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Africa and South America fit together on a map because they were once a single landmass.

Earth Science Facts, sourced to U.S. National Park Service.

What it means

The visual match was noticed centuries ago and dismissed as coincidence, since nobody could suggest a mechanism that would move a continent. The case was rebuilt from matching rock formations, matching fossil species on both coasts, and eventually the magnetic record frozen into the sea floor as it spread. Plate tectonics is now the framework that ties nearly all of geology together.

The claim comes from U.S. National Park Service, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.

This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.

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This fact is a cryptogram here: 72 letters over 20 different ones, graded hard.

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