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{{Short description|Mythical lost continent}}
{{Infobox fictional ___location
|name = Mu
|image = Book map1.jpg
|imagesize = 250px
|caption = Map of Mu by [[James Churchward]]
|source = ''Lost Continent of Mu Motherland of Men''
|creator = [[Augustus Le Plongeon]]
|genre = [[Pseudoscience]]
|type = Hypothetical [[list of lost lands|lost continent]]
|located_in = [[Pacific Ocean]]
}}
'''Mu''' is a [[list of lost lands|lost continent]] introduced by [[Augustus Le Plongeon]] (1825–1908), who identified the "Land of Mu" with [[Atlantis]]. The name was subsequently identified with the hypothetical land of [[Lemuria]] by [[James Churchward]] (1851–1936), who asserted that it was located in the Pacific Ocean before its destruction.<ref name="chlost26"/> The place of Mu in both pseudoscience and fantasy fiction is discussed in detail in ''[[Lost Continents]]'' (1954, 1970) by [[L. Sprague de Camp]].
Geologists state that the existence of Mu and the lost continent of Atlantis has no factual basis, and is physically impossible, as a continent can neither sink nor be destroyed in the short period of time asserted in the legends, folklore and literature about these places.<ref>{{cite book |last= Haugton|first=Brian | title = Hidden History| publisher = New Page Books| year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-56414-897-1| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fSbRZunGbF4C&pg=PA59}} Page 60.</ref><ref name="camp">{{cite book| author = De Camp, Lyon Sprague | title = Lost Continents: Atlantis Theme in History, Science and Literature| publisher = Dover Publications| orig-year = 1954| year = 1971| isbn = 978-0-486-22668-2| url = https://archive.org/details/lostcontinentsat0000deca| url-access = registration | page = [https://archive.org/details/lostcontinentsat0000deca/page/153 153] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Brennan|first=Louis A.| title=No Stone Unturned: An Almanac of North American Pre-history|url= https://archive.org/details/nostoneunturneda00bren|url-access= registration| publisher = Random House| year = 1959}} Page 228.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Witzel|first= Michael | title = Archaeological Fantasies| editor = Garrett G. Fagan Routledge | year = 2006|isbn = 978-0-415-30593-8| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oB7pBZ3s6dIC&pg=PA220 | publisher = Routledge | ___location =London}} Page 220.</ref>
==History of the concept==
===Augustus Le Plongeon===
The mythical idea of the "Land of Mu" first appeared in the works of the
Le Plongeon got the name "Mu" from [[Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg]], who, in 1864, mistranslated what was then called the [[Troano Codex]] (now called "Madrid Codex") using the [[de Landa alphabet]]. Brasseur believed that a word which he read as ''Mu'' referred to a land that had been submerged by a catastrophe.<ref>John Sladek, ''The New Apocrypha'' (New York: Stein and day, 1974) 65–66.</ref> Le Plongeon identified this lost land with [[Atlantis]] and, following [[Ignatius Donnelly]] in ''Atlantis: The Antediluvian World'' (1882), identified it as a continent that had once existed in the [[Atlantic Ocean]]:
{{blockquote|In our journey westward across the Atlantic we shall pass in sight of that spot where once existed the pride and life of the ocean, the Land of Mu, which, at the epoch that we have been considering, had not yet been visited by the wrath of Human, that lord of volcanic fires to whose fury it afterward fell a victim. The description of that land given to [[Solon]] by [[Sonchis of Sais|Sonchis]], priest at [[Sais]]; its destruction by [[earthquake]]s, and submergence, recorded by [[Plato]] in his ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', have been told and retold so many times that it is useless to encumber these pages with a repetition of it.<ref name="qmoo"/>{{rp|ch. VI, p. 66}}}}
Le Plongeon claimed that the civilization of ancient Egypt, which is found in Alkebulan/Africa, was founded by Queen Moo, a refugee from the land's demise. Other refugees supposedly fled to [[North America]], [[Central America]], and [[South America]] and became the Maya.<ref name="camp"/>
=== James Churchward ===
[[File:Golden-age-mu-map.jpg|thumb|Map of the mythical lost continent of Mu in 'Books of the Golden Age' by James Churchward published in 1927.]]
