It was formerly part of an ancient supercontinent and was dubbed the “Great Southern Continent.”

It has been hypothesized about since Roman times and was even partially found in the 1600s, originally covering Western Antarctica and Eastern Australia.

However, it would take nearly four centuries for geologists to reach a consensus on the new continent.

So, let’s go back to 1642, when Dutch sailor and trader Abel Tasman went out to find the elusive eighth continent, also known as Terra Australis in Latin.

Tasman set sail from Jakarta, Indonesia, and finally landed on New Zealand’s Southern Island, where he proceeded to explore.

However, before he could put foot on solid soil, he was met by the local Mori, who were not impressed with the European sailor.

They were so irritated by his presence that they rammed other canoes attempting to reach the mainland as well as those bringing messages to the main ship.

Tasman sailed back home, never to return, after failing to discover the new territory.

Surprisingly, this was the first time anybody had recorded knowledge of the enigmatic eighth continent.

Nearly 400 years later, GNS geologists reported the discovery of Zealandia, also known as Te Riu-a-Mui in the Mori dialect.

The continent, which is around 1.89 million square miles (4.9 million square kilometers) and had been lurking in plain sight, turns out to be mostly underwater.

Over 500 million years ago, the huge continent was also a part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which also encompassed much of Western Antarctica and Eastern Australia.

However, some 105 million years ago, Zealandia began to ‘draw away’ from the supercontinent for reasons that geologists are still trying to figure out.

“[It’s] a process that we don’t fully understand yet, but Zealandia began to be pulled away,” said Andy Tulloch, one of the geologists at the Zealand Crown Research Institute GNS Science who discovered the 2017 discovery.

As a result, Zealandia began to fall beneath the waters, with over 94 percent of it lying below for millennia.

“This is an example of how something very obvious can take a while to uncover,” Tulloch remarked, explaining that the continent is beneath 6,560 feet (2 kilometers) of water.

His colleague, Nick Mortimer, who conducted the study, remarked that it was ‘sort of cool’ and explained why it had taken so long to uncover.

“If you think about it, every continent on the planet has different countries on it, [but] Zealandia has only three territories,” he continued.