If you have ever looked at a map of the world and noticed that South America and Africa look like they might fit together like puzzle pieces, you are not imagining things. Around 335 million years ago, all of Earth's landmasses were joined into one vast supercontinent. Scientists call it Pangea, and it is one of the most fascinating stories in the history of our planet.
How did Pangea form?
The story of Pangea begins long before the dinosaurs. Through a process called plate tectonics, the massive sections of Earth's crust that we call tectonic plates are constantly moving, shifting just a few centimetres each year. Over hundreds of millions of years, these plates collided, merged, and eventually came together to form a single enormous landmass surrounded by one vast ocean called Panthalassa.
Pangea sat roughly straddling the equator and stretched from pole to pole. Imagine every continent you know today crammed into one landmass. The climate would have been dramatically different from our own, with vast desert interiors far from any sea, and coastlines that no longer exist.
Why did Pangea break apart?
Around 175 million years ago, Pangea began to fracture. The same tectonic forces that had brought the landmasses together began pulling them apart. First it split into two large continents, Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. Over millions of years those broke apart further until the seven continents we know today were slowly formed.
The evidence for Pangea is everywhere if you know where to look. Identical fossils found on opposite sides of the Atlantic, matching rock formations in Brazil and West Africa, and the unmistakable jigsaw shapes of the continents themselves all tell the same story.
What does this have to do with a fantasy series?
When I was building the world for The Pangean Chronicles, the idea of a single ancient continent felt like the perfect foundation. A world where everything is connected, where the land itself carries the weight of history, and where the boundaries between regions feel both vast and intimate. I kept the name Pangea because it carries that sense of ancient power and unity that I wanted readers to feel from the very first page.
The world of Pangea in my books is not a scientific reconstruction of the supercontinent, but the real science is woven into its DNA. If you are curious about the world behind the story, you can explore The Pangean Chronicles at thepangeanchronicles.com.
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