Terra Australis
Terra Australis meaning Southern Land was an early concept of the ancient Greeks, who imagined a large landmass in the southern hemisphere. Cartographers from the 15th century onwards included this hypothetical land on their maps of the world. When Australia and Antarctica were eventually discovered by European explorers it was seen as justification for the earlier.speculation.
Riaan Booysen, a South African researcher contends that these early maps reflected geographical realities, namely Australia and Antarctica,but goes further and locates Plato’s Atlantis close to Australia. He bases much of his theory on his interpretation of Johann Schöner’s 1515 globe, which he discusses on his extensively illustrated website(a).
>Booysen has now (Nov 2023) developed his Atlantis theories further and self-published them in book form, Atlantis Revealed [2079] explaining that “I have since (end 2022) decided to revisit and thoroughly study and expand, where necessary, my Atlantis theory once more, with the intent of having it formally published. My latest studies include significantly more information than previously available on my website, and several additional hypotheses about the fate of the Atlanteans after their continent had been ‘sunk’. This occurred when a comet glanced off the face of the earth ca. 11,600 years ago, knocking a dent of around 8,000m in its crust and thereby ‘sinking’ Atlantis (parts of Terra Australis are clearly visible on NASA’s submarine topography maps of the world).”
In the promotional blurb for the book he adds “During my research into the gods of antiquity, it was inevitable that I would come across Plato’s legend of Atlantis. Plato introduced Atlantis to the world around 360 BCE in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, quoting Solon of Athens who had visited Egypt between 590 and 580 BCE. According to Solon, the mighty civilisation of Atlantis existed and perished about 9,000 years before his time, thus about 11,600 years ago. He described Atlantis as an ‘island’ that sank beneath the ocean in a single day and night, along with, apparently, the rest of the civilised world. However, this ‘island’ was larger than ancient Libya and Asia together: an enormous continent. I also became familiar with the massive ‘imaginary’ continent called Terra Australis Incognita (the Unknown Land in the South), which had – apparently out of the blue – appeared on practically all medieval maps of the world. (link broken seeI recall quite clearly: I almost immediately realised that, as it no longer exists (having disappeared beneath the waters?), Terra Australis would be a prime candidate for Plato’s Atlantis.”<
(a) http://www.riaanbooysen.com/terra-aus (link broken – See (b))