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Why is Terra Australis being described as an "imaginary" continent? There IS a continent where the ancient cartographers theorized there would be, Antarctica. It may not be quite as large as they thought it would be, but it's there. Details of the New World were wrong at first too, but we don't call the regions described by those erroneous descriptions "imaginary." I propose that this article be merged into the article about Antarctica, as part of the history of the exploration of that continent. -- 68.52.242.229 02:02, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
Terra Australis should be kept separate from Antarctica. They are separate concepts. If we merge the two together, based merely upon some apparent coincidental geographical similarity, then the same rationale dictates we should merge Atlantis with America (or the Azores), or Mu with Tahiti, or Fusang with Mexico. Or how about India with Madagascar because India used to be located where Madagascar is now?
The article asserts that "The country of Australia was first termed Terra Australis by Flinders when he wrote a book of this title containing the maps he had made on his several voyages, and the name Australia is derivative of the word Australis, which means southern in Latin."
Presumably this book was written after his voyage in 1803.
The assertion that this was the first time the phrase Terra Australia was coined is contradicted by James Cook#First voyage (1768 – 1771), which states that Cook's sealed orders, issued in 1768, were to investigate Terra Australis.
Frankly, I'm inclined to believe the latter as the notion of a counterbalancing southern continent had been circulating for some time before Cook's voyage, and Terra Australis is an obvious name for it. -- Saforrest 04:57, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
It states "Incognita" when the term should be "incognito". The term "Incognita" refers to a female person when "incognito" refers to an item. Even tho country names were always named after females this is not the case with the "incognito/incognito" term.
The idea that Australia was part of a larger "Terra Australis" was disproved by Abel Tasman who sailed under Australia to New Zealand. This was about 150 years before Matthew Flinders. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.168.189.185 ( talk) 12:34, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
Abel Tasman did NOT circumnavigate New Holland, which is NW Australia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.240.74.83 ( talk) 20:56, 7 June 2009 (UTC)
cant remember where i read it now but there is a belief that Marco Polo propergated the existence of a southern continent after returning from China? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.117.22.243 ( talk) 17:57, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
It might just be my monitor, but I noticed the [edit]s for the sections Origin and Mapping the Southern Continent are displaced because of the map pictures to the right. I couldn't think of how I could edit it to fix that, or if it needs to be edited at all. Thanks! -- Hendrixjoseph ( talk) 05:34, 10 April 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't the opening paragraph contain areference to the fact that this continent turned out to be either Australia or Antarctica, I don't think it feels right for this information to be located at the bottom of the article. IndridCold13 ( talk) 04:33, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
I have reverted moves of Terra Australis Incognita and Terra incognita to Terra Australis Ignota and Terra ignota respectively. These moves were completely undiscussed, and without prima facie merit. In any case, the talkpages should not have been redirected: they should be kept in place, for discussion of such moves and of the redirect itself.
– ⊥¡ɐɔıʇǝoNoetica! T– 07:48, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
I've undone/reverted the cut-n-paste moves of the article. If you feel the article is misnamed then discuss here. Vsmith ( talk) 13:45, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
Thanks to Vsmith and Dougweller for fixing the mess I found, which I unfortunately made worse by in trying to fix it. The articles involved are these:
I have replaced the lead of the present article Terra Australis with the following summation, including a link to comprehensive history of terms at Australia:
Terra Australis (or Terra Australis Ignota and Terra Australis Incognita; Latin: "the unknown land of the South") was a hypothetical continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century. Other names for the continent include Magallanica or Magellanica ("the land of Magellan"), La Australia del Espíritu Santo (Spanish: "the southern land of the Holy Spirit"), and La grande isle de Java (French: "the great island of Java"). Terra Australis was one of several names applied to the actual continent of Australia, after its European discovery; and it is the inspiration for the continent's modern name (see also Etymology, at Australia).
As things stand, there are links and redirects among those pages. These may need discussion and rectifying, along with suitable changes to the pages themselves. In particular the talkpages are problematic: if a talkpage is moved (and then possibly re-moved), redirected, etc., it can become unclear precisely which page is under discussion, or which is referred to in templated page-headers.
Ignota and incognita mean roughly the same in Latin, but are perhaps distinguishable: ignota "unknown"; incognita "unrecognised, undiscovered, un-learned-about". Non-English-speaking speakers, especially Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, appear to favour ignota over incognita. I suspect there are two reasons for this:
But in the literature (surveyed through properly conducted searches in Googlebooks and other sources), Terra [Australis] Incognita is overwhelming more common: even in old sources, and especially in English-language sources.
I strongly advise that there be centralised discussion at Talk:Australia, briefly noted here, to keep all of this in good order. I have placed this discussion there as well.
– ⊥¡ɐɔıʇǝoNoetica! T– 22:54, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
Thaddeus Bellingshausen, I believe, cited an island off the coast thus the citing three days later of Edward Bransfield and William Smith in the Williams was the first to see the actual continent Montalban ( talk) 23:33, 20 February 2012 (UTC)
The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Terra Australis/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
Needs references.-- Grahamec 04:20, 6 February 2007 (UTC) |
Last edited at 04:20, 6 February 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 07:49, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 22:29, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
The first description of Terra Australis or the Antipodes circa 1523 is valid hypotheses, consequently proved correct, and holds true. This page has become politicized, and is no longer representative of the known facts! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:6059:3700:9510:F826:2FFF:A5F6 ( talk) 20:29, 27 October 2021 (UTC)
![]() | Text and/or other creative content from History of Antarctica was copied or moved into Antarctica. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists. |
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Why is Terra Australis being described as an "imaginary" continent? There IS a continent where the ancient cartographers theorized there would be, Antarctica. It may not be quite as large as they thought it would be, but it's there. Details of the New World were wrong at first too, but we don't call the regions described by those erroneous descriptions "imaginary." I propose that this article be merged into the article about Antarctica, as part of the history of the exploration of that continent. -- 68.52.242.229 02:02, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
Terra Australis should be kept separate from Antarctica. They are separate concepts. If we merge the two together, based merely upon some apparent coincidental geographical similarity, then the same rationale dictates we should merge Atlantis with America (or the Azores), or Mu with Tahiti, or Fusang with Mexico. Or how about India with Madagascar because India used to be located where Madagascar is now?
