 19th century, transforming it into a mythical lost continent that related to their esoteric practices. They saw Lemuria as a precursor to Atlantis that was home to prehistoric “root races” who possessed psychic power[11] and advanced spiritual qualities[12]. According to Blavatsky, the sinking of Lemuria was followed by the rise of Atlantis, which became the dwelling of the fourth “root race”[13]. With the rise ofspiritualism in the 19th century, Lemuria was reinterpreted as not a geological land bridge but a place oftheosophy and occultism concepts.
In today’s modern culture, Lemuria is kept alive by fringe theories, speculative fiction, occultism,New Age beliefs, and alternative archaeology theories. However, claims about the existence of Lemuria continue to remain unsupported by scientists due to the lack of physical and geological evidence of the lost land.
The lost land ofMu originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly throughAugustus Le Plongeon andJames Churchward’s works. After misinterpreting Maya inscriptions, Le Plongeon proposed that the Maya civilization originated from a lost continent in the Atlantic called Mu, a name which he got fromCharles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg’s mistranslation of theMadrid Codex[14]. James Churchward expanded on this idea in his workThe Lost Continent of Mu (1926) and claimed to have translated ancient Naacal tablets that described Mu as the center of an immense Pacific civilization that predated all cultures[15].
Churchward’s narrative described an advancedNaacal race that supposedly spread civilization throughout the world and was the origin of influence for ancient civilizations such asEgypt,India, andCentral America. These ideas reflect early 20th-centuryhyperdiffusionism, which is the pseudoarchaeology theory that all major world civilizations share a single common origin[16].
No archaeological, geological, or historical evidence supports the existence of the continent of Mu. The idea of Mu originated from mistranslated and misinterpreted texts and speculative reconstructions rather than from concrete evidence and verifiable data[17]. The claim of Mu as the source for other civilizations is rejected by archaeologists as there is evidence for their independent origins supported by archaeological,linguistic, and genetic evidence[18].
Despite its lack of credibility andscientific evidence, Mu is still a recurring theme in New Age literature, pseudoscientific discussions about ancient civilizations, and the media. Those who believe in Mu often draw on Churchward’s descriptions and link them to advanced ancient technology, forgotten spiritual knowledge, or other diffusionist theories. In New Age belief systems, Mu is often grouped with Atlantis and Lemuria and portrayed as a triad of mythical “lost lands” that fall into esoteric and occult beliefs. Because the lost land of Mu is based on an imaginative construct of speculative interpretations rather than concrete evidence presented byarchaeology orscience, Mu is regarded as a pseudoscientific lost land.
The following individuals are known for having written on the subject of lost lands (either as fiction, hypothesis, or supposed fact):
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