The lost world is a

subgenre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

of the

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late-

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

adventure

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

and remains popular into the 21st century. The genre arose during an era when Western archaeologists discovered and studied civilizations around the world previously unknown to them, through disciplines such as

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

Assyriology Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...

, or

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

n studies. Thus, real stories of archaeological finds inspired writings on the topic. Between 1871 and the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the number of published lost world narratives, set in every continent, increased significantly. The genre has similar themes to "mythical kingdoms", such as

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

and

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

History

King Solomon's Mines ''King Solomon's Mines'' is an 1885 popular fiction, popular novel by the English Victorian literature, Victorian adventure writer and fable, fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. Published by Cassell and Company, it tells of an expedition through an ...

'' (1885) by

H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

is sometimes considered the first lost world narrative. Haggard's novel shaped the form and influenced later lost world narratives, including

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

's ''

The Man Who Would Be King "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) is a story by Rudyard Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was first published in '' The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other T ...

'' (1888),

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

's '' The Lost World'' (1912),

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

' '' The Land That Time Forgot'' (1918),

A. Merritt Abraham Grace Merritt (January 20, 1884 – August 21, 1943) – known by his byline, A. Merritt – was an American Sunday magazine editor and a writer of fantastic fiction. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 1999, ...

's ''

The Moon Pool ''The Moon Pool'' is a fantasy literature, fantasy novel by American writer A. Merritt, Abraham Merritt. It originally appeared as two short stories in ''All-Story Weekly'': "The Moon Pool" (1918) and its sequel, "Conquest of the Moon Pool" (1 ...

'' (1918), and

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

's ''

At the Mountains of Madness ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is a science-fiction and cosmic horror novella by the American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and published in 1936. Rejected that year by ''Weird Tales'' editor Farnsworth Wright on t ...

'' (1931). Earlier works, such as

Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (; 25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secr ...

's '' Vril: The Power of the Coming Race'' (1871) and Samuel Butler's ''

Erewhon ''Erewhon: or, Over the Range'' () is a utopian novel by English writer Samuel Butler (novelist), Samuel Butler, first published in 1872, set in a fictional country discovered and explored by the protagonist. The book is a satire on Victorian ...

'' (1872) use a similar plot as a vehicle for

Swiftian Swiftian may refer to: * Anglo-Irish satirist and essayist Jonathan Swift or his works. * American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical s ...

social

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

rather than romantic adventure. Other early examples are

Simon Tyssot de Patot Simon Tyssot de Patot (1655–1738) was a French writer and poet during the Age of Enlightenment who penned two very important, seminal works in fantastic literature. Tyssot was born in London of French Huguenot parents. He was brought up in Roua ...

's ''Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé'' (1710), which includes a prehistoric fauna and flora, and

Robert Paltock Robert Paltock (1697– March 20, 1767) was an English novelist and attorney. His most famous work is ''The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornish Man'' (1751). Biography The only son of Thomas Paltock of St James's, Westminster, Pal ...

's ''The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins'' (1751), an 18th-century imaginary voyage inspired by both

Defoe Defoe may refer to: People *Defoe (surname), most notably English author Daniel Defoe Places *Defoe, Webster County, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Other uses *Defoe (comics), a zombie story *Defoe Shipbuilding Company, a former shipy ...

and

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

, in which a man named Peter Wilkins discovers a race of winged people on an isolated island surrounded by high cliffs as in Burroughs's Caspak. The 1820

Hollow Earth The Hollow Earth is a concept proposing that the planet Earth is entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bougue ...

novel '' Symzonia'' has also been cited as the first of the lost world form, and

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's ''

Journey to the Center of the Earth ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (), also translated with the variant titles ''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' and ''A Journey into the Interior of the Earth'', is a classic science fiction novel written by French novelist Jules Ve ...

'' (1864) and ''

The Village in the Treetops ''The Village in the Treetops'' (, lit. ''The Aerial Village'') is a 1901 novel by French author Jules Verne. The book, one of Verne's '' Voyages extraordinaires'', is his take on Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theor ...

'' (1901) popularized the theme of surviving pockets of prehistoric species. J.-H. Rosny aîné would later publish ''The Amazing Journey of Hareton Ironcastle'' (1922), a novel where an expedition in the heart of Africa discovers a mysterious area with an ecosystem from another world, with alien flora and fauna.

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

's ''

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'', written and published in 1838, is the only complete novel by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The novel is set between 1827 and 1828 and relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, wh ...

'' (1838) has certain lost world elements towards the end of the tale. James Hilton's ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by the English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called '' Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by the director Frank Capra and a musical remake in 1973 by the producer Ross Hunter with music by Bu ...

'' (1933) enjoyed popular success in using the genre as a takeoff for popular philosophy and social comment. It introduced the name

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by the British author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently ...

, a

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

for the idealization of the lost world as a

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

. Similar books where the inhabitants of the lost world are seen as superior to the outsiders, are Joseph O'Neill's ''Land under England'' (1935) and

Douglas Valder Duff Douglas Valder Duff Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom), DSC (1901, Rosario, Santa Fe, Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina – 23 September 1978, Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, England) was a British merchant seaman, Royal Navy officer, pol ...

's ''Jack Harding’s Quest'' (1939).

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

also explores the theme in his

Tintin Tintin usually refers to: * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to: Material related to ''The A ...

comics ''

The Seven Crystal Balls ''The Seven Crystal Balls'' () is the thirteenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised daily in ', Belgium's leading francophone newspaper, from December 1943 amidst th ...

'' and ''

Prisoners of the Sun ''Prisoners of the Sun'' () is the fourteenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised weekly in the newly established ''Tintin'' magazine from September 1946 to April 1 ...

'' (1944–48). Here the protagonists encounter an unknown Inca kingdom in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

Contemporary examples

Contemporary American novelist

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavil ...

invokes this tradition in his novel '' Congo'' (1980), which involves a quest for King Solomon's mines, fabled to be in a lost African city called Zinj. During the 1990s,

James Gurney James Gurney (born June 14, 1958) is an American artist and author known for his illustrated book series '' Dinotopia'', which is presented in the form of a 19th-century explorer's journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs ...

published a series of juvenile novels about a lost island called

Dinotopia ''Dinotopia'' is a series of illustrated fantasy books, created by author and illustrator James Gurney. It is set in the titular Dinotopia, an isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked humans and sapient dinosaurs who have learned to coexist p ...

, in which humans live alongside living dinosaurs. In video games, it is most notably present in the ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise i ...

'' and ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who trav ...

'' franchises. The

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

action cartoon ''

Space Ghost Space Ghost is a superhero created by Hanna-Barbera Productions in the 1960s for TV network CBS. He was designed by Alex Toth. In his original incarnation, he was a superhero who, with his teen sidekicks, Jan and Jace, and Blip the monkey, f ...

'' features a segment "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley", about a young boy named Todd who survives a plane crash and lands in a hidden prehistoric valley in South America. In another

cartoon ''

Valley of the Dinosaurs ''Valley of the Dinosaurs'' is an American animated television series produced by the Australian studios of Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and in syndication from 1977 to 1983. The series, ab ...

'' science professor John Butler and his family - wife Kim, teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg, and dog Digger - are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River in an uncharted river canyon when they are suddenly swept through a cavern and caught in a whirlpool. Upon resurfacing, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where humans coexist with various prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs. The Butlers meet and befriend a clan of Neanderthal cavepeople. In movies, the ''

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

'' franchise makes use of similar concepts. Also comics make use of the idea, such as the

Savage Land The Savage Land is a fictional prehistoric land that features in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is a tropical preserve, hidden in Antarctica. It has appeared in many story arcs in '' Uncanny X-Men'' as well as other relate ...

in Marvel Comics and Themyscira in DC Comics.

