Well, there is some research pointing to a large ancient impact crater on Antarctica although it is covered in ice right now so we can’t be sure if it is a real impact or about its age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkes_Land_crater
The Reis map looks like a map of South America. The refence to hot conditions and snakes is probably the Amazon. One issue is the extremely strong west winds and storms that exist once one gets to the southern tip of South America. Year 1500 sailing ships would have been wise to turn back at that point.
The story I heard was that the Reis map might have been based on a much older possibly BC map made when Antarctica was less cold.
Nice link. My gosh, a 300 mile wide crater. The suggestion that it might not have anything to do with the great Permian extinction event because of the Bedout Crater off Australia does not make sense. If there is anything we should have learned from the Shoemaker-Levy meteor strikes on Jupiter a few years back, it is that boloid strikes can come in groups.
Regarding the Yucatan Crater that nixed the dinosaurs, have you heard about the Shiva Crater off India, and perhaps related to the Deccan Trapps. For that matter, how do we know that the Siberean Trapps that are of the end Permian age were not started by a boloid strike. So much to learn, I wish I were 40 years younger to see it all unfold.