Fact check
Is it true: Piri Reis Map?
No — this has been debunked.
The map itself is authentic, dated 1513, and genuinely impressive for its era, drawing on some twenty source charts including a now-lost map by Christopher Columbus. But the 'Antarctica' interpretation rests on Charles Hapgood's selective coastline-matching; the southern landmass is most parsimoniously South America's coast bent to fit the parchment, there is no Drake Passage, and Antarctica was not sighted until 1820 and has been ice-covered for millions of years.
The claim
The 1513 Piri Reis map accurately depicts the sub-glacial coastline of Antarctica free of ice, centuries before the continent's discovery, proving an ancient advanced (or extraterrestrial) civilization mapped the Earth.
Key evidence
The map is authentic and genuinely accurate for 1513
Antarctica has been ice-covered for millions of years
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