The Lost Gardens of Eden

Atlantis is not the only legendary land lost beneath the waves. Two entire continents are reputed to have vanished without trace - each vastly larger than Atlantis and each, in it's time, described as the cradle of mankind.

The names of these two lost Gardens of Eden were Mu and Lemuria.

Above, Mu was supposedly situated in the Pacific Ocean and was twice the size of Australia. Image Source

Above, Lemuria, according to legend, filled up most of the Indian Ocean and linked Africa with Malaysia. Image Source

The Mu theory was raised in 1970 by Colonel James Churchward, who claimed that, while serving with the Bengal Lancers in British colonial India, he was told the secrets of the lost land by Hindu priests. He was shown some tablets, since lost, and was taught a forgotten language called Naacal. Churchward also said that he had found identical stone tablets in Mexico. According to the tablets, Mu sank into the ocean in a great natural catastrophe 12,000 years ago, wiping out it's 64 million people. Remarkably, the story of Mu was taken seriously at the time.

A somewhat better- argued tale was told about the lost continent of Lemuria. The name was coined by the 19th century British zoologist Professor Philip Sclater, who named his nation after the lemur. It was fossils of this and of other animals, found in both Africa and Malaysia, that Led Sclater to support legendary tales of a lost continent in the Indian Ocean. The many supporters of his theory included eminent biologist Ernst Hackel and evolutionist Thomas Huxley.

Less fanciful evidence is used to support the legend of Lyonesse - a land off the south-west England coasts, said to have been visited by King Arthur and his knights. The 15th century chronicler William of Worcester quoted monastery scrolls which referred up to '140 parochial churches, all since submerged, lying between Cornwall and the Isles od Scilly'.

The land is said to have sunk into the sea in a single day. The extravagant punishment, so folklore has it, was meted out by the magician Merlin to drown King Arthur's treacherous knight Mordred and his followers.

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