Terra incognita

Terra incognita (Latin for unknown country ) is a historical term for land masses or areas which at the time were not yet mapped or described.

The name was also found on ancient lake or maps of those regions that were still unexplored or only partially suspected country. On many cards such areas were decorated with dragons or other mythical creatures.

The most significant area of ​​Terra incognita was the Terra Australis ( incognita ), a large land mass in the southern hemisphere, the one postulated in ancient and medieval times as a counterweight to the northern continents. The 1600 discovered by sailors continent Australia got its name from hence. Other parts were found to be non-existent or as pack ice and coastal areas of Antarctica.

Clements Markham designated 1883 as the unknown territory of the blank maps, which is assigned by Sven Hedin with white spots into German.

With the increasing exploration and mapping of the earth, the term lost its topicality and is mainly used only in a historical sense and the transferor. This ignores, however, that large parts of the Earth are almost unexplored even today.

In a figurative sense it means not yet explored or researched areas of knowledge of their existence, although it has knowledge or is suspected but not yet possible to define the content today. In German it is called ( scientific ) territory.

Further Reading

  • F. A. Brockhaus: The New Brockhaus (6- bändig ), Volume 5, Wiesbaden 1959/1960
  • Karl Weule: The study of the earth's surface, Part II, pp. 460 (Chapter III B / 3 " the unknown southern land "). Fourth volume in the series ' universe and humanity " " ( ed. Hans Kraemer ), publishing house > Bongs & Co., Berlin -Leipzig- Wien ~ 1902
  • Jules Verne: The Great Navigators and explorers. A History of the Discovery of the Earth in the 18th and 19th centuries. ( Part One, Chapter II, " In Search of the southern continent ," p.44 -73). ISBN 3257009356, 502 pp., zahlr. Ill., Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 1974.
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