Geographic settings

Early lost world novels were typically set in parts of the world as yet unexplored by Europeans. Favorite locations were the interior of Africa (many of Haggard's novels, Burroughs'

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

novels) or inland South America (Doyle's '' The Lost World'', Merritt's ''

The Face in the Abyss ''The Face in the Abyss'' is a fantasy novel by American writer A. Merritt. It is composed of a novelette with the same title and its sequel, "The Snake Mother". It was first published in its complete form in 1931 by Horace Liveright. The nove ...

''), as well as Central Asia (Kipling's ''

'', Haggard's '' Ayesha: The Return of She'', Merritt's ''

The Metal Monster ''The Metal Monster'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Abraham Merritt. It was first serialized in '' Argosy All-Story Weekly'' in 1920 and features the return of Dr. Goodwin who first appeared in ''The Moon Pool''.Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by the English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called '' Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by the director Frank Capra and a musical remake in 1973 by the producer Ross Hunter with music by Bu ...

'') and Australia ( James Francis Hogan's ''The Lost Explorer'' and ''Eureka'' by Owen Hall (pseudonym of New Zealand politician Hugh Lusk)). Later writers favored Antarctica, especially as a refuge for prehistoric species. Burroughs' '' The Land That Time Forgot'' and its sequels were set on the island of Caprona (a.k.a. Caspak) in the Southern Ocean. In

Edison Marshall Edison Tesla Marshall (August 28, 1894 – October 29, 1967) was an American short story writer and novelist. Life Marshall was born on August 28, 1894, in Rensselaer, Indiana. He grew up in Medford, Oregon, and attended the University of Oregon ...

's '' Dian of the Lost Land'' (1935),

Cro-Magnons Cro-Magnons or European early modern humans (EEMH) were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They in ...

Neanderthals Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

, and

mammoths A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

survive in the "Moss Country", a sheltered warm corner of the continent.

Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was an English writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through to the 1960s. Early life Wheatley w ...

's novel ''The Man Who Missed the War'' (1945) also deals with a warm and hidden area on the continent, where there live humans such as the descendants of Atlantis."Sex, Jingoism & Black Magic: The Weird Fiction of Dennis Wheatley"
Jessica Amanda Salmonson. ©2000. Violet Books (violetbooks.com). In

Jeremy Robinson Jeremy Robinson (born October 22, 1974), also known as Jeremy Bishop, Jeremiah Knight, and other pen names, is an author of sixty novels and novellas. He is known for mixing elements of science, history, and mythology. Many of his novels have b ...

's '' Antarktos Rising'' (2007), dinosaurs and

Nephilim The Nephilim (; ''Nəfīlīm'') are mysterious beings or humans in the Bible traditionally understood as being of great size and strength, or alternatively beings of great power and authority. The origins of the Nephilim are disputed. Some, ...

emerge as the icecap melts.

Mat Johnson Mat Johnson (born August 19, 1970, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American fiction writer who works in both prose and the comics format. In 2007, he was named the first USA James Baldwin Fellow by United States Artists. Life and career Jo ...

's '' Pym'' (2011) describes giant white hominids living in ice caves. Ian Cameron's '' The Mountains at the Bottom of the World'' (1972) has a relict population of

Paranthropus ''Paranthropus'' is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: ''Paranthropus robustus, P. robustus'' and ''P. boisei''. However, the validity of ''Paranthropus'' is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be sy ...

living not quite in Antarctica, but in the southern Chilean Andes. ''Crusoe Warburton'' (1954), by Victor Wallace Germains, describes an island in the far South Atlantic, with a lost, pre-gunpowder empire. According to Allienne Becker, there was a logical evolution from the lost world subgenre to the

planetary romance Planetary romanceAllen Steele, ''Captain Future - the Horror at Jupiter''p .195/ref> (other synonyms are sword and planet, and planetary adventure) is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy in which the bulk of the action consists of a ...

genre: "When there were no longer any unexplored corners of our earth, the Lost Worlds Romance turned to space."

