Scientists discover a continent that has been missing for 375 years

It is said to have been first discovered in 1642 by Dutch businessman and sailor Abel Tasman, who was desperate to discover the “Great Southern Continent”.

Although he failed to find the new land, he encountered the local Māori, initially unhappy with his arrival. However, they later provided valuable information about the surrounding lands, including the existence of a large landmass to the east.

Sign up for our free weekly Indy100 newsletter

It wasn't until 2017 that geologists discovered that the continent had always been hiding in plain sight.

Scientists have agreed on the existence of Zealandia, which began to “move away” from Gondwana for reasons that scientists are still trying to understand.

Most of the new continent is underwater and has been used as an example by geologists at Zealand Crown Research Institute GNS Science of how something “very obvious” can take a while to discover.

“[It’s] a process we do not yet fully understand, Zealandia began to be retired,” Tulloch explained.

His colleague Nick Mortimer, who led the study, joked that it was “pretty cool” before explaining: “If you think about it, every continent on the planet has different countries, [but] there are only three territories on Zealandia.

Express yourself in our media democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help move this article up the indy100 rankings.