Terra Australis (Latin, "land of the south") was a theorized continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century. The theorized continent was also called Terra Australis Incognita (with incognita stressed on the second syllable). Terra incognita, Latin for "unknown land", was also used in reference to "the unknown land of the South".
The notion of Terra Australis was introduced by Aristotle. His ideas were later expanded by Ptolemy (1st century AD), who believed that the Indian Ocean was enclosed on the south by land, and that the lands of the Northern Hemisphere should be balanced by land in the south. During the Renaissance, Ptolemy was the main source of information for European cartographers as new land started to appear on their maps. Although voyages of discovery did sometimes reduce the area where the continent could be found, cartographers held to Aristotle's opinion.
Scientists argued for its existence, with such arguments as that there should be a large landmass in the south as a counterweight to the known landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere. Usually the land was shown as a continent around the South Pole, but much larger than the actual Antarctica, spreading far north – in particular in the Pacific Ocean. New Zealand, first seen by a European (Abel Tasman) in 1642, was regarded by some as a part of the continent, as were Africa and Australia.
Terra Australis was depicted on the mid-16th-century Dieppe maps. There was much interest in Brazil and Terra Australis among Norman and Breton merchants at that time, and the colony of France Antarctique was established in Brazil in 1555. In 1566 and 1570, Francisque and André d'Albaigne presented Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, with projects for establishing relations with the Austral lands. Although The Admiral gave favourable consideration to these initiatives, they came to nought when Coligny was killed in 1572 during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.[1]
Juan Fernandez, sailing from Chile in 1576, claimed he had discovered the Southern Continent.[2] In the 1760s, Alexander Dalrymple accepted this claim and prompted the British government in 1769 to order James Cook in HM Bark Endeavour to seek out the Southern Continent to the South and West of Tahiti.[3]
Isaac and Jacob Le Maire established the Australische Compagnie (Australian Company) in 1615 to trade with Terra Australis, which they referred to as "Australia".