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (25 July 1948 – 24 February 2024) was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published a hundred novels and over a hundred volumes of translations. His earlier books were published under the name Br ...

makes a related point about Lost Worlds: "The motif has gradually fallen into disuse by virtue of increasing geographical knowledge; these days lost lands have to be very well hidden indeed or displaced beyond some kind of magical or dimensional boundary. Such displacement ..so transforms their significance that they are better thought of as Secondary Worlds or Otherworlds."Stableford, Brian (1997). "Lost Lands and Continents". ''

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is a 1997 reference work covering fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant (author), John Grant. As of November 2012, the full text of ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is available online, as a compani ...

''. Online at Science Fiction Encyclopedia (sf-encyclopedia.uk). Retrieved 2019-03-11.
In two linked entries by editor

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

, the encyclopedia distinguishes "Otherworld" from its subclass "Secondary World", and also from the settings of Supernatural Fiction and Planetary Romance, and from related concepts. Below is a list of classic lost world titles drawn fro
''Lost Worlds: The Ultimate Anthology''
Titles were selected from '' 333: A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel'',

Jessica Amanda Salmonson Jessica Amanda Salmonson (born January 6, 1950John Clute and John Grant,Salmonson, Jessica Amanda, in ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', pp. 832–833, Orbit, London / St Martin’s Press, New York (1997). Retrieved 5 July 2023.) is an American au ...

'
Lost Race Checklist
and

E. F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

's '' Science-fiction, the Early Years''.

Lost worlds in Africa

*''

'' by

Sir H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

*'' She: A History of Adventure'' by

*''

Allan Quatermain Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel ''King Solomon's Mines'', its one sequel '' Allan Quatermain'' (1887), twelve prequel novels and four prequel short stories, totalling eighteen works. An English professio ...

'' by

*''

The People of the Mist ''The People of the Mist'' is a classic lost race fantasy novel written by H. Rider Haggard. It was first published serially in the weekly magazine ''Tit-Bits'', between December 1893 and August 1894; the first edition in book form was published ...

'' by

*'' Benita: An African Romance'' by

*''

The Ghost Kings ''The Ghost Kings'' is a 1908 mystery-adventure novel by H. Rider Haggard, set on the borders of Zulu Kingdom, Zululand in Africa. Plot Outline Rachel Dove, a British missionary's daughter who has been trekked almost all her young life around th ...

'' by

*'' The Yellow God: An Idol of Africa'' by

*'' Queen Sheba's Ring'' by

*''

The Holy Flower ''The Holy Flower'' (known as ''Allan and the Holy Flower'' in America) is a 1915 novel by H. Rider Haggard featuring Allan Quatermain. It was serialised in ''The Windsor Magazine'' from issue 228 (December 1913) to 239 (November 1914), illustrat ...

'' by

*'' The Ivory Child'' by

*''

She and Allan ''She and Allan'' is a novel by H. Rider Haggard, first published in 1921. It brought together his two most popular characters, Ayesha from his 1887 novel ''She'' (to which it serves as a prequel), and Allan Quatermain from his 1885 novel ''Kin ...

'' by

*'' Heu-Heu; or, The Monster'' by

*'' The Treasure of the Lake'' by

*''

The Return of Tarzan ''The Return of Tarzan'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second in his Tarzan (book series), series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. The story was first published in the pulp magazine ''New Story Mag ...

'' (and many other Tarzan books) by Edgar Rice Burroughs *''A Rip Van Winkle of the Kalahari'' by Frederick Carruthers Cornell *''The Great White Queen: A Tale of Treasure and Treason'' by

William Le Queux William Tufnell Le Queux ( , ; 2 July 1864 – 13 October 1927) was an Anglo-French journalist and writer. He was also a diplomat (honorary consul for San Marino), a traveller (in Europe, the Balkans and North Africa), a flying buff who officiat ...

