It had been a grueling two months and five days since the three ships left Palos de la Frontera in Spain. Provisions and fresh water were running short and the men were restless, their tempers starting to show. The Admiral had staked his life and the lives of his men on an unproved theory, and it there was to be a miracle, it had better come soon. But the undiscovered continent drew him ever closer. He wrote in his log:

“Wednesday, 10 October. Steered west-southwest and sailed at times ten miles an hour, at others twelve, and at others, seven; day and night made fifty-nine leagues’ progress; reckoned to the crew but forty-four. Here the men lost all patience, and complained of the length of the voyage, but the Admiral encouraged them in the best manner he could, representing the profits they were about to acquire, and adding that it was to no purpose to complain, having come so far, they had nothing to do but continue on to the Indies, till with the help of our Lord, they should arrive there. 

Thursday, 11 October. Steered west-southwest; and encountered a heavier sea than they had met with before in the whole voyage. Saw pardelas and a green rush near the vessel. The crew of the Pinta saw a cane and a log; they also picked up a stick which appeared to have been carved with an iron tool, a piece of cane, a plant which grows on land, and a board. The crew of the Nina saw other signs of land, and a stalk loaded with rose berries. These signs encouraged them, and they all grew cheerful. Sailed this day till sunset, twenty-seven leagues. After sunset steered their original course west and sailed twelve miles an hour till two hours after midnight, going ninety miles, which are twenty-two leagues and a half; and as the Pinta was the swiftest sailer [sic], and kept ahead of the Admiral, she discovered land and made the signals which had been ordered. The land was first seen by a sailor called Rodrigo de Triana, although the Admiral at ten o’clock that evening standing on the quarter-deck saw a light, but so small a body that he could not affirm it to be land; calling to Pero Gutierrez, groom of the King’s wardrobe, he told him he saw a light, and bid him look that way, which he did and saw it; he did the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent with the squadron as comptroller, but he was unable to see it from his situation. The Admiral again perceived it once or twice, appearing like the light of a wax candle moving up and down, which some thought an indication of land. But the Admiral held it for certain that land was near; for which reason, after they had said the Salve which the seamen are accustomed to repeat and chant after their fashion, the Admiral directed them to keep a strict watch upon the forecastle and look out diligently for land, and to him who should first discover it he promised a silken jacket, besides the reward which the King and Queen had offered, which was an annuity of ten thousand maravedis. At two o’clock in the morning the land was discovered, at two leagues’ distance; they took in sail and remained under the square-sail lying to till day, which was Friday, when they found themselves near a small island, one of the Lucayos, called in the Indian language Guanahani . . .” 

As someone who has read his journal, I am not a revisionist as far as Cristóbal Colón (Columbus) goes.  I believe he was a God-fearing man of his times and not personally responsible for whatever Crown-sanctioned evil followed. True, he was said to have applied barbaric physical punishment to insubordinates, but he followed contemporary practice. It is folly to judge people who lived centuries ago according to contemporary standards. To do so would make our Founding Fathers both white supremacists and in some way, misogynists as well. The Bill of Rights Institute agrees and writes “The vilification of Columbus is not justified.”

[Watch the trailer for Ridley Scott’s movie 1492 here.]

PANGAEA, LAURASIA, AND GONDWANA

Map makers throughout the ages found curious, empirical circumstantial evidence that there was a time when the continents on our planet were actually joined. They looked at eastern Brazil and the across the Atlantic to western Africa. The two coasts looked like they might have fit together at some time in the distant past. Plus, there were similar plants, animals and structures found in both the Old World and the New. How could that have happened? If you subscribe to the theory of continental drift you know–and even if you don’t, you learned in school that at some point in the late Paleozoic period to the early Mesozoic period–there was once a supercontinent known as Panagea, which broke up into two smaller continents; Laurasia and Gondwana.

Panagea no longer exists, and Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and perhaps Australia are the offspring of Laurasia and Gondwana.

ATLANTIS

Of course, no one was around to witness Pangaea break up. But there were humans alive when Plato advanced the idea of Atlantis. Plato spoke of Atlantis in two of his works; Timaeus and Critias:

“For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic Ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot. For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, ‘the pillars of Heracles,’ there lay an island which was larger than Libya and Asia together; and it was possible for the travelers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean. For all that we have here, lying within the mouth of which we speak, is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance; but that yonder is a real ocean, and the land surrounding it may most rightly be called, in the fullest and truest sense, a continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent. . .

But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.”

Notice how Plato says “. . .and it was possible for the travelers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean.” Unless I am mistaken, Plato suggested that beyond Atlantis (i.e., to the West of Atlantis] there was an undiscovered continent which, along with Europe, “encompassed” the Atlantic Ocean.

The discovery of ruins, particularly steps and columns on the sea floor NW of the Canary Islands and elsewhere have been asserted in the past. How could these have otherwise come to be?

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPEAL OF AN UNDISCOVERED CONTINENT

Malthusian studies of population growth (focused particularly on the Middle Ages) show that as the number of people in some predetermined unit of measurement (e.g. square acre) increases, so does the liklihood of war and/or disease. In other words, the increasingly dense number of people on a given lease of land leads to a tension which can only be relieved by depopulation. At this point, the population drops to some diminished level and then, over time, the cycle is repeated, as if this is some sort of self-regulating mechanism in nature. The correlation between population and disease should be intuitive to us all, and a true, if not tragic, example might be the typhus epidemic in the Warsaw Ghetto (1941–1942.)

As far as belligerent behavior is concerned, experiment on rats (e.g., John B. Calhoun’s 1947 study) suggest that rats become more combative when they are overcrowded. This trait has been found in humans as well and not just confined to people who are XYY. So, there seem to be negative psychological consequences (at least to some in society) over overpopulation. By moving groups of large people, such as the nineteenth century emigrants from Germany and Ireland to America, overpopulation is deflated and food scarcity and the politik of a nation is stabilized.

The suggestion of some new continent on the horizon (or an approaching Planet X) releases the thrill of adventure and imagination on the one hand and the fear of the unknown on the other. In other words, “an undiscovered continent creates a tension between fear and curiosity. This tension is relieved through confronting the fear through exploration” according to Chat 4.0. And, humans do thirst for knowledge. Further, an undiscovered continent appeals to our desire for freedom, as the settlers who entered Texas under the Austin Grant experienced. Finally, a new land also opens up the door to new myths and legends, perhaps like we find in movies such as the Star Wars series, or Dune.

WALTER PRESCOTT WEBB

Walter Prescott Webb (1888-1963) was a noted historian on the American frontier who taught at the University of Texas at Austin.  His writings about the frontiers give rise to the notion of the undiscovered continent.  First, it was Novus Mundus or the New World.  This was actually two continents.  Then Terra Australis (Australia) was added.  Antarctica (meaning “anti-arctic” or the opposite of the arctic) was added, but until recently, was a cold, barren wasteland.  Now, McMurdo Station in Antarctica with a permanent population of 200 souls which swells to five times that number in the summer has two ATM machines courtesy of Wells Fargo bank.  They have Wi-Fi and other creature comforts as well. Given global warming, the “anti-arctic” is a destination for tourists today who knows what we might find under the ice tomorrow?

Webb’s writings present the notion that civilization has always had some new world to explore (and exploit as well, as our resources became exhausted.). But now there is no new land, no undiscovered continent on Earth to colonize.

LOST HORIZON (SHANGRI-LA)

Lost Horizon was a movie based on the 1933 novel by James Hilton of the same name. It does not involve an undiscovered continent, but rather a place of bliss tucked away in the most inhospitable conditions possible. And it appears to the characters in the movie just in the nick of time.

The 1937 film begins with the following introduction:

“In these days of war and rumors of war—haven’t you ever dreamed of a place where there was peace and security, where living was not a struggle but a lasting delight?”

This was eighty-eight years ago. Sound familiar? Welcome to Shangri-la. Here people live much longer, happier and healthier than the rest of humanity. In the movie a handful of people, mainly from England with one or two Americans, are on a plane which unknown to them has been hijacked. It runs out of fuel and crashes in the Himalayas.

The survivors find themselves is a land where people are healthy and happy. The American woman with the passengers on the plane crash is the exception. She in in the last stages of some deadly pulmonary disease of disorder. But there is a strange contradiction. The people of Shanghai-la claim to be much older than they appear. But once she enters this magical realm, she unexplainably begins to recover her health.

