Chapter 3 Chapter 2 Anticipating the Antarctic Continent

From the end of 1959 to the beginning of 1960, Professor Hapgood used the Christmas vacation to check materials on Antarctica in the Reference Room of the Library of Congress in Washington.For several weeks, he forgot to eat or sleep, buried himself in piles of medieval maps, and started searching: I found many interesting things that I never dreamed I would find; I also found some maps depicting the southern continent.One day I opened an atlas and turned a page, my eyes lit up suddenly, and I was stunned.It was a map of the world drawn by Oronteus Finaeus in 1531.I looked at the southern hemisphere below this map and thought: I have finally found a truly reliable map of Antarctica.

The overall shape and outline of Antarctica on the map are very similar to the continent presented by modern maps.The location of the South Pole is near the center of the continent, not far from what modern maps show.The mountains that surround the coast are reminiscent of the many that have been discovered in Antarctica in recent years.Obviously, this map was not fabricated by someone out of thin air.The mountains on the map come in all shapes and sizes, each with their own unique contours, some near the coast and some inland.Rivers originate from these mountains and wind their way to the sea; each follows a drainage pattern that looks very natural and believable.This suggests that when Antarctica was first mapped, the continent's coasts were not covered in ice.However, the interior of Antarctica shown on the map is completely devoid of rivers and mountains, which means that the interior area is completely covered by ice and snow①.

After examining the map, Professor Hapgood and Dr. Richard Strachan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology came to the following conclusions: ① Fenaeus' map was based on several earlier original maps, which were drawn according to several different projection methods. ②It does show the conditions of Antarctica's coastal areas before being covered by ice and snow, especially Mudd Land, Enderby Land, Wilkes Land, and Victoria on the east coast of the Ross Sea. Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. ③As shown in the map of Piri Reis, the general shape and geographical features of Antarctica presented by Feinaus map are similar to those drawn by modern scientists after seismic surveys of the Antarctic ground "under the ice layer" The map is quite consistent with ②.

According to Professor Hapgood, the Fenaeus map clearly confirms "a lurid notion that Antarctica was visited and even settled by humans before it was completely covered in snow and ice. If so, this must have happened a long, long time ago... ...the map of Fenaeus shows that those who first mapped Antarctica lived in extremely remote times, at the end of the last ice age in the northern hemisphere."③ Ross Sea Mystery The Ross Sea in Antarctica, as depicted on Fenaeus' map, is further evidence in support of this view.Antarctica's great glaciers, such as the Beardmore and Scott, have ice-covered estuaries today, but this map from 1531 shows the area dotted with bays and rivers.These topographical features are sufficient evidence that the Ross Sea and its shores were not yet ice-covered when the original map used by Fenaeus was made. "In order to provide the necessary water for these rivers, there must be a vast hinterland behind the coast that is not frozen. Today, these coasts and hinterlands are all buried under a mile-thick layer of ice, and the Ross Sea itself, floating all year round. feet of ice."④

The changes in the Ross Sea fully show that the Antarctic continent was explored and mapped by a mysterious civilization before the long ice-free period ended in 4000 BC.Another piece of evidence for this argument is the sediment scooped up from the floor of the Ross Sea by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1949 using hollow cylinders.These sediments are divided into many layers, which are very clearly separated, reflecting different environmental conditions in different periods, such as "coarse ice sea layer", "medium ice sea layer", "fine ice sea layer" and so on.The most surprising discovery: "Several layers are composed of fine and delicate sediments that appear to have entered the sea via rivers from temperate (ice-free) regions."⑤

If researchers at the Carnegie Institute in Washington, using the "elinium dating method" invented by Dr. W.D. Urry, examine three different radioactive elements found in seawater , it turned out that rivers carrying fine and delicate sediments to the sea did exist on the Antarctic continent about 6,000 years ago, as shown on Fenaeus' map.It wasn't until after 4000 BC that "glacial sediments began to accumulate on the floor of the Ross Sea...the underlying core sediments show that Antarctica enjoyed a long period of warm weather before 4000 BC "⑥ The Quest of McCarter and Bryache

The maps of Piri Reis and Fenaus give us a glimpse of Antarctica that no cartographer in history has ever seen.Of course, two maps alone are not enough to convince us that a vanished civilization once left traces on the Antarctic continent.But can we take three, four, or six similar maps before our eyes? Can we, for instance, turn a blind eye and continue to disregard the ambiguities in some of the maps drawn by the most famous cartographer of the sixteenth century, Gerard Kremer, also known as Mercator? The historical significance contained in it?He invented the "Mercator Projection" (Mercator Proiection, translation note: this is a map drawing method in which lines of longitude and latitude are represented by straight lines), which is still used on most world maps today.This enigmatic figure (he made a surprise visit to the Great Pyramid of Egypt in 1569, and his whereabouts are very mysterious) is said to have "spent all his life in the search for...the knowledge of the ancients" and spent many years collecting ancient maps and building himself a huge , all-encompassing reference library.