*'' By the Gods Beloved'' (also known as '' The Gates of Kamt'') by

Baroness Orczy Baroness Emma Orczy (full name: ''Emma Magdalena Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci'') (; 23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947), usually known as Baroness Orczy (the name under which she was published) or to her family and friends ...

*''Wings of Danger'' by Arthur A. Nelson *'' The Lost World (1992 film)''

Lost worlds in North America

*'' The Aztec Treasure House'' by Thomas A. Janvier *'' Fruit of the Desert'' by Richard Hayes Barry *''

The Haunted Mesa ''The Haunted Mesa'' is a 1987 science fiction novel by American writer Louis L'Amour, set in the American Southwest amidst the ruins of the Anasazi. Plot summary Middle-aged man Mike Raglan specializes in paranormal investigations (and norma ...

'' by

Louis L'Amour Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known West ...

*''

The Mound The Mound is an artificial slope and road in central Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's New and Old Towns. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations of the New Town into Nor Loc ...

'' by H.P. Lovecraft

Lost worlds in Central America

*''Phantom City: A Volcanic Romance'' by

William Westall William Westall (12 October 1781 – 22 January 1850) was a British landscape artist best known as one of the first artists to work in Australia. Early life Westall was born in Hertford and grew up in London, mostly Sydenham, London, Sydenham ...

*''The Lost Canyon of the Toltecs'' by Charles Sumner Seeley *'' Heart of the World'' by

*'' The Bridge of Light'' by A. Hyatt Verrill

Lost worlds in South America

*'' The Country of the Blind'' by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

*'' The Lost World'' by

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

*''The Web of the Sun'' by T. S. Stribling *''Immortal Athalia'' by Harry F. Haley *''Prisoners of the Sun'' by

*''

Lost in the Andes! "Lost in the Andes!" is a Donald Duck story written by Carl Barks and published in Dell Comics' ''Four Color Comics'' #223 in April 1949. Donald and his nephews go to South America to find the mythical chickens that lay square eggs (actually, they ...

'' by

Carl Barks Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comics, Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of ...

, 1948, Donald Duck and his nephews get to know square eggs. *'' Under The Andes'' by

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886–October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

, 1914, This is the same author that wrote the Nero Wolfe detective series. *'' Up'', 2009 film by

Pixar Animation Studios Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney S ...

released by

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...

Lost worlds in Asia

*''

'' by

*''The Mountain Kingdom: A Narrative of Adventure'' by David Lawson Johnstone *''Om: The Secret of Abhor Valley'' by

Talbot Mundy Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon, 23 April 1879 – 5 August 1940) was an English writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of Walter Galt. Best known as th ...

*''

'' by James Hilton *''The Valley of Eyes Unseen'' by Gilbert Henry Collins *''Harilek: A Romance of Modern Central Asia'' by Ganpat ( Louis Gompertz) *''Fields of Sleep'' by

E. C. Vivian Evelyn Charles Henry Vivian ( – ) was the pseudonym of Charles Henry Cannell, a British editor and writer of fantasy and supernatural, detective novels and stories.''Shadows in the Attic'', pp. 346-347 Biography Prior to becoming a writer, C ...

*''The Purple Sapphire'' by

John Taine Eric Temple Bell (7 February 1883 – 21 December 1960) was a Scottish-born mathematician, educator and science fiction writer who lived in the United States for most of his life. He published non-fiction using his given name and fiction ...

*''

The Metal Monster ''The Metal Monster'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Abraham Merritt. It was first serialized in '' Argosy All-Story Weekly'' in 1920 and features the return of Dr. Goodwin who first appeared in ''The Moon Pool''.A. Merritt Abraham Grace Merritt (January 20, 1884 – August 21, 1943) – known by his byline, A. Merritt – was an American Sunday magazine editor and a writer of fantastic fiction. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 1999, ...