[[File:Lemuria mumap2.jpg|thumb|Churchward's map showing how he thought Mu refugees spread out after the cataclysm through South America, along the shores of Atlantis, and into Africa.]]
Mu, as an alternative name for a lost Pacific Ocean continent previously identified as the hypothetical [[Lemuria (continent)|Lemuria]] (the supposed place of origin for [[lemur]]s), was later popularised by [[James Churchward]] (1851–1936) in a series of books, beginning with ''Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man'' (1926),<ref name="chlost26">{{cite book | title = Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man |first= James|last=Churchward | year = 1926 | isbn = 0-7661-4680-4 | publisher = Kessinger Publishing | ___location = United States}}
https://archive.org/details/the-lost-continent-of-mu</ref> re-edited later as ''The Lost Continent Mu'' (1931).<ref name="chlost31">{{cite book |first= James|last=Churchward | title = The Lost Continent of Mu | publisher = Ives Washburn | ___location = New York | year = 1931}} Re-published by Adventures Unlimited Press (2007)</ref> Other popular books in the series are ''The Children of Mu'' (1931) and ''The Sacred Symbols of Mu'' (1933).
Churchward claimed that "more than fifty years ago", while he was a soldier in [[India]], he befriended a high-ranking temple priest who showed him a set of ancient "sunburnt" clay tablets, supposedly in a long-lost "Naga-Maya language" which only two other people in India could read. Churchward convinced the priest to teach him the dead language and decipher the tablets by promising to restore and store the tablets, for Churchward was an expert in preserving ancient artifacts. The tablets were written in either Burma or in the lost continent of Mu itself, according to the high priest.<ref name="auto">Churchward, James (1926). Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man. United States: Kessinger Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7661-4680-4}}.</ref> Having mastered the language himself, Churchward found out that they originated from "the place where [man] first appeared—Mu". The 1931 edition states that "all matter of science in this work are based on translations of two sets of ancient tablets": the clay tablets he read in India, and a collection of 2,500 stone tablets that had been uncovered by [[William Niven]] in [[Mexico]].<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|7}}
The tablets begin with the creation of Earth, Mu, and the superior human civilization Naacal by the seven commands of the seven superlative intellects of the seven-headed serpent Narayana. This creation story dismisses the [[Evolution|theory of evolution]].<ref name="auto"/> Churchward gave a vivid description of Mu as the home of an advanced civilization, the [[Naacal]], which flourished between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago, was dominated by a “Melanated/Black race",<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|48}} and was "superior in many respects to our own".<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|17}} At the time of its demise, about 12,000 years ago, Mu had 64 million inhabitants and seven major cities, and colonies on the other continents. The 64 million inhabitants were separated as ten tribes that followed one government and one religion.
Churchward claimed that the landmass of Mu was located in the Pacific Ocean, and stretched east–west from the [[Marianas Islands|Marianas]] to [[Easter Island]], and north–south from [[Hawaii]] to [[Mangaia]]. According to Churchward the continent was supposedly 5,000 miles from east to west and over 3,000 miles from north to south, which is larger than South America. The continent was believed to be flat with massive plains, vast rivers, rolling hills, large bays, and estuaries.<ref>Churchward, James (1926). Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man. United States: Kessinger Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7661-4680-4}}</ref> He claimed that according to the [[creation myth]] he read in the Indian tablets, Mu had been lifted above sea level by the expansion of underground volcanic gases. Eventually Mu "was completely obliterated in almost a single night":<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|44}} after a series of earthquakes and [[volcanic eruption]]s, "the broken land fell into that great abyss of fire" and was covered by "fifty millions of square miles of water."<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|50}} Churchward claimed the reasoning for the continent's destruction in one night was because the main mineral on the island was granite and was honeycombed to create huge shallow chambers and cavities filled with highly explosive gases. Once the chambers were empty after the explosion, they collapsed on themselves, causing the island to crumble and sink.<ref>Churchward, James (1926). Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man. United States: Kessinger Publishing.{{ISBN|0-7661-4680-4}}</ref>
Churchward claimed that Mu was the common origin of the great civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Central America, India, Burma and others, including [[Easter Island]], and was in particular the source of ancient [[megalithic]] architecture. As evidence for his claims, he pointed to symbols from throughout the world, in which he saw common themes of birds, the relation of the Earth and the sky, and especially the [[Sun]]. Churchward claimed that the king of Mu was named Ra and he related this to the Egyptian god of the sun, [[Ra]], and the [[Rapa Nui language|Rapa Nui]] word for Sun, ''ra’a''.<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|48}} He claimed to have found symbols of the Sun in "Egypt, [[Babylonia]], [[Peru]] and all ancient lands and countries – it was a universal symbol."<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|138}}
As additional evidence for his claims, Churchward looked to the Holy Bible and found through his own translations that [[Moses]] was trained by the Naacal brotherhood in Egypt.
