Nonexistent archipelago of islands in the seas surrounding Antarctica, reported and charted by early explorers. According to several historians of exploration, 18th-century explorers discovered several islands to the southeast of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The islands were first sighted in 1762. In 1774, they were named the Aurora Islands after the ship that found them again. Two Spanish ships, the San Miguel and the Atrevida, saw them in the 1790s, described them, and charted their location, complete with latitude and longitude.
By the early 19th century, however, the islands had disappeared. In 1820, an expedition led by Captain James Weddell searched for them without success. The Aurora Islands remained on many maps until 1870, but no ship ever sighted them again.