<h5>What is Zealandia?</h5><p>After 375 years of talk and exploration, scientists have proven the presence of a "missing" continent. Zealandia is the name of this continent. It is also known as Te Riu-a-Mui in the Māori language. This 1.89 million square mile continent was formerly part of an ancient supercontinent known as Gondwana.</p><p>Gondwana also contained Western Antarctica and Eastern Australia around 500 million years ago. But, some 105 million years ago, Zealandia began to pull apart from Gondwana. Geologists are trying to find the reason for this. It steadily fell beneath the ocean, with over 94% of the continent lying underwater for thousands of years.</p><p>It has been called a submerged continent, a continental fragment, and a microcontinent. A microcontinent is a landmass that has separated from a larger continent (just like how Zealandia broke free from Gondwana). Even though scientists recently proved it as a missing continent, Zealandia’s existence was recorded years ago.</p><h5>When was its existence first recorded?</h5><p>In 1642, Abel Tasman first recorded Zealandia. He was a Dutch businessman and sailor on a journey to find the "great Southern Continent", or Terra Australis (a hypothetical name given to southern continents before Antarctica and Australia were discovered).</p><p>Tasman was unable to locate this new land. But, he did meet the local Māori when he landed on New Zealand's Southern Island.</p><p>Despite their hostility, the Māori gave useful information about the surrounding area. From them, Tasman came to know about the existence of a vast landmass to the east. But the Europeans assumed it was not the land they sought.</p><p>So, the existence of Zealandia would not be acknowledged by scientists until almost 400 years later.</p><h5>How did geologists confirm its existence?</h5><figure class="image"><img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/long-lost-continent-of-zealandia-discovered%2Fmap-showing-zealandia-submerged-underwater.jpeg?alt=media&amp;token=f68ebf5c-167c-4de8-8f2b-39d26a9f6426"><figcaption><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Map showing Zealandia submerged underwater. Photo by GNS Science.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2017, a group of geologists reported the discovery of Zealandia. The world's encyclopaedias, maps, and search engines reported no existence of Zealandia. But, the team said, the continent does exist. Most of it is underwater, with only a few islands protruding from its depths, such as New Zealand.</p><p>Geologists discovered Zealandia by surveying the seafloor. They investigated the geology of the continent's land masses and researched the area's history. Geologists also used satellite data. It had been hiding in plain sight the entire time.</p><p>Even though its existence was confirmed in 2017, little is known about this continent. Geologists have found Zealandia a challenging subject to research. No one knows what lived there years ago. There are even debates about whether dinosaurs lived there or not.</p><h5>What did we learn from this article?</h5><p>We learned that Earth is full of surprises. There are still new things to learn about our planet. It's fascinating to think that there can be more hidden land masses or geological features just waiting to be discovered.</p>

Submerged underwater long ago, scientists have proved Zealandia’s existence.

Long-Lost Continent of Zealandia Discovered

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Long-Lost Continent of Zealandia Discovered

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