View source for Philosophy:Lemuria (continent)

{{Infobox fictional location
| name    = Lemuria
| colour  = #C0C0C0
| image   =
| caption = Ancient Lemuria
| type    = Hypothetical [[Astronomy:Lost lands|lost continent]]
| races   = Lemurians
}}
'''Lemuria''' {{IPAc-en|l|ᵻ|ˈ|m|j|ʊər|i|ə}}<ref>OED</ref> or '''Limuria''' is a hypothetical ''[[Astronomy:Lost lands|lost land]]'' located in either the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian]] or the [[Earth:Pacific Ocean|Pacific Ocean]], as postulated by a now-discredited 19th-century [[Scientific theory|scientific theory]]. The idea was then adopted by the occultists of the time and consequently has been [[Unsolved:Lemuria in popular culture|incorporated into pop culture]]. Some Tamil writers have associated it with [[Unsolved:Kumari Kandam|Kumari Kandam]], a mythical lost continent with an ancient Tamil civilization located south of present-day India in the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]].

==Evolution of the idea==
Originally, Lemuria was hypothesized as a [[Earth:Land bridge|land bridge]], now sunken, which would account for certain discontinuities in [[Earth:Biogeography|biogeography]]. This idea has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of [[Earth:Plate tectonics|plate tectonics]]. Sunken continents such as Zealandia in the Pacific, [[Earth:Mauritia (microcontinent)|Mauritia]]<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite web|last=Morelle |first=Rebecca |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21551149 |title=BBC News - Fragments of ancient continent buried under Indian Ocean |publisher=BBC.co.uk |date=2013-02-25 |accessdate=2013-09-21}}</ref> and the [[Earth:Kerguelen Plateau|Kerguelen Plateau]] in the Indian Ocean do exist, but no geological formation under the Indian or Pacific Oceans is known that could have served as a land bridge between continents.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl2808/stories/20110422280809000.htm |title=Navigation News |publisher=Frontline.in |date= |accessdate=2013-09-21}}</ref>

The idea of Lemuria was subsequently incorporated into the proto-[[Philosophy:New Age|New Age]] philosophy of [[Philosophy:Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]] and subsequently into general fringe belief. Accounts of Lemuria here differ. All share a common belief that a [[Earth:Continent|continent]] existed in ancient times and sank beneath the ocean as a result of a geological, often cataclysmic, change, such as pole shift, which such theorists anticipate will destroy and transform the modern world.

==Scientific origins==
===Postulation===
In 1864, "The Mammals of Madagascar" by zoologist and biogeographer Philip Sclater appeared in ''The Quarterly Journal of Science''. Using a classification he referred to as lemurs, but which included related primate groups,<ref name="Neild, Ted 2007 pp. 38–39">Neild, Ted ''Supercontinent: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet'' pp.Harvard University Press (2 Nov 2007) {{ISBN|978-0-674-02659-9}} pp. 38–39</ref> and puzzled by the presence of their [[Biology:Fossil|fossil]]s in both {{wipe|Madagascar}} and {{wipe|India}}, but not in [[Earth:Africa|Africa]] or the [[Place:Middle East|Middle East]], Sclater proposed that Madagascar and India had once been part of a larger continent (he was correct in this; though in reality this was the [[Earth:Supercontinent|supercontinent]] [[Earth:Pangaea|Pangaea]]).

<blockquote>The anomalies of the mammal fauna of Madagascar can best be explained by supposing that ... a large continent occupied parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans ... that this continent was broken up into islands, of which some have become amalgamated with ... Africa, some ... with what is now Asia; and that in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands we have existing relics of this great continent, for which ... I should propose the name Lemuria!<ref name="Neild, Ted 2007 pp. 38–39"/></blockquote>

===Parallels===
Sclater's [[Theory|theory]] was hardly unusual for his time; "[[Earth:Land bridge|land bridge]]s", real and imagined, fascinated several of Sclater's contemporaries. Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, also looking at the relationship between animals in India and Madagascar, had suggested a southern continent about two decades before Sclater, but did not give it a name.<ref>
Neild, Ted ''Supercontinent: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet'' pp.Harvard University Press (2 Nov 2007) {{ISBN|978-0-674-02659-9}} p.38</ref> The acceptance of [[Biology:Darwinism|Darwinism]] led scientists to seek to trace the diffusion of species from their points of [[Biology:Evolution|evolution]]ary origin. Prior to the acceptance of [[Earth:Continental drift|continental drift]], [[Biology:Biology|biologists]] frequently postulated submerged land masses to account for populations of land-based species now separated by barriers of water. Similarly, [[Earth:Geology|geologists]] tried to account for striking resemblances of rock formations on different continents. The first systematic attempt was made by Melchior Neumayr in his book ''Erdgeschichte'' in 1887. Many hypothetical submerged [[Earth:Land bridge|land bridge]]s and continents were proposed during the 19th century to account for the present distribution of [[Biology:Species|species]].

