Interest in a mysterious ‘lost continent’ where believers claim an advanced civilization once existed has been rekindled after claims its true location has been discovered.
Known as Lemuria, the hypothetical continent was proposed in the 19th century to explain why similar lemur fossils had been discovered in India and Madagascar, despite the countries being separated by the Indian Ocean.
Believers now claim that Lemuria, and perhaps the ruins of an ancient pre-human civilization, may lie beneath the ocean. Scientists are working to establish the boundaries of a genuine sunken landmass in the region, although no evidence links it to Lemuria or an advanced civilization.
The lost continent has become associated with bizarre theories involving ‘starseeds’ who supposedly carry alien DNA, egg-laying humanoids and even a prehistoric nuclear war.
Some believers have seized upon research into the ancient subcontinent of Mauritia, remnants of which lie beneath the Indian Ocean, as proof that the Lemuria legend was true.
However, Mauritia was a geological landmass left behind when an ancient supercontinent broke apart, not evidence of an advanced or pre-human society.
No ruins, artifacts or remains have been uncovered showing that an intelligent civilization ever lived there.
Instead, the link between Mauritia and Lemuria rests on believers connecting a genuine geological discovery to a legend that has evolved dramatically over more than 160 years.
Scientists are investigating a ‘lost continent’ between Mauritius and India
Lemuria was first proposed in 1864 by British zoologist and biogeographer Philip Sclater.
He was attempting to explain why fossils of lemurs had been discovered in Madagascar and India but not in Africa, despite the continent lying much closer to Madagascar.
Doubting that the animals could have crossed the Indian Ocean, Sclater proposed that a land bridge had once connected the two regions before sinking beneath the waves.
He called this hypothetical continent Lemuria after the animals whose distribution inspired the theory.
Sclater wrote: ‘In Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands we have existing relics of this great continent, for which… I should propose the name Lemuria!’
The idea became popular but eventually fell out of scientific favor after continental drift explained that India and Madagascar had once formed part of the same landmass.
Lemuria was no longer needed to solve the fossil mystery, but it survived outside mainstream science and became increasingly entangled with occult beliefs and conspiracy theories.
Nigel Watson, author of Portraits of Alien Encounters Revisited, explained that the lost continent gradually became associated with extraordinary stories about humanity’s origins.
The idea of Lemuria became mixed with the writings of James Churchward, a British author who claimed a lost continent of Mu lay buried under the ocean
Mauritia was a geological landmass left behind when an ancient supercontinent broke apart, not evidence of an advanced or pre-human society
Much of that transformation was linked to 19th-century spiritualist Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, a former circus horse rider who founded the occult movement Theosophy.
Her 1888 book The Secret Doctrine proposed seven ‘root races’ of humanity, including invisible astral beings, bodiless Hyperboreans and Lemurians portrayed as egg-laying creatures.
Blavatsky claimed the discovery of sex led to Lemuria’s destruction and that the continent sank beneath the ocean, leaving only Australia and Easter Island behind.
Her account was spiritual speculation, not a conclusion supported by archaeology or geology, but it helped turn Lemuria from a discarded scientific hypothesis into the supposed home of a forgotten people.
The legend later became attached to Mount Shasta in Northern California, where believers claimed Lemurian survivors had established an underground city called Telos.
According to the local mythology, the continent was destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes, but some of its inhabitants escaped and continued living beneath the mountain.
The idea that Lemuria was host to strange creatures actually came from a nineteenth century spiritualist, Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Visitors have claimed to see seven-foot-tall Lemurians dressed in flowing robes near the peak, although no physical evidence has established that the underground city or its alleged residents exist.
The story grew stranger after Lemuria became mixed with the writings of British author James Churchward.
Churchward claimed another lost continent, Mu, held a technologically advanced civilization that flourished 50,000 years ago.
He said ancient tablets revealed that Mu gave rise to the Egyptian, Mayan and Babylonian civilizations, but no evidence cited in the article substantiated those claims.
Nevertheless, the stories of Mu and Lemuria gradually blended, inspiring spiritual movements that claimed some modern humans descended from the lost civilization.
That belief eventually became connected to ‘starseeds,’ people who believe they possess DNA or souls originating with extraterrestrial beings.
Other versions alleged that Lemuria sheltered refugees from a planet called Maldek, which supposedly once orbited between Mars and Jupiter.
The Aetherius Society claimed Maldek’s inhabitants destroyed their planet with a hydrogen bomb, leaving behind the asteroid belt.
In that telling, the survivors established a peaceful civilization on Lemuria, only for it to fracture and suffer its own nuclear war.
Watson said, ‘Writers who have promoted the idea that ancient astronauts visited and lived on the Earth thousands of years ago, claim that sacred texts like the Bible recount stories of nuclear explosions.
‘They point to accounts like this in Genesis, ‘the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven’.
Fragments of melted glass in the deserts of Libya are also thought to be evidence of nuclear warfare or accidents 28 million years ago.
They also think that the legendary civilizations of Atlantis and Lemuria were destroyed by atomic warfare.
Watson said some of the more extreme theories centered on a planet called Maldek, which believers claimed once orbited between Mars and Jupiter.
According to the Aetherius Society, its population became consumed by greed and power before detonating a hydrogen bomb that destroyed the planet, supposedly creating the asteroid belt.
Watson explained that variations of the theory portrayed the solar system as the scene of multiple nuclear conflicts involving alien settlers. He noted that the claims largely came from automatic writing, alleged psychic messages and speculative interpretations of ancient texts rather than physical evidence.
He said the stories were also intended as a warning that advanced civilizat
While the alien visitors and nuclear conflicts belong to legend, the scientific search for an ancient landmass beneath the Indian Ocean is real.
Mauritia was described in a scientific paper in 2013, and researchers reported further evidence in 2017 of its lava-covered remains.
The landmass was a fragment left behind during the breakup of Gondwanaland, a supercontinent that existed about 200 million years ago.
Researchers believe remnants of Mauritia are scattered beneath the Indian Ocean and have been studying zircon, a durable mineral that can reveal the age of surrounding material.
Zircon found on Mauritius was dated to approximately three billion years ago, despite the volcanic island’s exposed rocks being no older than nine million years.
Scientists are now using gravity inversion to calculate the thickness of the oceanic crust and identify portions of the ancient continent that may remain intact.
The research could clarify the size and shape of Mauritia, but it has not uncovered evidence of Lemuria, alien descendants or a civilization destroyed by nuclear war.
