Lost Continents
Encyclopedia
Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature is a study by L. Sprague de Camp
. It is considered one of his most popular works. It was written in 1948, and first published serially in the magazine Other Worlds Science Fiction
in 1952-1953; portions also appeared as articles in Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction
, Natural History Magazine
, and the Toronto Star
. It was first published in book form by Gnome Press
in 1954; an updated edition was published by Dover Publications
in 1970. De Camp revised the work both for its first book publication and for the updated edition.
claims. The work provides a detailed examination of theories and speculations on Atlantis
and other lost lands
, including the scientific
arguments against their existence.
He explains the origins of the Atlantis legend in Plato
's Timaios
and Kritias
dialogues and how it has been continued, developed and imitated by later theorists, speculators, scientific enquirers, enthusiasts, occultists, quacks, and fantasists throughout history. Major speculative locales as Atlantis, Mu
and Lemuria
are covered in depth, with the origins of lesser-known ones such as Thule
, Hyperborea and Rutas also treated. The work shows how the misinterpretation of Maya
n writings created the Mu
-myth, and how the name Lemuria
originated from the geological
hypothesis about a land bridge
between India
and South Africa
. Modern usage of the concept in speculative fiction
is gone into, as are the various attempts to discover the "real" Atlantis.
The 1970 edition was updated to reflect the rehabilitation of Alfred Wegener
's continental drift
theory and investigation of the ancient volcanic eruption
of the Aegean
island of Thera
. This eruption is considered by many who think that Plato's account of Atlantis' destruction had an underlying historical basis, to be that basis.
s or cult
s. Well-known instances include James Churchward's
books on Mu
, or the Theosopical
portrayals of Hyperborea, Lemuria
and Atlantis
, and even the Nazi mythologizing about Thule
. As authors of these materials tend not to state (or mis-state) their sources, works like that of de Camp are quite useful to anyone interested in objective
information.
described the original edition as "a monument of scholarship [and] a richly documented and entertaining survey of how crazy the crackpots can get." Boucher
and McComas
praised it as "a marvelously and terrifying history of the human will-to-believe, even in the face of all factual evidence."
L. Sprague de Camp
Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors...
. It is considered one of his most popular works. It was written in 1948, and first published serially in the magazine Other Worlds Science Fiction
Other Worlds (magazine)
Other Worlds Science Stories was an American science fiction magazine, edited by Raymond A. Palmer with Bea Mahaffey. It was published by Palmer's Clark Publishing in Evanston, Illinois beginning in the late 1940s...
in 1952-1953; portions also appeared as articles in Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
, Natural History Magazine
Natural History (magazine)
Natural History is an American natural history magazine. The stated mission of the magazine is to promote public understanding and appreciation of nature and science.- History :...
, and the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
. It was first published in book form by Gnome Press
Gnome Press
Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company primarily known for publishing many science fiction classics.The company was founded in 1948 by Martin Greenberg and David A. Kyle. Many of Gnome's titles were reprinted in England by Boardman Books...
in 1954; an updated edition was published by Dover Publications
Dover Publications
Dover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...
in 1970. De Camp revised the work both for its first book publication and for the updated edition.
Overview
L. Sprague de Camp enjoyed debunking doubtful history and pseudoscientificPseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
claims. The work provides a detailed examination of theories and speculations on Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
and other lost lands
Lost lands
Lost lands can be continents, islands or other regions supposedly existing during prehistory, having since disappeared as a result of catastrophic geological phenomena or slowly rising sea levels since the end of the last Ice Age. Lost lands, where they existed, are supposed to have subsided into...
, including the scientific
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
arguments against their existence.
He explains the origins of the Atlantis legend in Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's Timaios
Timaeus (dialogue)
Timaeus is one of Plato's dialogues, mostly in the form of a long monologue given by the title character, written circa 360 BC. The work puts forward speculation on the nature of the physical world and human beings. It is followed by the dialogue Critias.Speakers of the dialogue are Socrates,...
and Kritias
Critias (dialogue)
Critias, one of Plato's late dialogues, contains the story of the mighty island kingdom Atlantis and its attempt to conquer Athens, which failed due to the ordered society of the Athenians...
dialogues and how it has been continued, developed and imitated by later theorists, speculators, scientific enquirers, enthusiasts, occultists, quacks, and fantasists throughout history. Major speculative locales as Atlantis, Mu
Mu (lost continent)
Mu is the name of a hypothetical continent that allegedly existed in one of Earth's oceans, but disappeared at the dawn of human history.The concept and the name were proposed by 19th century traveler and writer Augustus Le Plongeon, who claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of...
