Lemuria, also called Limuria, was a continent first suggested in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater. He believed it had sunk beneath the Indian Ocean. Later, some spiritual groups used the idea to explain human origins. This theory was no longer accepted by scientists in the 20th century when they discovered plate tectonics and continental drift.

The idea was first proposed 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 suggested that Lemuria might have been the first home of humans. This made the idea more popular among people outside the scientific community.

In the late 1800s, Helena Blavatsky, a spiritual leader who started theosophy, included Lemuria in her beliefs. She claimed it was the homeland of early humans, whom she called Lemurians. Her writings greatly influenced Western spiritual traditions and spread the myth of Lemuria.

Theories about Lemuria were no longer accepted when scientists in the 1960s agreed with Alfred Wegener’s idea about continents moving. However, the idea remained in popular culture, especially in the theosophy tradition.

Scientific origins

Lemuria was once thought to be a sunken land bridge that could explain certain patterns in the way animals and plants are found in different parts of the world. However, modern scientific theories about how Earth’s plates move have shown that Lemuria is not real. Some sunken continents, like Zealandia in the Pacific Ocean and Mauritia and the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean, do exist. But no sunken landmass under the Indian or Pacific Oceans is known to have connected these continents.

In 1864, a scientist named Philip Sclater published a paper titled "The Mammals of Madagascar" in a science journal. He studied animals called lemurs and noticed that their fossils were found in Madagascar and India but not in Africa or the Middle East. Based on this, he suggested that Madagascar and India had once been part of a larger continent. This was correct, though the actual landmass was called Mauritia and was part of a larger supercontinent called Gondwana.

The unusual types of mammals found in Madagascar can be explained by imagining that a large continent once covered parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. This landmass later broke apart, with some pieces joining Africa and others joining what is now Asia. Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands are thought to be the remaining parts of this ancient continent. Sclater proposed the name "Lemuria" for this landmass.

Sclater’s idea was common during his time, as many scientists were interested in the idea of land bridges, real or imagined. Another scientist, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, had suggested a southern continent years earlier but did not name it. The acceptance of Darwin’s ideas about evolution led scientists to search for ways species spread from their origins. Before plate tectonics were understood, scientists often believed in sunken lands to explain how species ended up separated by oceans. A scientist named Melchior Neumayr wrote a book in 1886 that was one of the first to study these ideas systematically. Many other sunken land bridges and continents were proposed during the 19th century to explain how species are distributed today.

After some scientists accepted the idea of Lemuria, other scholars also wrote about it. Ernst Haeckel, a scientist who studied how living things are classified, used Lemuria to explain why certain early human fossils were missing. Some sources say Haeckel proposed this idea before Sclater, though he did not use the name "Lemuria."

The theory of Lemuria was no longer considered valid after scientists accepted the ideas of plate tectonics and continental drift. According to these theories, Madagascar and India were once part of the same landmass, which explains similarities in their geology. However, millions of years ago, India broke away from this landmass and moved to its current position. The original landmass, which included Mauritia and Gondwana before that, eventually split apart but did not sink beneath the ocean.

Theosophy and occultism

The idea of Lemuria was included in the beliefs of Theosophy and has remained a topic in unscientific studies and discussions about lost lands. Many books and writings exist about Lemuria and related ideas, such as the Lemurian Fellowship. These works share the belief that a continent once existed in the Pacific or Indian Oceans and was later covered by water due to a major geological event. A key part of Lemuria's mythology is that it was where advanced knowledge systems first developed, which influenced later beliefs.

James Churchward created detailed descriptions of Lemuria, calling it Mu and placing it in the Pacific Ocean. He borrowed the name "Mu" from Augustus Le Plongeon, who had used "Land of Mu" to refer to the legendary lost continent of Atlantis. Churchward wrote several books about Mu, including The Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Men (1926), The Children of Mu (1931), and others. 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 part of Lemuria and that Aboriginal Australians and Aboriginal Tasmanians (which she saw as separate groups) had origins linked to Lemuria and Atlantis, after mixing with animals. This idea later appeared in unscientific histories and fiction from the 1890s and early 1900s, including works by poet Bernard O'Dowd and authors like Rosa Campbell Praed and John David Hennessey.

Robert Dixon suggested that beliefs about "lost races" like the Lemurians and Atlanteans reflected fears among colonial Australians about losing their identity. A. L. McCann said Praed used the Lemuria idea to help white settlers create a history without facing the reality of Indigenous people being harmed.

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 California. He described this hidden city, called Telos: City of Light, as having luxurious features like fur-lined floors and jeweled walls. Oliver also said Lemurians wore white robes and walked on the surface. In 1931, Harvey Spencer Lewis, who used the name Wishar Spenle Cerve, wrote Lemuria: the Lost Continent of the Pacific, which promoted the idea that Mount Shasta was a place where Lemurians lived.

In the 1930s, Guy Warren Ballard claimed Saint Germain gave him knowledge and wisdom. Ballard wrote Unveiled Mysteries under the name Godfré Ray King, saying he was the voice of Saint Germain. Belief in Telos has been spread by Ballard, his followers, and 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 in Mount Shasta. The Rainbow Family holds a Rainbow Gathering every August to honor the journey. These religions combine spiritual practices from Native, Christian, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions, blending their beliefs and avoiding parts they consider negative. For example, the Saint Germain Foundation does not teach about Jesus' crucifixion.

Kumari Kandam

Some Tamil writers, such as Devaneya Pavanar, have connected Lemuria to Kumari Kandam, a legendary land that sank into the ocean and is described in Tamil literature as the place where civilization began. A Tamil commentator named Adiyarkunallar described the area that stretched between the Pahrali River and the Kumari River in the Pandyan region, which was later covered by the ocean.