The missing continent it took 375 years to find | Hacker News Reader

The missing continent it took 375 years to find

bbc.com

98 pointsAnon8422 comments

FWIW, the reason the Māori and the Dutch came to blows in Golden Bay (aka Murderer's Bay) was because of cultural misunderstandings - the Māori blew several blasts through a trumpet (either a pūkāea, made of wood, or a pūtātara,a native conch with a wooden mouthpiece) as a challenge, and the Dutch responded in kind, which was construed by the Māori as accepting the challenge.

http://www.theprow.org.nz/events/the-first-meeting-abel-tasm...

> Tasman’s journal records that four waka paddled towards them and that there were calls between the vessels. A warrior “blew several times on an instrument… we then ordered our sailors… to play them some tunes in answer.”

Well there goes Close Encounters of the Third Kind. (-:

>> It would be more than 120 years before Māori and European next met, with the arrival James Cook in 1769.

Intentional or not. The Maori seem to have succeeded in chasing the invaders away. 120 years is a very long time. Five or more generations is long enough for that first encounter to become legend.

My first glib reaction was something along the lines of

"Sigh, first they demoted Pluto, now they're adding new continents"

But in all honesty, I think this is cool (and humbling). We think we're just so smart some times. That our knowledge is so black and white and factual and additive. But it's squishier than that.

I'm reminded that

"As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it" (Albert Einstein)

We live in exciting times. Keep the discoveries coming!

You might enjoy Facts I Learned At School Which Aren't True Any More at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wIZ2sp39Cc .

Interesting video, can relate to quite some points.

Related, the probably best list-article on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions

I read an article about MySQL enums long ago and the author argued not to use them, since they're bad when values change and all values change eventually. His last sentence was that even continents change.

Well, turns out he was right after all these years! :)

The squishyness you refer to is because categorizations like what is a planet or a continent are not objective. Pluto was initially considered a planet, but when the number of similar objects discovered kept growing, astronomers had to either categorize all of them as planets or introduce a new "dwarf planet" category. Similarly, I wouldn't bet on this "missing continent" being actually accepted as a continent, but maybe they will introduce a new category for "mostly submerged pieces of crust that are thicker than oceanic crust but much thinner than continental crust" - pseudo-continents?

You sound like those people who complain when new kingdoms of life are added :D

That's just how science works. We learn things.

Bloody Kiwis. Trying to pretend that they're not living on a tiny island and it's actually a whole "continent" like Australia.

They'll be claiming that they invented Pavlova next.

Besides frozen Antarctica that will raise once the ice melts, it's the southernmost continent.

So it begs the question: will it rise again?

I'm only half joking here. The marmalade of continental crust has been spread so thin on the ocean floor that it seems done for:

> Continental crust is usually around 40km deep – significantly thicker than oceanic crust, which tends to be around 10km. As it was strained, Zealandia ended up being stretched so much that its crust now only extends 20km (12.4 miles) down. Eventually, the wafter-thin continent sank – though not quite to the level of normal oceanic crust – and disappeared under the sea.

In school I was taught continents "floated". I wasn't aware they could die.

Check out this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Flood-Novel-Book-2-ebook/dp/B002KS3AI...

which it (and its sequel) I found rather disturbing.

"the missing continent *that took 375 years to find" sounds better to me

Is this usage pattern not common in your English? It's quite common in mine and is accepted by pretty much everyone without batting an eye, except, maybe, only maybe, some English instructors.

Where are you from?

Either way works for me, but "The missing continent that it took 375 years to find" might be suitable for everyone.

The "that" puts the emphasis on the continent, as if it was it's fault that it took so long.

I think this...

"The missing continent. It took 375 years to find."

It works as stands if "the missing continent" is a singular concept (which is the premise of the story, that this undiscovered continent was believed to exist).

Compare "The tenth planet hasn't been found yet" vs "The planet that hasn't been found yet". If "the missing continent" was used then, like "the tenth planet" is used now, it works.

While we're at it, let's ditch the Eurocentrism and make that "... that took Europeans 375 years to find again"

I don't think that's accurate. The maori also weren't aware that the islands they lived on were part of a much larger continent.

TLDR: New Zealand sits on top of its own continent that goes nearly as far south as Antarctica.

And it increases maritime territory 6 fold.

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