Microsoft Word These six mystery islands existed only in the imaginations of an

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The lost continent of Lemuria 
The lost continent of Lemuria began as a legitimate 
scientific theory. Following the publication of Darwin’s 
On the Origin of Species in 1859 but before the idea of 
plate tectonics emerged, researchers sought to understand 
why some animal species, such as the lemurs of 
Madagascar, appeared on widely separated lands. 
Perhaps, the theory went, a land bridge had once 
connected Africa and India. English zoologist Philip 
Sclater named this hypothetical land Lemuria, and 
scientists as distinguished as Alfred Russel Wallace 
endorsed the idea. 
In the late 1800s, the cofounder of the spiritually 
questing Theosophical Society, Helena Blavatsky, 
hijacked this concept into her own mystical Atlan‐ 
tean/spiritualist narrative. According to Blavatsky, alien 
visitors had revealed to her that Lemuria was once the 
home of one of the “root races” of humankind: seven- 
foot, egg-laying hermaphrodites with psychic powers. 
Located in the South Pacific, Lemuria sank beneath the 
waves, but its inhabitants escaped to Central Asia. Other 
writers took up this concept, some claiming that the 
Lemurians were ancestors to Atlanteans. 
Geology now explains the diverse locations of primate 
species. Nevertheless, Lemuria as an idea continues to 
thrive in comic books, movies, and video games. 

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Portions of this work have previously appeared in 
Mysteries of History. Copyright © 2018 National 
Geographic Partners, LLC. 
To learn more, check out 
Mysteries of History
. Available 
wherever books and magazines are sold. 
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Source: 
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history- 
magazine/article/these-six-islands-existed-in-the- 
imaginations-of-ancient-explorers