===Promulgation===
[[File:Hypothetical sketch of the monophylitic origin and of the diffusion of the 12 varieties of men from Lemuria over the earth LCCN2014649358.jpg|thumb|Map describing the origins of "the 12 varieties of men" from Lemuria (1876)]]
[[File:Coat of arms of the British Indian Ocean Territory.svg|thumb|left|The coat of arms of the British Indian Ocean Territory with the inscription (in Latin) "Limuria is in our charge/trust".]]

After gaining some acceptance within the scientific community, the concept of Lemuria began to appear in the works of other scholars. [[Biography:Ernst Haeckel|Ernst Haeckel]], a Darwinian taxonomist, proposed Lemuria as an explanation for the absence of "[[Biology:Transitional fossil#Missing links|missing link]]" fossil records. According to another source, Haeckel put forward this thesis prior to Sclater (but without using the name "Lemuria").<ref>L. Sprague de Camp, ''[[Unsolved:Lost Continents|Lost Continents]]'', 1954 (First Edition), p. 52</ref> Locating the origins of the human species on this lost continent, he claimed the fossil record could not be found because it sank beneath the sea.

Other scientists hypothesized that Lemuria had extended across parts of the Pacific Ocean, seeking to explain the distribution of various species across [[Earth:Asia|Asia]] and the [[Earth:Americas|Americas]].

===Supersession===
The Lemuria theory disappeared completely from conventional scientific consideration after the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift were accepted by the larger scientific community. According to the theory of plate tectonics, Madagascar and India were indeed once part of the same landmass (thus accounting for geological resemblances), but plate movement caused India to break away millions of years ago, and move to its present location. The original landmass, the supercontinent [[Earth:Gondwana|Gondwana]], broke apart; it did not sink beneath sea level.

==Kumari Kandam==
{{Main|Unsolved:Kumari Kandam}}
[[File:Kumari Kandam map.png|thumb|250px|"Lemuria" in Tamil nationalist mysticist literature, connecting {{wipe|Madagascar}}, South India, and Australia (covering most of the Indian Ocean)]]
Some Tamil writers such as [[Biography:Devaneya Pavanar|Devaneya Pavanar]] have associated Lemuria with [[Unsolved:Kumari Kandam|Kumari Kandam]], a legendary sunken landmass mentioned in the Tamil literature, claiming that it was the [[Social:Cradle of civilization|cradle of civilization]].

==In popular culture==
{{main|Unsolved:Lemuria in popular culture}}
Since the 1880s, the hypothesis of Lemuria has inspired many novels, television shows, films, and music.

==See also==
{{col div|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Philosophy:Atlantis|Atlantis]]
* [[Earth:Doggerland|Doggerland]]
* Evolution of lemurs, primate from {{wipe|Madagascar}}
* Lost city
* [[Unsolved:Legends of Mount Shasta|Legends of Mount Shasta]]
* [[Earth:Mauritia (microcontinent)|Mauritia (microcontinent)]]
* [[Unsolved:Mu (lost continent)|Mu (lost continent)]]
* Phantom island
* Ramtha
* [[Biography:Jane Roberts|Jane Roberts]]
* [[Unsolved:Thule|Thule]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Ramaswamy, Sumathi |title=The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-520-24032-4}}
* Ramaswamy, Sumathi. (1999). "Catastrophic Cartographies: Mapping the Lost Continent of Lemuria". ''Representations''. 67: 92-129.
* Ramaswamy, Sumathi. (2000). "History at Land’s End: Lemuria in Tamil Spatial Fables". ''Journal of Asian Studies''. 59(3): 575-602.
* Frederick Spencer Oliver, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/dtp/index.htm ''A Dweller on Two Planets''], 1
*Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (Ccru). (2015). "Lemurian Time War". ''[https://libcom.org/files/&#x5B;Ccru,_Nick_Land&#x5D;_Ccru_Writings_1997-2003(BookZZ.org).pdf Writings 1997-2003].'' Time Spiral Press. 

{{Continents of the world}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemuria (Continent)}}
[[Category:Pseudoarchaeology]]
[[Category:Esoteric anthropogenesis]]
[[Category:Theosophical philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Theoretical continents]]

{{Sourceattribution|Lemuria (continent)|1}}