The article asserts that "The country of Australia was first termed Terra Australis by Flinders when he wrote a book of this title containing the maps he had made on his several voyages, and the name Australia is derivative of the word Australis, which means southern in Latin."
Presumably this book was written after his voyage in 1803.
The assertion that this was the first time the phrase Terra Australia was coined is contradicted by James Cook#First voyage (1768 – 1771), which states that Cook's sealed orders, issued in 1768, were to investigate Terra Australis.
Frankly, I'm inclined to believe the latter as the notion of a counterbalancing southern continent had been circulating for some time before Cook's voyage, and Terra Australis is an obvious name for it. -- Saforrest 04:57, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
It states "Incognita" when the term should be "incognito". The term "Incognita" refers to a female person when "incognito" refers to an item. Even tho country names were always named after females this is not the case with the "incognito/incognito" term.
The idea that Australia was part of a larger "Terra Australis" was disproved by Abel Tasman who sailed under Australia to New Zealand. This was about 150 years before Matthew Flinders. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.168.189.185 ( talk) 12:34, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
Abel Tasman did NOT circumnavigate New Holland, which is NW Australia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.240.74.83 ( talk) 20:56, 7 June 2009 (UTC)
cant remember where i read it now but there is a belief that Marco Polo propergated the existence of a southern continent after returning from China? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.117.22.243 ( talk) 17:57, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
It might just be my monitor, but I noticed the [edit]s for the sections Origin and Mapping the Southern Continent are displaced because of the map pictures to the right. I couldn't think of how I could edit it to fix that, or if it needs to be edited at all. Thanks! -- Hendrixjoseph ( talk) 05:34, 10 April 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't the opening paragraph contain areference to the fact that this continent turned out to be either Australia or Antarctica, I don't think it feels right for this information to be located at the bottom of the article. IndridCold13 ( talk) 04:33, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
I have reverted moves of Terra Australis Incognita and Terra incognita to Terra Australis Ignota and Terra ignota respectively. These moves were completely undiscussed, and without prima facie merit. In any case, the talkpages should not have been redirected: they should be kept in place, for discussion of such moves and of the redirect itself.
– ⊥¡ɐɔıʇǝoNoetica! T– 07:48, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
I've undone/reverted the cut-n-paste moves of the article. If you feel the article is misnamed then discuss here. Vsmith ( talk) 13:45, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
Thanks to Vsmith and Dougweller for fixing the mess I found, which I unfortunately made worse by in trying to fix it. The articles involved are these:
I have replaced the lead of the present article Terra Australis with the following summation, including a link to comprehensive history of terms at Australia:
Terra Australis (or Terra Australis Ignota and Terra Australis Incognita; Latin: "the unknown land of the South") was a hypothetical continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century. Other names for the continent include Magallanica or Magellanica ("the land of Magellan"), La Australia del Espíritu Santo (Spanish: "the southern land of the Holy Spirit"), and La grande isle de Java (French: "the great island of Java"). Terra Australis was one of several names applied to the actual continent of Australia, after its European discovery; and it is the inspiration for the continent's modern name (see also Etymology, at Australia).
As things stand, there are links and redirects among those pages. These may need discussion and rectifying, along with suitable changes to the pages themselves. In particular the talkpages are problematic: if a talkpage is moved (and then possibly re-moved), redirected, etc., it can become unclear precisely which page is under discussion, or which is referred to in templated page-headers.
Ignota and incognita mean roughly the same in Latin, but are perhaps distinguishable: ignota "unknown"; incognita "unrecognised, undiscovered, un-learned-about". Non-English-speaking speakers, especially Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, appear to favour ignota over incognita. I suspect there are two reasons for this:
But in the literature (surveyed through properly conducted searches in Googlebooks and other sources), Terra [Australis] Incognita is overwhelming more common: even in old sources, and especially in English-language sources.
I strongly advise that there be centralised discussion at Talk:Australia, briefly noted here, to keep all of this in good order. I have placed this discussion there as well.
– ⊥¡ɐɔıʇǝoNoetica! T– 22:54, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
Thaddeus Bellingshausen, I believe, cited an island off the coast thus the citing three days later of Edward Bransfield and William Smith in the Williams was the first to see the actual continent Montalban ( talk) 23:33, 20 February 2012 (UTC)
The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Terra Australis/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
Needs references.-- Grahamec 04:20, 6 February 2007 (UTC) |
Last edited at 04:20, 6 February 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 07:49, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 22:29, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
The first description of Terra Australis or the Antipodes circa 1523 is valid hypotheses, consequently proved correct, and holds true. This page has become politicized, and is no longer representative of the known facts! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:6059:3700:9510:F826:2FFF:A5F6 ( talk) 20:29, 27 October 2021 (UTC)
![]() | Text and/or other creative content from History of Antarctica was copied or moved into Antarctica. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists. |