THE GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF ATLANTIS HAS BEEN FOUND: Herodotus and Plato were right.

The great philosopher Plato, one of the greatest minds in human history, was mocked by his contemporaries toward the end of his career because of a work he was composing. The disappointment was so great that he decided not to complete the second of the three stories on the subject and not even to begin writing the third (it was, in fact, meant to be a trilogy). Why did the Greeks—a people accustomed to hearing stories of all kinds and often believing them—mock none other than the great Plato?

Well, in the dialogue “Timaeus” and in the fragmentary dialogue “Critias” (which remained unfinished), Plato recounts that some “mysterious Egyptian priests” from the city of Sais told the famous Athenian statesman Solon (638 B.C. – 558 B.C.) a story. Plato (428 B.C. – 348 B.C.), some 200 years later, received this story indirectly and used it as one of the sources for his own account. So far, nothing strange.

In this account, Plato says many things. Among other things, he mentions the existence of a “Great Island” near the “Pillars of Hercules.” He calls it “Atlantis” or “Land of Atlas.” The Greeks of his time knew that, more than 70 years before Plato wrote the “Timaeus” and the “Critias,” the famous historian Herodotus (484 B.C. – 430 B.C.), in his “Histories,” had referred to the mountain range in present-day Morocco by the name “Atlas.” Herodotus’s “Histories” were composed roughly between 450 and 425 B.C. The “Timaeus” and the “Critias” were written by Plato around 360 B.C. Incidentally, that name is still used today: the Atlas Mountains. For a Greek of that time, the name “Atlantis” or “Land of Atlas” referred to a land that was evidently located at the foot of Mount Atlas. But everyone knew that there was no “Great Island” at the foot of the Atlas Mountains.

In his account, citing the “mysterious Egyptian priests,” Plato claimed that this island existed 9,000 years before Solon—that is, 11,500 years ago. And this is where the story became difficult for later readers to accept. For people of that time, the world did not even exist 9,000 years before Solon (for example, the Judeo-Christian tradition places the creation of the world around 4,000 B.C.). For about 2,000 years, people laughed at this claim by Plato. Finding no “Great Island” near Mount Atlas, various writers “placed” it just about everywhere: some in Sardinia, some in Ireland, some in Cuba, and some in Indonesia. These were honest attempts to solve the “puzzle.”

But “the Land of Atlas” has always remained right where Plato said it was. In fact, a few years ago, a tiny metal object—the Japanese satellite ALOS, an acronym for Advanced Land Observing Satellite—proved the famous Greek philosopher right. Whoever the “mysterious Egyptian priests” were who had told Solon (and, through him, Plato) that near the Atlas Mountains, in the Land of Atlas (or Atlantis), there existed a vast island, they were right. A November 10, 2015 article published in Nature, titled “African humid periods triggered the reactivation of a large river system in Western Sahara,” with C. Skonieczny as first author, discusses “a large river system in Western Sahara, which has its headwaters in the Hoggar Plateau and the southern Atlas Mountains in Algeria. This so-called Tamanrasett River Valley has been described as a possible vast and ancient hydrographic system.” The article goes on to provide further geological details. In short, the ALOS satellite discovered a gigantic, now-dry mega-river that originated in the Atlas Mountains and cut across the entire northwestern corner of Africa, flowing into what is now Mauritania.

The Tamanrasett river valley is approximately 90 km wide. The mouth of this mega-river, now located beneath the sea, was 400 km wide. It was a “monster” comparable to the Amazon River—a river so vast that, in several places, it is indistinguishable from the sea. This means that this river could have been similarly wide from one bank to the other. Imagine an observer at ground level. How would they have known whether it was a river or the sea if the opposite shore were 90 km away? Except for the salinity of the water (though we do not know whether people at the time understood the significance of salinity), nothing would have allowed that observer to tell whether it was a river or the sea. Just to put it in perspective, that distance is greater than that of the Strait of Messina and the Strait of Gibraltar combined.