*'' The Rose of Tibet'' by Lionel Davidson

Lost worlds in Europe and the Middle East

*''No-Man’s-Land'' by

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...

*''The Knight of the Silver Star'' by Percy James Brebner *''

The Nameless City "The Nameless City" is a short horror story written by American writer H. P. Lovecraft in January 1921 and first published in the November 1921 issue of the amateur press journal ''The Wolverine''. It is often considered the first story set in ...

'' by H.P. Lovecraft

Lost worlds in Australia

*''The Lost Explorer'' by James Francis Hogan *''Marooned on Australia'' by

Ernest Favenc Ernest Favenc (21 October 1845 – 14 November 1908) was an explorer of Australia, a journalist, author of verse, novels and short stories, and an historian. Personal life Favenc was born in Walworth, Surrey, England. Of Huguenot descent, he ...

*''Eureka'' by

Owen Hall Owen Hall (10 April 1853 – 9 April 1907) was the principal pen name of the Irish-born theatre writer, racing correspondent, theatre critic and solicitor, James Davis, when writing for the stage. After his successive careers in law and jour ...

Lost worlds at the Poles

*''

'' by

*''Beyond The Great South Wall'' by Frank Savile *''The Ke Whonkus People: A Story of the North Pole Country'' by John O. Greene *'' The Land That Time Forgot'' by

*'' The Lost Ones'' by Ian Cameron *''

'' by H.P. Lovecraft *''The Greatest Adventure'' by

*''Polaris of the Snows'' by

Charles B. Stilson Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

*'' The Smoky God'' by

Willis George Emerson Willis George Emerson (1856–1918) was an American novelist (a pioneer of American science fiction), Chicago newspaperman, lawyer, politician, and promoter, who formed the North American Copper Company in Wyoming. He founded the town of Enca ...

*'' A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder'' by

James De Mille James De Mille (23 August 1833 – 28 January 1880) was a professor at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, and an early Canadian novelist who published numerous works of popular fiction from the late 1860s through the 1870s. Life De Mille ...

Hollow Earth

*'' At the Earth's Core'' (and its sequels) by

*''

The Coming Race ''Vril: The Power of the Coming Race'', originally published as ''The Coming Race'', is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871. Some readers have believed the account of a superior subterranean master race and the ene ...

'' by

*''Under the Auroras: A Marvelous Tale of the Interior World'' by William Jenkins Shaw *''

'' by

*''

Dwellers in the Mirage ''Dwellers in the Mirage'' is a fantasy novel by American writer A. Merritt. It was first published in book form in 1932 by Horace Liveright. The novel was originally serialized in six parts in the magazine '' Argosy'' beginning with the Janua ...

'' by

*''

Zanthodon ''Zanthodon'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter, the second in his series about the fictional "Hollow Earth" land of Zanthodon. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1980, with an ebook edition following ...

'' by

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...

*'' Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' by

References

La Gazette des Français du Paraguay, ''Le Monde Perdu, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - El Mundo Perdido, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle'' bilingual French Spanish, Numéro 9, Année 1, Asuncion 2013.

External links

Jessica Amanda Salmonson's checklist of lost-world/lost-race books.

* ttp://www.rohpress.com/masterworks_lost_worlds.html Lost Worlds: The Ultimate Anthology. A collection of 33 classic tales
"Lost Worlds"
at ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...

'' – with linked entries on "Lost Races" and related themes
"Lost Lands and Continents"
an
"Lost Races"
entries in ''

'' (1997) {{Fantasy fiction Adventure fiction Science fiction themes Speculative fiction Fantasy genres

History

Contemporary examples

Geographic settings

Lost worlds in Africa

Lost worlds in North America

Lost worlds in Central America

Lost worlds in South America

Lost worlds in Asia

Lost worlds in Europe and the Middle East

Lost worlds in Australia

Lost worlds at the Poles

Hollow Earth

See also

References

External links