and Lemuria
Lemuria (continent)
Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical "lost land" variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The concept's 19th century origins lie in attempts to account for discontinuities in biogeography; however, the concept of Lemuria has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of plate tectonics...
are covered in depth, with the origins of lesser-known ones such as Thule
Thule
Thule Greek: Θούλη, Thoulē), also spelled Thula, Thila, or Thyïlea, is, in classical European literature and maps, a region in the far north. Though often considered to be an island in antiquity, modern interpretations of what was meant by Thule often identify it as Norway. Other interpretations...
, Hyperborea and Rutas also treated. The work shows how the misinterpretation of Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
n writings created the Mu
Mu (lost continent)
Mu is the name of a hypothetical continent that allegedly existed in one of Earth's oceans, but disappeared at the dawn of human history.The concept and the name were proposed by 19th century traveler and writer Augustus Le Plongeon, who claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of...
-myth, and how the name Lemuria
Lemuria (continent)
Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical "lost land" variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The concept's 19th century origins lie in attempts to account for discontinuities in biogeography; however, the concept of Lemuria has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of plate tectonics...
originated from the geological
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
hypothesis about a land bridge
Land bridge
A land bridge, in biogeography, is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonise new lands...
between India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Modern usage of the concept in speculative fiction
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...
is gone into, as are the various attempts to discover the "real" Atlantis.
Alfred Wegener
Alfred Lothar Wegener was a German scientist, geophysicist, and meteorologist.He is most notable for his theory of continental drift , proposed in 1912, which hypothesized that the continents were slowly drifting around the Earth...
's continental drift
Continental drift
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912...
theory and investigation of the ancient volcanic eruption
Thera eruption
The Minoan eruption of Thera, also referred to as the Thera eruption or Santorini eruption, was a major catastrophic volcanic eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6 or 7 and a Dense-rock equivalent of , which is estimated to have occurred in the mid second millennium BCE. The eruption...
of the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
island of Thera
Santorini
Santorini , officially Thira , is an island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera...
. This eruption is considered by many who think that Plato's account of Atlantis' destruction had an underlying historical basis, to be that basis.
Importance
De Camp's work is still one of the most reliable sources on the lost continent theme. Lost continents or ancient civilizations sunk by a deluge are a common theme in the scriptures of doctrines of many modern pseudoreligionPseudoreligion
Pseudoreligion, or pseudotheology, is a generally pejorative term applied to a non-mainstream belief system or philosophy which is functionally similar to a religious movement, typically having a founder, principal text, liturgy and faith-based beliefs....
s or cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
s. Well-known instances include James Churchward's
James Churchward
James Churchward is best known as a British born occult writer. However, he was also a patented inventor, engineer, and expert fisherman....
books on Mu
Mu (lost continent)
Mu is the name of a hypothetical continent that allegedly existed in one of Earth's oceans, but disappeared at the dawn of human history.The concept and the name were proposed by 19th century traveler and writer Augustus Le Plongeon, who claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of...
, or the Theosopical
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
portrayals of Hyperborea, Lemuria
Lemuria (continent)
Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical "lost land" variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The concept's 19th century origins lie in attempts to account for discontinuities in biogeography; however, the concept of Lemuria has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of plate tectonics...
and Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
, and even the Nazi mythologizing about Thule
Thule
Thule Greek: Θούλη, Thoulē), also spelled Thula, Thila, or Thyïlea, is, in classical European literature and maps, a region in the far north. Though often considered to be an island in antiquity, modern interpretations of what was meant by Thule often identify it as Norway. Other interpretations...
. As authors of these materials tend not to state (or mis-state) their sources, works like that of de Camp are quite useful to anyone interested in objective
Objectivity (journalism)
Parent article: Journalism ethics and standardsObjectivity is a significant principle of journalistic professionalism. Journalistic objectivity can refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these qualities.- Definitions :In the context...
information.
Critical reception
Reviewer Groff ConklinGroff Conklin
Edward Groff Conklin was a leading science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories , wrote books on home improvement and was a freelance writer on scientific subjects as well as a published poet...
described the original edition as "a monument of scholarship [and] a richly documented and entertaining survey of how crazy the crackpots can get." Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
praised it as "a marvelously and terrifying history of the human will-to-believe, even in the face of all factual evidence."