Churchward makes references to the [[Ramayana]] epic, a [[religious text]] of [[Hinduism|Hindu]] attributed to sage and historian [[Valmiki]]. Valmiki mentions the Naacals as “coming to Burma from the land of their birth in the East,” that is, in the direction of the Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unariunwisdom.com/the-lost-continent-of-mu/|title=The Lost Continent Of Mu | Unariun Wisdom|date=5 March 2016 }}</ref>
Churchward attributed all megalithic art in [[Polynesia]] to the people of Mu. He claimed that symbols of the sun are found "depicted on stones of Polynesian ruins", such as the stone hats (''[[pukao]]'') on top of the giant ''[[moai]]'' statues of Easter Island. Citing [[W. J. Johnson]], Churchward describes the cylindrical hats as "spheres" that "seem to show red in the distance", and asserts that they “represent the Sun as Ra.”<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|138}} He also incorrectly claimed that some of them are made of "red sandstone",<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|89}} which does not exist on the island. The platforms on which the statues rest (''ahu'') are described by Churchward as being "platform-like accumulations of cut and dressed stone", which were supposedly left in their current positions "awaiting shipment to some other part of the continent for the building of temples and palaces".<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|89}} He also cites the pillars "erected by the [[Māori people|Māori]] of [[New Zealand]]" as an example of this lost civilization's handiwork.<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|158}} In Churchward's view, the present-day Polynesians are not descendants of the dominant members of the lost civilization of Mu, responsible for these great works, but are instead descendants of survivors of the cataclysm that adopted "the first [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] and savagery" in the world.<ref name="chlost31"/>{{rp|54}}
===John Newbrough===
In the 1882 book ''[[Oahspe]]: A New Bible'', John Newbrough included a map of the Earth in [[antediluvian]] times (i.e. prior to the great flood of biblical record) where an unknown continent is located in the Northern Pacific. Newbrough called this continent Pan. People often link both Pan and Mu as the same mythological continent since both are claimed to be located in the Pacific. Newbrough continues to claim that the unknown continent disappeared 24,000 years ago, but will soon rise from the Pacific and will be inhabited by the Kosmon race.<ref>Camp De Sprague L. (1970). Lost Continents, The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature p. 70–71. Dover Publications, Inc: New York</ref>
===Louis Jacolliot===
[[Louis Jacolliot]] was a French [[Lawyer|attorney]], [[judge]], and [[occultist]] who specialized in the translation of [[Sanskrit]]. He wrote about the land of the Rutas, a lost land that ancient sources claimed was in the Indian Ocean but which he placed in the Pacific Ocean and associated with Atlantis stories in ''Histoire des Vierges. Les Peuples et les continents disparus'' (1874). He amplified upon this in ''Occult Science in India'' (1875, English translation 1884). He has been identified as a contributor to [[Rosicrucianism]].<ref>Camp De Sprague L. (1970). ''Lost Continents, The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature'', p. 70. Dover Publications, Inc: New York</ref>
[[Image:Yonaguni Ruins Scuba.jpg|thumb|Underwater structures claimed to be remnants of Mu, near [[Yonaguni]], [[Japan]]]]
===Modern claims===
In the 1930s, [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]], founder of the [[Turkey|Turkish Republic]], was interested in Churchward's work and considered Mu as a possible ___location of the [[Linguistic homeland|original homeland]] of the [[Turkic peoples|Turks]].<ref>''Kayıp Kıta Mu'', presentation, Ege-Meta Yayınları, İzmir, 2000, {{ISBN|975-7089-20-6}}</ref> On the other hand, according to some views{{by whom|date= August 2025}}, Atatürk's interest in the continent of Mu did not go beyond examining the claims. Despite [[Hasan Tahsin Mayatepek|Tahsin Mayatepek]]'s proposals, he did not see the need to establish a Department of Mu Language at Ankara University's [[School of Language and History – Geography]]. The relationship between Atatürk and the continent of Mu has been exaggerated to attract interest in the books written about the continent of Mu.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sivrioğlu |first=Töre |title=Atatürk ve Arkeoloji: Osmanlı'dan Cumhuriyet'e Bir Disiplinin Evrimi |publisher=Kafka Kitap |year=2024 |isbn=9786257994958 |pages=143}}</ref>
