Home > Terra Australis
Terra Australis (more completely Terra Australis Incognita, "(the) unknown southern land") was an imaginary continent, appearing on European maps from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century.It was first introduced by Ptolemy, a Greek cartographer from the first century AD, who believed that the Indian Ocean was enclosed on the south by land. When, during the Renaissance, Ptolemy became the main source of information for European cartographers, the land started to appear on their maps. Although voyages of discovery sometimes did reduce the area where the continent could be found, cartographers kept drawing it on their maps and scientists argued for its existence with such arguments as that there should be a large landmass in the south as a counterweight against the known landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere. Usually the land was shown as a continent around the South Pole, but much larger than the actual Antarctica, spreading far north in particular in the Pacific Ocean area. New Zealand, discovered by Abel TasmanAbel Janszoon Tasman ( 1603 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, born in Lutjegast, a village in the province of Groningen, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644, in the service of the VOC ( Dutch East India Company). His was the first European in 1642Events January 4 Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. Beginning of English Civil War. March 1 Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in America May 17 S, was by some regarded as a part of the continent as well as AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. 30,244,050 km2 (11,677,240 mi2) including the islands, it covers 20. 3% of the total land area on Earth, and with over 800 million human inhabitants it accounts for ar and AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count.
The idea of Terra Australis was finally corrected by James CookJames Cook ( October 27, 1728 February 14, 1779) was a British explorer and navigator. He made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, in which its main shorelines were discovered. Cook was also a map maker. Introduction Cook was born in Marton in Cleveland,. On his first voyage he circumnavigated New Zealand, showing it could not be part of a large continent. On his second voyage he circumnavigated the globe at a very high southern latitude, at some places even crossing the south polar circle, showing that any possible southern continent must lie well within the cold polar areas, and not in regions with a temperate climate as had been thought before.
