Is Atlantis in America?

Francesco Lopez de Gomara

Spanish explorer Francesco López de Gómara (1511-1564) was the first to propose that Atlantis was in America. In 1552, Gómara suggested that the Americas were the fabled Atlantic Island described by Plato, rediscovered through Christopher Columbus’s voyages.

Gómara authored Historia general de las Indias. This influential chronicle presented the “discovery” of the New World as the most significant historical event since the birth of Christ. Within its pages, he explored the legend of Atlantis and documented the indigenous cultures of Mexico. Gómara’s writings shaped European perceptions of the New World during the 16th century. Translated into Italian, French, and English, his works gained widespread readership—even as they faced censorship and were banned in Spain. His ideas, controversial and influential, continued to resonate in shaping early interpretations of the Americas.

Bacon and Spence

Almost one hundred years later, Francis Bacon wrote New Atlantis, which also connected America to Atlantis. Later, Rosicrucian Lewis Spence published Atlantis in America, where evidence is in the “Atlantis culture-complex.” This includes Quetzalcoatl as a representative of Atlantis, religious aspects of Native American groups, witchcraft, and the similarity of North and South American myths. The Mayan civilization is the best example of a culture originating in the eastern and Atlantic regions.

These popular theories of Atlantis in America began to fall out of favor in the middle of the nineteenth century, probably because of the increased knowledge of North American history. In the later nineteenth century, the Atlanteans were associated with much more ancient peoples, including the Goths, Gauls, Druids, Egyptians, and Scyths. 

Ignatius Donnelly

Minnesota congressional representative Ignatius Donnelly is credited with reintroducing the subject of Atlantis. His book, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, was first published in 1882 and went through fifty reprints until 1949. He credits the Atlanteans with creating modern medicine and the alphabet. Donnelly recognizes evidence of Atlantis in the archaeological record. He claims Atlanteans constructed monuments using vast blocks of stone without mortar, commonly found at Mycenae, Malta, Tiahuanaco, Ollantaytambo, Monte Alban, Stonehenge, and Osirion at Abydos.

In addition, Donnelly proposes Atlantis as a missing link to explain similarities in culture, art, architecture, legends, and belief systems of distant cultures around the world—especially the pyramids. Donnelly argues that Atlantis’s original kings and queens have become confused with the gods and goddesses of the Greeks, Phoenicians, Hindus, and Scandinavians. For Donnelly, myths of these pantheons have become confused with actual historical events.

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Further Reading

Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World – Free resource

Lewis Spence, Atlantis in America – Free resource