Lemuria, also called Limuria, was a continent first suggested in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater. It was believed to have been underwater in the Indian Ocean. Later, some people who studied mystical and spiritual ideas used Lemuria to explain human origins. This idea was no longer accepted after scientists discovered plate tectonics and continental drift in the 20th century.
The idea of Lemuria was created to explain why lemur fossils were found on Madagascar and the Indian subcontinent but not in Africa or the Middle East. In 1870, biologist Ernst Haeckel proposed that Lemuria might have been the first home of humans. This expanded the idea beyond science, making it popular among people outside the scientific community.
In the late 1800s, Helena Blavatsky, a spiritual teacher and founder of theosophy, included Lemuria in her mystical beliefs. She claimed Lemuria was where human ancestors, called Lemurians, lived. Her writings greatly influenced Western spiritual traditions and spread the idea of Lemuria and its mythical people.
The theory of Lemuria became impossible to support when scientists accepted Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift in the 1960s. Wegener first proposed this idea in 1912. However, the concept of Lemuria remained in popular culture, especially within the theosophy movement.
Scientific origins
Lemuria was a theory that suggested a land bridge, now underwater, might explain certain patterns in how animals and plants are found in different areas. However, modern science has shown that this idea is no longer correct due to the theory of plate tectonics. While some sunken continents, such as Zealandia in the Pacific Ocean and Mauritia and the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean, exist, no underwater landmass in the Indian or Pacific Oceans is known to have acted as a bridge between continents.
In 1864, a book titled The Mammals of Madagascar by Philip Sclater, a scientist who studied animal and plant distribution, was published. Sclater noticed that fossils of certain mammals were found in Madagascar and India but not in Africa or the Middle East. He suggested that Madagascar and India were once part of a larger landmass, which was later confirmed to be Mauritia and the supercontinent Gondwana.
Sclater proposed that the unusual types of mammals found in Madagascar could be explained by the idea of a large landmass that once covered parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. This landmass, he believed, had broken apart into islands, some of which merged with Africa and others with what is now Asia. He called this landmass "Lemuria."
At the time, the idea of land bridges—real or imagined—was common among scientists. Earlier, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire had also suggested the existence of a southern continent without naming it. The acceptance of Darwin’s ideas about evolution led scientists to search for explanations for how species spread from their origins. Before plate tectonics was understood, scientists often proposed underwater landmasses to explain how land animals could have moved across oceans. In 1886, Melchior Neumayr wrote a book called Erdgeschichte, which was one of the first organized attempts to study these ideas. Many other theories about submerged land bridges and continents were proposed in the 19th century to explain how species are distributed today.
After gaining some scientific support, the Lemuria theory appeared in the work of other scientists, including Ernst Haeckel, a biologist who studied how species are classified. Haeckel used Lemuria to explain the lack of certain human ancestor fossils. Some sources say Haeckel suggested this idea before Sclater, though he did not use the name "Lemuria" at first.
The Lemuria theory was no longer considered by scientists after the acceptance of plate tectonics and continental drift. According to plate tectonics, Madagascar and India were once part of the same landmass, which explains similarities in their geology. However, over millions of years, India separated from this landmass and moved to its current location. The original landmass, which included Mauritia and the supercontinent Gondwana, broke apart but did not sink beneath the ocean.
Theosophy and occultism
The idea of Lemuria was later used in the beliefs of Theosophy and has remained a topic in unscientific studies and discussions about lost lands. Many books and writings about Lemuria and related ideas, such as the Lemurian Fellowship, exist. These all share the belief that a continent once existed in what is now the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean and that it sank due to a major geological event. A key part of Lemuria's mythology is that it was where advanced knowledge systems developed, which later influenced other beliefs.
The concept of Lemuria was described in detail by James Churchward, who called it Mu and claimed it was a lost continent in the Pacific Ocean. Churchward used the name "Mu" from Augustus Le Plongeon, who had previously used the term "Land of Mu" to refer to the legendary lost continent of Atlantis. Churchward wrote several books, including The Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Men (1926), The Children of Mu (1931), The Sacred Symbols of Mu (1933), Cosmic Forces of Mu (1934), and Second Book of Cosmic Forces of Mu (1935). The connections between Lemuria/Mu and Atlantis are explored in the book Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature (1954) by L. Sprague de Camp.
Blavatsky claimed that Australia was a leftover part of Lemuria and that Aboriginal Australians and Aboriginal Tasmanians (which she saw as separate groups) were descendants of Lemurians and Lemuro-Atlanteans, after mixing with animals. This idea later appeared in unscientific histories and stories from white Australian culture in the 1890s and early 1900s, including works by poet Bernard O'Dowd, author Rosa Campbell Praed in My Australian Girlhood, author John David Hennessey in An Australian Bush Track, and George Firth Scott's novel The Last Lemurian: A Westralian Romance.
Robert Dixon suggested that the popularity of ideas like "lost races" (such as Lemurians and Atlanteans) reflected fears among colonial Australians that "when Englishness is lost, there is nothing to replace it." A. L. McCann said Praed's use of the Lemuria idea was an attempt to create a history for white settlers without facing the harm done to Indigenous people.
In 1894, Frederick Spencer Oliver wrote A Dweller on Two Planets, an occult book claiming that survivors from Lemuria lived in tunnels under Mount Shasta in northern California. This underground city, called Telos: City of Light, had luxurious features like fur-lined floors and jeweled walls. Oliver also said Lemurians could be seen walking on the surface in white robes. In 1931, Harvey Spencer Lewis, who used the name Wishar Spenle Cerve, wrote Lemuria: the Lost Continent of the Pacific, which helped spread the idea that Mount Shasta was a place where Lemurians lived.
In the 1930s, Guy Warren Ballard claimed that Saint Germain told him he could give him knowledge and wisdom. Ballard wrote Unveiled Mysteries under the name Godfré Ray King, claiming he was the person Saint Germain used to share messages with the world. The belief in Telos has been promoted by Ballard and his followers, as well as groups like the Ascended Masters, the Great White Brotherhood, The Bridge to Freedom, The Summit Lighthouse, Church Universal and Triumphant, and Kryon.
Each year, members of these groups travel to Mount Shasta for pilgrimages, which include festivals and events. The Saint Germain Foundation hosts an annual "I AM COME!" Pageant about the life of Jesus the Christ in Mount Shasta. The Rainbow Family holds a Rainbow Gathering every August to celebrate the pilgrimage. These religions mix spiritual practices from Native, Christian, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions, combining their beliefs while avoiding certain parts of these religions. For example, the Saint Germain Foundation does not include the story of Jesus' crucifixion in their teachings.
Kumari Kandam
Some Tamil writers, like Devaneya Pavanar, have connected Lemuria to Kumari Kandam, a famous sunken landmass described in Tamil literature. They believe Kumari Kandam was the birthplace of early human societies. A Tamil commentator named Adiyarkunallar described the area between the Pahrali River and the Kumari River in the Pandyan region. He noted that this land was later covered by the ocean.