It is worth noting that in 1569, McCarter compiled the atlas and included Fenaeus' map.In the same year, he also depicted the continent of Antarctica in a map he made himself.The Antarctic regions represented by these maps (still undiscovered by Europeans at the time) can be identified as: Cape Dart and Cape Herlacher in Malibird Land, Amundsen Sea (Amundsen Sea) ), Thurston Island in Ellsworth Land, Fletcher Islands in the Bellinghausen Sea, Alexander I Island, Antarctic Peninsula ( Antarctic Peninsula, Wedded Sea, Cape Norveqia, Regula Range Islands in Mudd Backlands, MuhligHoffmanMountalns Islands, Prince Harald Coast, population of Shirase Glacier on Prince Harald Coast, Padda Island in Iutzow-Holm Bay and Sierra Leone Prince Olaf Coast in Derby.Professor Hapgood pointed out: "Some of these geographical features are clearer than those depicted on Feinaus' map. Obviously, some of the original maps in McCarter's hands were never used by Feinaus."⑦ Not only McCarter is worth mentioning.

Philippe Buache, a French geographer in the 18th century, had already drawn a map of Antarctica long before the Antarctic continent was officially "discovered".Most unusually, the map shows that it appears to be based on maps that are much older—perhaps thousands of years earlier than those used by Feynaeus and McCarter.The Boujascher map shows what Antarctica really looked like before it was covered by ice.It revealed the terrain of the entire Antarctic continent that is now frozen, and this terrain was not known until scientists conducted a comprehensive geological survey of Antarctica in the "International Geophysical Year" in 1958.

This investigation confirmed what Bracher had said when he published his map of Antarctica in 1737.Based on ancient maps (now lost), the French scholar drew an obvious waterway, dividing Antarctica into two continents, east and west, and the dividing line in the middle is today's "Trans-Antarctica Longitudinal Range" (Trans- Antarctic Mountains). If Antarctica were not covered by ice, the waterway connecting the Ross Sea, Weidell Sea and Beringhausen Sea would indeed exist.As the survey of the "International Geophysical Year" in 1958 showed, the Antarctic continent (on modern maps, it is a continuous landmass) is composed of a huge archipelago, and these islands standing in the sea are separated from each other. A mile-thick block of ice separates them.

