Some 550 million years ago, the Earth looked very different to what it does today. The Southern Hemisphere was dominated by an enormous, single continent known as Gondwana.
This continent was first recognised by Austrian geologist Eduard Seuss in 1885 based on the presence of a unique plant fossil that was first discovered in the Gondwana Province of India. The fossils were then found in Australia, Africa, Antarctica and South America, demonstrating these land masses were once connected.
