in 1864, the english zoologist philip sclater hypothesized the existence of a submerged land connection between india, madagascar and continental africa. he named this submerged land lemuria, as the concept had its origins in his attempts to explain the presence of lemur-like primates (strepsirrhini) on these three disconnected lands. before the lemuria hypothesis was rendered obsolete by the continental drift theory, a number of scholars supported and expanded it. the concept was introduced to the indian readers in an 1873 physical geography textbook by henry francis blanford. according to blanford, the landmass had submerged due to volcanic activity during the cretaceous period. in late 1870s, the lemuria theory found its first proponents in the present-day tamil nadu, when the leaders of the adyar-headquartered theosophical society wrote about it (see the root race theory).