Continental Drift

Alfred Wegener, a German researcher, came up with the idea that millions of years ago, much of the land and countries that we know today were once all connected and one big landmass. At the time, however, many people thought what he was doing was crazy, and that he was crazy himself, but after collecting various pieces of evidence he was able to support his idea. This idea that the countries were all once together and over time separated is known as the 'continental drift'. 

Pangaea formed around 450 million years ago and was global supercontinent. A collision between two tectonic plates caused mountains to form. Gondwana formed when Pangaea broke up into Gondwana and Laurasia. Gondwana is the continent that drifted south and makes up most of the landmass in the southern hemisphere. Some countries that originated from Gondwana are South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand to name a few. It had also made up Arabia and the Indian subcontinent, which have since moved up into the northern hemisphere. From Gondwana, the different countries nowadays slowly split apart from one another. 

Wegener's theory was backed up once some research was done and evidence was found. This evidence included finding the same rocks and fossils in the different counties, which serves as proof that it was once one area, and another piece of evidence was how continents could fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.