Looking at the region from above, it becomes clear that when the Tamanrasett mega-river flowed during the “Last African Humid Period” (between approximately 14,500 and 7,000 years ago, with lingering effects until about 5,500 years ago), except for a very small section in the northeast, the “Land of Atlas,” or “Atlantis”—that is, the lands south of the Atlas Mountains—was truly an island. To the north, it was surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. To the west, it was surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it was surrounded by the Tamanrasett mega-river. To the east, it was almost completely surrounded by the same river, except for a small section formed by the Atlas mountain range. Can it truly be called an “island”? In the Greek sense, yes.

We all know what the Peloponnese is—one of the most important regions of Greece. Well, the Peloponnese has the same basic geographical configuration as the “Land of Atlas.” It is a “quasi-island,” connected to the mainland by a small isthmus. What does the term “Peloponnese” mean? This word derives from the Greek Πέλοπος νῆσος (Pelopos Nesos), meaning “Island of Pelops.” This is irrefutable proof that, for the ancient Greeks, a “quasi-island” like the Peloponnese could be considered a νῆσος, or “island.” It is no surprise, then, that Solon and, after him, Plato referred to the “quasi-island” near Mount Atlas, or Atlantis, as νῆσος, or “Nesos”—the term we translate as “island” in the modern sense of the word.

Was that really the Island of Atlantis? That “quasi-island” cannot be considered “Atlantis” unless it passes “the test of the circles.” What do we mean by this? In his account, Plato states that, in the vicinity of the Island of Atlantis, there were two unique structures. According to the account, one of these natural geological structures had been created directly by Poseidon, and so we will call it the “Island of Poseidon.” It was a central hill, around which there were three rings of sea and two of land, perfectly concentric. Nothing is said about its size. It is said that it was “sacred,” inaccessible, and uninhabited.

The second structure, upon which humans built a city, we can call the “Metropolis Island.” It was a natural geological formation that closely resembled the previous one, but in this case, its dimensions are specified. There was a flat central island, approximately 900 meters wide, followed by three concentric circles of sea and two of land, perfectly concentric. The total width was about 5 kilometers. Surrounding this natural geological structure (where the king and the nobility resided) lay the actual city of Atlantis.

What are the chances of finding, near the course of the ancient Tamanrasett River, not one but two natural geological structures formed by concentric circles, one of which must be 5 kilometers wide and have a kind of central island 900 meters wide? You might say, “None!” Well, as stated in the book “Atlantis 2021 – The Rediscovered Continent,” once again thanks to satellites, these two structures have been discovered right along the course of the Tamanrasett River.

The first natural geological structure is called the “Semsiyat Dome.” It is located on the Chinguetti Plateau, in the Mauritanian desert, at 21° 0' north latitude and 11° 05' west longitude. Its dimensions are exactly those indicated by Plato for the Island of the Metropolis. Its maximum width is exactly 5 kilometers. At its center lies a formation exactly 900–1,000 meters wide, matching the dimensions of the “central island” of Atlantis’s Metropolis. A second inner circle is also visible, exactly the size described by Plato. The second structure is called the “Richat Structure” and is located about 20 kilometers away. It is about 40 km wide and consists of a central area surrounded by a series of concentric rock rings. There are clear remnants indicating that this was once a lake from which rings of land emerged. It is the perfect representation of “Poseidon’s Island” described by Plato.

Today, satellites have mapped the entire surface of the Earth. There are no other similar structures on Earth that have those dimensions or characteristics. They are “unique.” Therefore, until something similar is discovered elsewhere in the world, based on all the evidence provided by today’s most advanced technology, we can say that we have truly found the land Plato spoke of: Atlantis.

So, the “mysterious Egyptian priests” did not lie to Solon—and, through him, to Plato—when they told him that at the foot of Mount Atlas, about 11,500 years ago, there was “a Great Island.” But this raises other very important questions: How did they know? Which civilization was aware of events that took place between 14,500 and 7,000 years ago? Did this part of Africa ever sink? And what connection does “Atlantis” have with Nan Madol and the submerged lands of Sundaland and Sahul, recently discovered by researchers? Where did everyone end up?

For those who wish to explore these topics further, the subject is discussed in greater detail in the following publications: