We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Civ 6 players have some brilliant theories about Atlantic map landmass

The Civ 6 map has an unexpected continent smack dab in the middle, and fans have a few clues what it might be - some of which are actually serious

You think you know the Civ 6 map pretty well, and then something like this comes along. Reddit user Kyfigrigas looked at the icon for Civ 6’s Huge Earth map and noticed something the rest of us may have taken for granted in the 4X game’s icons: there’s a giant landmass in the center of the Atlantic Ocean. Some fans took it upon themselves to explain what the landmass actually was, with predictably amusing results.

Theories ranged from Old Zealand to the “Azores on steroids,” along with the usual ones like Atlantis. One even suggested Lemuria, the mythical land zoologist Philip Sclater believed is where life began. Sclater would’ve been a bit disappointed in this piece of speculation, though, since he theorized that Lemuria existed under the Indian Ocean – rather a long way away from the middle Atlantic.

One even suggested it was the Fortnite island, but another, more grounded, piece of speculation is that it was supposed to reference the mid-Atlantic shelf, which does actually exist, albeit in a slightly different shape from the Civ 6 map blob.

Perhaps Firaxis planned, or plans, to add Atlantis as a playable civilization at some point, but it’s also not the first time some map icons have shown up with a few unexpected oddities. In 2021, another Redditer posted a map image with the same mass from the True Starting Point map, though there was something else unusual going on – namely, a giant blue arrow-shaped ocean cutting through central Europe.

Maybe the map icons just need a bit of brushing up.

If you need a bit of brushing up on your 4X skills, check out our Civilization leader tier list and Civ 6 beginner’s tips to help smooth your way to world domination.