[[Masaaki Kimura]] has suggested that certain underwater features located off the coast of [[Yonaguni|Yonaguni Island]], [[Japan]] (popularly known as the [[Yonaguni Monument]]), are ruins of Mu.<ref name="mukimura">{{cite book | title = Mu tairiku wa Ryukyu ni atta (The Continent of Mu was in Ryukyu) |first= Masaaki|last=Kimura| publisher = Tokuma Shoten| ___location = Tokyo | year = 1991 | language = ja}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first= Robert M. |last=Schoch | title = Ancient underwater pyramid structure off the coast of Yonaguni-jima|date=24 February 2023 | url = http://www.morien-institute.org/yonaguni_schoch1.html}}</ref>
==Criticism==
===Geological arguments===
Modern [[geology|geological]] knowledge rules out "lost continents" of any significant size. According to the theory of [[plate tectonics]], which has been extensively confirmed since the 1970s, the [[Earth's crust]] consists of lighter "[[sial]]" rocks ([[continental crust]] rich in [[aluminium]] [[silicates]]) that float on heavier "[[sima (geology)|sima]]" rocks ([[oceanic crust]] richer in [[magnesium]] silicates). The sial is generally absent in the ocean floor where the [[Crust (geology)|crust]] is a few kilometers thick, while the continents are huge solid blocks tens of kilometers thick. Since continents float on the sima much like [[iceberg]]s float on water, a continent cannot simply "sink" under the ocean.<!--See talk page-->
It is true that [[continental drift]] and [[seafloor spreading]] can change the shape and position of continents and occasionally break a continent into two or more pieces (as happened to [[Pangaea]]). However, these are very slow processes that occur in [[geological time scale]]s (hundreds of millions of years). Over the scale of history (tens of thousands of years), the sima under the continental crust can be considered solid, and the continents are basically anchored on it. It is almost certain that the continents and ocean floors have retained their present position and shape for the whole span of human existence.
There is also no conceivable event that could have "destroyed" a continent, since its huge mass of sial rocks would have to end up somewhere—and there is no trace of it at the bottom of the oceans. The [[Oceania|Pacific Ocean islands]] are not part of a submerged landmass but rather the tips of isolated [[volcano]]es.
[[Image:Easter Island map-en.svg|thumb|right|Map of Easter Island showing locations of the ''ahu'' and ''moai'']]
This is the case, in particular, of [[Easter Island]], which is a recent volcanic peak surrounded by deep ocean ({{nowrap|3,000 m}} deep at 30 km off the island). After visiting the island in the 1930s, [[Alfred Métraux]] observed that the ''moai'' platforms are concentrated along the current coast of the island, which implies that the island's shape has changed little since they were built. Moreover, the "Triumphal Road" that [[Pierre Loti]] had reported ran from the island to the submerged lands below, is actually a natural lava flow.<ref name="metr">{{cite book | title = Mysteries of Easter Island | first = Alfred | last = Metraux | url = http://www.davidmetraux.com/daniel/docs/alfred/alfred_metraux_mysteries_of_easter_island.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080406124306/http://www.davidmetraux.com/daniel/docs/alfred/alfred_metraux_mysteries_of_easter_island.pdf | archive-date = 2008-04-06 }}</ref> Furthermore, while Churchward was correct in his claim that the island has no sandstone or sedimentary rocks, the point is irrelevant because the ''[[pukao]]'' are all made of native volcanic [[scoria]].
