Lost lands are the land mass that supposedly existed during prehistory but have now having disappeared as a result of catastrophic geological phenomena or slowly rising sea levels since the end of the last Ice Age. In some cases, these land masses leave behind few traces, whereas some of them are purely legends.
The classification of lost lands can be further divided into lost continents, lost islands, or other lost regions. For example, Atlantis can be described as either a “lost island” or a “lost continent”.
Lost Lands
These are the submerged land now lost to the ocean.
The Sahul and Sunda Shelf – These land masses once existed during the ice ages but they are submerged now.
Sundaland – the now submerged Sunda Shelf.
Zealandia – a continent that is now 93% submerged under the Pacific Ocean.
Kerguelen Plateau – a submerged micro-continent which is now ~2 km below sea level.
Beringia – a submerged land mass connecting Asia and North America.
Doggerland – is the bed of the North Sea, now submerged due to rising sea level.
The bed of the Persian Gulf – claimed by some to contain Dilmun or the Garden of Eden.
Maltese Islands – a large island in the Mediterranean Sea, of which only the Maltese Islands are now visible.
Maui Nui – this was once a large island of the Hawaii archipelago; several major islands represent residual high ground of Maui Nui.
New Moore Island – an island in the Bay of Bengal submerged in 2010 by rising sea levels.
Verdronken Land van Reimerswaal – most of this region in The Netherlands vanished in a storm in 1532; the town of Reimerswaal survived as an island into the 17th century; the last bits of land vanished in the early 19th century.
Strand – an island off the German coast with the town Rungholt, eroded away by storm surges before being washed away by a final flood in 1634.
Jordsand – once an island off the Danish coast, eroded away by storm surges before being washed away by a final flood between 1998 and 1999.
Ferdinandea – submerged volcanic island which has appeared at least four times in the past.
Sarah Ann Island – now submerged guano island, located just north of the equator. Vanished between 1917 and 1932.
Ravenser Odd – a large 13th-century town on the old sandbank promontory in East Yorkshire, which became an island and then vanished in January 1392.
Dunwich – the traditional capital of the Kingdom of the East Angles that was lost to the sea in a storm surge hit the coastline in 1286.