As far back as the 2nd century AD, it was theorized by folks living in Europe that some large landmass must exist

at the southernmost part of the globe. This theory wasn't based on any real science. It was more of

an aesthetic preference. There must be land down south because there was land up north. The planet

would be unbalanced otherwise. And as a result of this equilibrium-based ideology, Terra Australis,

a theoretical continent at the very bottom of the planet, began to show up in maps. The Roman writer, Macrobius Ambrosius, Theodosius, produced maps in the 5th century AD,

which featured a massive landmass, wreathing the bottom of the earth.

On these maps, he called this undiscovered landmass,

Australis, based on the aforementioned Terra Australis.

Over the course of three voyages between 1791 and 1810,

the British captain, Matthew Flinders,

circumnavigated a couple of southern landmasses which were unknown to the Europeans at the time.

He confirmed that a previously discovered landmass called Van Demons Land, which today is called Tasmania, was in fact an island, and he confirmed that what we today call Australia was, in fact, a separate continent. This continent,

it should be noted, was already inhabited by humans who had been there for an estimated

65 to 70,000 years. Presumably they migrated there by crossing land bridges and making

short sea crossings, back when the continents were still

closer together, but the continent had also been visited and partially mapped by Europeans

before this particular exploratory voyage. And a great deal of that earlier exploration was

done by the Dutch, who gave it the name New Holland, which was a name that stuck until its later

redesignation as a continent. But it wasn't designated as separate and continental in an official

way, until Governor Lacklin Macquarie received charts and writings from Captain Flinders,

in which the captain recommended

the change in name alongside his exploratory notes. Flinders felt certain that there was no way

...