In 1801, a man by the name of Alexander Von Humboldt was the first person to be recognized for observing that the coastlines of the continents on the map look like they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Too bad for Mr. Von Humboldt, no one believed him. This was due to the fact that Mr. Von Humboldt could not explain HOW the continents had moved and he had no scientific evidence for his idea.
In 1958, Antonio Snider-Pellegrini said that he beileved Mr. Von Humboldt. He said that the only evidence you need to see that the continents have moved is to look at the map. Unfortunately, people did not believe him any more than Mr. Von Humboldt.
But.... in 1908 and American by the name of Frank Taylor was the first person to state a theory on HOW the continents moved. Mr. Taylor said there was a crack in the Earth where new crust is being formed each day. this crack is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He called that crack the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. He was RIGHT! ...and people began to believe.
Then in 1912, Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist developed the Theory of Continental Drift. This theory stated that all the continents were once together forming a supercontinent, which he called Pangaea. His proof to support his idea was that he found fossils on the west coast of Africa and the east coast of South America of the same plants. He also found fossils of a bird on two other continents. The plant is called Glossopteris and the reptile is called Lystrasauris.
For another 50 years, scientists tossed these ideas around but not many believed in them. BUT in the 1960's the Theory of Continental Drift became very widely accepted by the scientific community. Why, you say? ... because of the advances in technology. With the addition of technology, there was more evidence to support those theories. There were more fossils found and the age of those fossils were dated. Submarines were also able to send equipment down to look at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Today, the Theory of Plate Tectonics states:
The earth's crust is divided into rigid pieces called plates
The plates move a few centimeters each year.
The driving force behind the plates moving is convection currents in the mantle.
At plate boundaries new crust is made and old crust is destroyed.
