Definition of dark continent
1
or Dark Continent
: the continent of Africa
It was by the merest caprice of fortune that they headed toward the west coast of Africa, instead of toward Zanzibar on the opposite side of the dark continent.— Edgar Rice Burroughs … little was actually known about the interior of the Dark Continent until the mid-1800s.— Angus Carroll
2
: something unknown or unexplored
From Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the world received the shocking discovery that man had opened the dark continent of the atom.— Daniel J. Boorstein
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“Dark continent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dark%20continent. Accessed 8 Mar. 2021.
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The first known use of dark continent was in 1829
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