However, at this point, the story becomes a bit more predictable. Some passengers want to stay in Shangri-la (a phrase in the Tibetan language which means “Shang Mountain Pass“) while others want to return home to the real world for any one of a number of reasons–or for no reason at all. Those who want to stay view their oasis as Utopian dream, a careless, stress-free bubble where there is physical and spiritual harmony and as close to life everlasting as one could find on Earth. But Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) who coined the word “Utopia” used two Greek words to craft it. One word means “happy place” while the second word means “no place.” In this he reveals the contradiction and impossibility of a real-life Shangri-La. Yet, this is the recipe that earns an Academy Award (at least as far as film editing and art direction are concerned.)

MYTHICAL CITIES

Building on the undiscovered continent theme are microcosms such as El Dorado, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat and Avalon where Arthur, the once and future king is laid to rest. Such places have fired the imagination of conquistadors, mercenaries and assorted fortune hunters for centuries. The legend of the Seven Cities of Cíbola (of which El Dorado was one) attracted explorers such as Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado who took the rumors of the cities of gold literally. In 1513, Ponce de León visited Florida searching for the Fountain of Youth. Today, the Lost City of the Incas (Machu Picchu) is the destination mainly for archeologists and assorted tourists.

Not every undiscovered continent portends a happy ending, for there are likewise Shadowlands representing

“the unknown, the subconscious, or darker aspects of existence. They can symbolize emotional struggles, fears, or the complexities of human experience that lie beneath the surface of conscious thought. . . realms that exist between the physical world and the afterlife, such as the underworld or places of limbo. These are often depicted as dark, mysterious places where souls may linger or face trials before moving on.”

Places like these are not found on maps; places like Tír na nÓg. Such locations are often accessed through dark woods, dank caves, rabbit holes, through psychedelic drugs or via a computer late at night lost in the cyberspace of the deep web. Carl Jung knew of places such as these where hidden fears and repressed desires suddenly come to life and the hunter suddenly becomes the hunted.

Today, we must look elsewhere for the undiscovered continent. Places like Aonia Terra, Hesperia Planum, and Terra Cimmeria. Places on Mars.

MARS

The late Stephen Hawking encouraged people to get to Mars as soon as possible, lest some global catastrophe (e.g., a plague or something of our own making) exterminate the human race. Jeff Bezos and others have echoed this urgency. We see efforts underway at this very moment.

Certainly, Mars as it is now is not a Utopia by any means. It has only 60% of the light from the sun that earth has, but because your eyes can adjust, you likely won’t notice a difference, though your pupils might be larger than. normal. Because of the low atmospheric pressure, water on Mars would boil at 23 degrees F. That means you could stick your hand in it and not get scalded. However, you would, need a pressure suit similar to what astronauts wear and you would need oxygen to breathe so your hands would not be exposed in any event. Temperature is usually below freezing on Mars, but during the day and depending on the season, Mars can be almost comfortable by Earth standards. Gravity is about 40% of Earth’s, so new records would be set in athletics. The discovery of water makes life on Mars not only possible but do-able. The terraforming of Mars, which would involve the manipulation of the atmosphere and environment in general to make it more earth-like is being studied at this very moment. However, it is well beyond our current technology. This means that people will have to live in some sort of geodesic domes launched into space. Making structures from 3D printers is another option being studied.

But for all its shortcomings, Mars has a tremendous hold on our imaginations, with mountains more than thirteen miles high and canyons such as Valles Marineris as much as five miles deep. Mars has exotic sounding places such as Utopia Plantia, Medusae Fossae, Gale Crater and Hellas. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, both of them so small that they are not even round. Most likely they are captured asteroids. And while Mars, itself, appears to be barren on the surface, who knows what may lie beneath? Rivers of water? Diamonds? Fossilized bones? Cities long abandoned–or not. Who knows what men and women from Earth might dream about on Mars? Virginia Dare was the first child born in a English colony in North America. Centuries later they still taught her name to students in our schools. What will be the name of the first human child born on Mars? Will your grandchildren be born there?

There may very well be mineral wealth on one or more planets or 293 moons in our solar system. There may be some undiscovered continent yet to be charted. But it won’t fall into our laps and we won’t get there unless we try.