===Archaeological evidence===
[[Easter Island]] was first settled around 300 CE<ref name="Danver">{{cite book|last=Danver|first=Steven L.|title=Popular controversies in world history : investigating history's intriguing questions|date=22 December 2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|___location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1-59884-077-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slVobUjdzGMC}};{{rp|222}}</ref> and the ''[[pukao]]'' on the ''[[moai]]'' are regarded as having ceremonial or traditional headdresses.<ref name=Danver/><ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Ryukyuanist| title=The Ryukyuanist|date=Autumn 2002|issue=57|url=http://www.uchinanchu.org/uchinanchu/ryukyuanist/ryukyuanist57.pdf|access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref>
==In popular culture==
'''Film'''
The Continent of Mu is the main villainous faction in the 1963 science film Atragon.
===Literature/print===
*[[H. P. Lovecraft]] (1890–1937) featured the lost continent in his revision of [[Hazel Heald]]'s [[short story]] "[[Out of the Aeons]]" ([[1935 in literature|1935]]).<ref>Lovecraft, Howard P. and Hazel Heald. "Out of the Aeons" (1935) in ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, Inc. {{ISBN|0-87054-040-8}}.</ref> Mu appears in numerous [[Cthulhu]] mythos stories, including many written by [[Lin Carter]] in his [[Xothic legend cycle]].<ref>Harms, Daniel. "Mu" in ''[[The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana]]'' (2nd ed.), pp. 200–202. Chaosium, Inc., 1998. {{ISBN|1-56882-119-0}}.</ref>
* The 1970 ''Mu Revealed'' is a humorous spoof<ref>{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |title=Religious leaders of America: a biographical guide to founders and leaders of religious bodies, churches, and spiritual groups in North America |date=1999 |publisher=Gale Research |isbn=9780810388789 |page=91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0oUAQAAIAAJ&q=++spoof |access-date=7 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref> by [[Raymond Buckland]] purporting to describe the long lost civilization of Muror, located on the legendary lost continent of Mu. The book was written under the pseudonym "Tony Earll", an anagram of "not really". The book claimed to present a translation of a diary compiled by a boy called Kland found and translated by an archaeologist named "Reedson Hurdlop", an anagram of "Rudolph Rednose".<ref name="Nield">{{cite book |last1=Nield |first1=Ted |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=If3wYQtpECkC&q=%22Mu+Revealed%22+BUckland&pg=PA57 |title=Supercontinent: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet |date=2007 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674026599 |pages=56–57 |language=en |access-date=7 January 2019}}</ref>
* ''Mû, la cité perdue'' by [[Hugo Pratt]].
===Video games===
* The [[Super Nintendo]] roleplaying game ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'' features Mu as a sunken underwater kingdom that the protagonist must explore and escape.
* The gacha and story game ''[[Honkai Impact 3rd]]'' contains a continent lost in the history of the game named Mu.
* The [[Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|MMORPG]] ''[[Mu Online]]'' takes place in the lost continent of Mu <ref>[https://muonline.webzen.com/en MU is a highly involved fantasy RPG based on the legendary Continent of MU.]</ref>
* The [[Nintendo DS]] version of the [[SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis (video game)|''SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis'' video game]] has a section where [[SpongeBob SquarePants (character)|SpongeBob]] and his friends visit Mu.
* The Nintendo DS video game ''[[Mega Man Star Force 2]]'' features Mu as a flying continent and serves as the ___location for the game's narrative climax.
* The PlayStation video game series ''[[Persona 2]]'' features Mu as a ___location. A song in the [[video game soundtrack]] is named after it.
==
{{col div|colwidth=40em}}
*[[Agartha]]
*[[Atlantis]]
*[[Doggerland]]
*[[Kumari Kandam]]
*[[Lost city]]
*[[Lost lands]]
*[[Mauritia (microcontinent)]]
*[[Zealandia]]
{{colend}}
==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-Mu_(lost_continent)-article.ogg|date=2014-01-04}}
* [http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/atlantida_mu/contmu/contmu.htm James Churchward's book, ''The Lost Continent of Mu'', on Bibliotecapleyades]
* [https://www.wnyc.org/story/179746-wnyc-and-land-mu/ WNYC and the Land of Mu]
{{Continents of Earth}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mu (Lost Continent)}}
[[Category:Easter Island]]
[[Category:Mythological places]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Theoretical continents]]
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