Most remarkable of all, a Bolivian legend called

"The Legend of the Desaguadero"
published by the University of La Paz, Bolivia
click for legends page

Above, Illustration from "Legends of Bolivia" by Rene Rojas

tells of a city on the edge of a lake, punished by the gods and submerged by the sea, in exactly the same manner as Plato's.
   Furthermore, Poseidon the Greek name for the god of the sea who created the rings of water and land in Atlantis was the equilavent of Tunapa, the Aymara god also known in Quechua (language of the Incas) as Pachacamac or Viracocha. He was the Bolivian god of the waterways (i.e. the sea god) who created the ringed formation at Pampa Aullagas.

Not only that, but Tunupa is said to have disappeared beneath the waters of lake Poopo near Pampa Aullagas
Tunupa disappears beneath the waters of Lake Poopo near Pampa Aullagas

   In Plato's version, the wife of Poseidon had five pairs of twin sons and in Inca legend, after a great flood, Viracocha "adopted" five pairs of sons.
   The Inca historian Guaman de Poma tells us the first inhabitants were born in pairs.
   Additionally, The Aymara kingdoms which existed on the Altiplano also existed in pairs, so there can be no doubt that the story of Atlantis had it's origins in a Bolivian legend.

Artist's impression "Atlantis on the Altiplano" by Major Lee Smart

Atlantis at Pampa Aullagas, Artist's illustration from "Atlas of Atlantis" - click for this recommended book which presents the various theories, background and locations proposed for Atlantis.

remains of Atlantis, at Pampa Aullagas, "the mountain that was low on all sides."

The test of any theory is first to write the theory, then to see if the observations fit the premises of the theory.
The Altiplano is the only site that fits practically all of the geographic points of Plato's description. Whether an actual city existed in the exact manner described by Plato is more difficult to prove since it is not known to what extent he may have embellished the original legend, perfecting it's geometry and making it into the "superpower" he wanted to pitch in his battle against his own ancient Athens.
But clearly we have geographical evidence, geological evidence and mythical evidence from Bolivia, as well as the fact that the level plain is itself eminently suitable for the water canal based culture Plato described, and the water canal culture continues to this day.

We also have another form of evidence in the manner of the naming of the continent itself.
The continent remained lost from knowledge until 1492 when rediscovered by Christoper Columbus sailing west in an attempt to reach the Indies.
Columbus had with him a map and believed he had reached what he called the "Indias" but Americo Vespucci was first to identify the newly discovered lands as a "new" continent, or "new World"

In 1507 the German cartographer Waldseemuller produced a map of the newly found continent. He decided to name the continent "America" in honour of the navigator Amerigo Vespucci who was first to recognise that the continent was a continent in it's own right, instead of being part of Asia as Columbus had thought.

So the newly discovered continent came to be called America, but at the same time many people though that what Christopher Columbus had in fact discovered was Atlantis. The first book to mention this was "The history of the Indies" by Franciso Lopez de Gomara. Published in 1552, the book was banned the following year and not reprinted until 1727.

The next book to definitivly state that South America was Atlantis was "The History of the Incas" written by the great historian and classical scholar Sarmiento de Gamboa following an official inquest into the true history of the Incas with the backing of the Viceroy of Peru. Sarmiento de Gamboa's book clearly states that South America was Atlantis and at the time he was writing was known by the names of "the western Indies of Castile or America also called Atlanticus or the Atlantic Island". So the continent was also known sometimes as "New Castile", "New Spain" or "Atlanticus", then latterly, "America". Sarmiento de Gamboa's book was sent to Philip II, king of Spain in 1572 and never heard of again being LOST for 300 years until it was discovered in a library in Germany in 1893 and republished in 1906.

The "Atlantis Insula" or map of "Atlantis Island" by French cartographer Guillermo Sanson, 1661.

The Atlantis Island remained a popular name and was shown as such on maps made by the French cartographer Guillermo Sanson in Paris in 1661.

But then following the Declaration of Independence by the United States in 1776 the name "America" became universally adopted and the name of Atlantis forgotten until resurrected in modern times.

No attention was given to the fact that the southern continent already had an indigenous name given by the Incas before the Conquest. Their name for the continent was "Tahuantinsuyo" meaning "land of the four quarters".

Location of Atlantis and Antisuyo in the empire of Tahuantinsuyo

One of these quarters was called "Antisuyo" meaning the kingdom of the Antis.
Antis is an Inca word meaning "copper" which could refer to the abundance of copper on the continent or the people themselves who are also copper coloured and a tribe of natives living to this day on the eastern slopes of Peru are known as the "Antis". The very name of the Andes themselves is also thought to be a corruption of the word "Antis".

Atl is an Aztec word meaning "water" and the combination of "atl" and "antis" an excellent name for this continent since large parts of it are in fact under water in the wet season with severe flooding throughout Amazonia and Beni regions.

link to page with picture of Antis indians of 1869, Peru

continue to page 4 for conclusion