Mapping myths : the fantastic geography of the Great Southern Continent, 1760-1777

• Main Author: Collingridge, Vanessa Jane
• Published: University of Glasgow 2017
• Subjects: 919.89; G Geography (General)
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.726745

This research explores the (re)production and circulation of geographical knowledge about the conjectured Great Southern Continent – one of the most enduring geographical ideas in the western world despite the fact that it did not exist, other than in books, maps and the human mind. The study examines how the fantastic Continent managed to survive - and even thrive – as an imaginary in Britain despite the absence of any hard evidence. The selected timeframe 1760-1777 covers a period of considerable flux in terms of cultural, imperial and global identities, witnessing a rapid expansion in geographical knowledge, provided in part by the voyages of Captain James Cook and the unprecedented rise of the British popular press who deliver this ‘news’ to the public. Using the twin archives of The Gentleman’s Magazine and daily, tri-weekly and weekly newspapers, this study critically examines the ways in which the landscapes of the Continent were variously imagined, represented and understood by the British public over the final seventeen years of the its ‘life’, ‘death’ and ‘re-birth’ as the Antarctic. Specifically, it interrogates the mechanisms used by the press to (re)produce a public imaginary for the emerging South, and the roles played by the Continent in mid-to-late eighteenth century polite society. The thesis shows how the Continent’s status as an enduring geographical myth renders it an important touchstone in an imaginative global cartography held by the eighteenth century British public. It illustrates how external spaces are powerful constructs for internal identities and epistemologies. The ultimate revelation that this provincea aurea was a barren wilderness of sea and ice triggered arguably one the most important cultural shifts in the Western geographical and imperial imagination since the discovery of the Americas – and, the thesis contends, provided an important proving ground in the battle between traditional scholarly speculation and the empiricism characterising the new scientific method.