Antarctic secrets that have been quietly explored As mentioned above, many orthodox geologists believe that the last time any waterways developed in the frozen Antarctic Basin was millions of years ago.From an orthodox academic point of view, in such an ancient era, human beings have not yet evolved, let alone the ability to map the Antarctic continent.However, Boujascher's maps and IGY surveys show that the continent was indeed mapped before it became frozen.As a result, scholars have to face two contradictory viewpoints and are at a loss. Which point of view is correct? If we agree with orthodox geologists that the last time Antarctica was ice-free was millions of years ago, then we have to overturn the evidence of human evolution gathered by scientists since Darwin.This may not be the case, as the fossil record clearly shows that, millions of years ago, our ancestors did not "evolve"; they were just a bunch of low-browed, clumsy "apes" incapable of advanced intelligence , such as drawing a map. Could it be that a group of aliens really appeared at that time, orbiting the earth in a spaceship, surveying Antarctica that has not been covered by ice, and drawing advanced and sophisticated maps? Or, should we reconsider Hapgood's "crustal displacement" theory and admit that the Antarctic continent was indeed ice-free 15,000 years ago, as depicted in Brasher's map? Is it possible that a human civilization highly developed enough to map the Antarctic continent appeared on the earth around 13,000 BC and then disappeared suddenly?If this is possible, when did this civilization disappear? Looking at the maps of Perry Reis, Fenaus, McCarter, and Boujacher, we have to admit that Antarctica may have been surveyed and mapped repeatedly over a period of several millennia, during which time the ice Gradually spread outward from the interior of Antarctica, until around 4000 BC, it swallowed all the coasts of the Antarctic continent.The original map on which Perry Reis and McCarter are based was most likely drawn towards the end of this period, when the ice was approaching the Antarctic coast; the original map of Fenaeus is obviously much older, when the ice Exists only in the Antarctic interior; the original map used by Boujasche is even older (probably dated to around 13,000 BC), when the entire Antarctic continent was still not covered by ice. South America's Future Mountains Were other areas of the planet explored and accurately mapped during the period from 13,000 BC to 4,000 BC?On the map of Piri Reis, we may be able to find the answer.The mystery contained in this map is not just Antarctica: ●The map of Perry Reis, painted in 1513, shows the topography of South America quite completely, which is amazing.It not only depicts the east coast of South America, but also outlines the Andes Mountains in the west, which Europeans did not even know existed at the time.The Piri Reis map correctly shows that the Amazon River rises from this mountain range that has not yet been explored by Europeans and flows eastward into the sea. ●The Peri Reis map drawn on the basis of more than 20 original documents of different ages depicts the Amazon River twice (the most likely reason is that Peri Reis neglected to use two different original documents).In the first depiction, Piriques drew the course of the Amazon River all the way to the mouth of the Para River, but the important island of Marajo did not appear.From Professor Hapgood's point of view, this shows that the original document on which Peary Reis was based may be 15,000 years old, when the Pala River was the main or only estuary to the Amazon, and the Marajo Island It is part of the land on the north bank of the Amazon River.The second time the Amazon was depicted, Marajo appeared on the map and was drawn with considerable detail, although the island was not discovered by Europeans until 1543.This makes us have to suspect that a mysterious civilization once appeared on the earth. Over the long period of thousands of years, it has continued to explore and map the changing face of the earth. The blueprint maps of different ages used by Piri Reis, It is the documents left by this civilization. ●The Orinoco River and its delta, located in today's Venezuela, do not appear on the Piri Reis map.However, Professor Hapgood pointed out that the map shows: "The two estuaries extend inland (to a depth of about 200 miles) in the vicinity of today's Orinoco River. The longitude on the map is the same as today's The orientation of the Orinoco River is consistent, and the latitude is almost correct. Does this mean that after the original map used by Perry Reis was drawn, the two estuaries were silted up and the delta was expanding?"⑧ ●The Falkland Islands were not discovered by Europeans until 1592, but they appear on the 1513 map with the correct latitude. ●Pirie Reis may have used ancient atlases to describe a large island in the Atlantic Ocean to the east of South America that no longer exists today.This "imaginary" island just sits on a submarine ridge in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean north of the equator, 700 miles from the east coast of Brazil, and today there are two reefs named St. Peter and St. Paul (RoCks ofSts Peter and Paul) protruding from the on the water.Is this just pure coincidence?Is it possible that this original map was drawn during the last Ice Age?Sea levels were much lower then than they are now, enough for a large island to appear at the site. The outstanding cartographer of 10,000 years ago Other 16th-century maps also seem likely to have been based on global geographic surveys during the last Ice Age.One, painted in 1559, is the work of the Turkish cartographer Hadji Ahmed.According to Professor Hapgood's inference, Ahmad must have had a "very unusual" original map⑨. The most striking and astonishing feature of Ahmad's map is that it shows with considerable clarity the existence of a strip of land some 1,000 miles wide between Alaska and Siberia.This piece of land is what geologists call a "land bridge".It did exist before (where the Bering Strait is today), but rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age buried it beneath the waves. Around 10,000 BC, ice sheets retreated rapidly across the northern hemisphere, causing sea levels to rise.Interestingly, at least one ancient map shows that southern Sweden is covered with remnant icebergs, which must have been common at this latitude.These remnant icebergs appeared on Claudius Ptolemy's famous "Map of the North".Painted in the 2nd century AD by the last great geographer of antiquity, this map was lost for hundreds of years until it was discovered in the 15th century. The Alexandria Library in Egypt, where Ptolemy was the curator, has a large collection of ancient books and manuscripts⑩.Thus, he was able to refer to ancient original documents to draw his map of the north.It is probable that at least one of the blueprint maps he used was drawn around 10,000 BC, since his northern maps not only show the icebergs that were common at the time, but also depict "lakes . . . having the shape of today's lakes, and streams very similar to glaciers . . . flowing from icebergs into lakes"⑾. As we all know, at the time when Ptolemy was mapping the north—the era of the Roman Empire in history—westerners had no idea that there had been an "ice age" in northern Europe. In the 15th century, when the Ptolemaic map was discovered, no one knew this historical fact.It is hard to imagine that the remnants of icebergs and other geographical features on Ptolemaic maps were ever explored and mapped by any civilization before European civilization. The implications of the Ptolemaic map are obvious.Equally significant is the "Portolano" (Portolano), drawn in 1487 by Yehudi Ibn Ben Zara.The blueprint on which this map of Europe and North Africa is based may be older than Ptolemy's, since it shows icebergs farther south than Sweden (about the same latitude as England), while its depictions of the Mediterranean, Adriatic The Asian Sea and the Aegean Sea are obviously what Europe looked like before the ice melted.Of course, sea levels were much lower back then than they are today.We find that the Aegean Sea on this map has many more islands than today.At first glance, this phenomenon is quite puzzling, but when we think about it, it is not difficult to find out why: the original map used by Banzala was drawn 10,000 or 12,000 years ago; At the end of the era, many islands in the Aegean Sea were submerged by the rising waters and disappeared without a trace. Once again, we seem to be seeing the "fingerprints" left by a vanished civilization—a mysterious civilization that once produced a group of outstanding cartographers who carried out precise and detailed exploration and mapping of many regions of the world. What kind of technology and what kind of culture should be possessed to engage in such a job?