Gondwana

American  

[gond-wah-nuh] / gɒndˈwɑ nə /

noun

1. a hypothetical landmass in the Southern Hemisphere that separated toward the end of the Paleozoic Era, the remnants of which make up what are now South America, Africa, Arabia, the Indian subcontinent, Australia, and Antarctica.

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Etymology

Origin of Gondwana

First recorded in 1870–75; from Sanskrit goṇḍa, the name of a Dravidian people and region in north central India + vana “forest”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Gondwana

Koharalepis belonged to the Canowindrid family, a group of fish that once lived across East Gondwana, with fossils now found in both Antarctica and Australia.

From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026

The Western Ghats were formed when Gondwana - a supercontinent that combined present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica - split up during the Jurassic Period.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

"The Western Ghats are about 150 million years old, older than the Himalayas. The species that exist there could have evolutionary roots in the Gondwana supercontinent," Koparde says.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

As the supercontinent Gondwana began to break apart near the end of the Jurassic Period and into the early Cretaceous Period, smaller basins formed in what are now the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2026

Although textbooks give confident-looking representations of ancient landmasses with names like Laurasia, Gondwana, Rodinia, and Pangaea, these are sometimes based on conclusions that don’t altogether hold up.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson