Atlantica is the kingdom that is located beneath the Atlantic Ocean and that is featured in The Little Mermaid franchise. The kingdom is ruled by King Triton and by Queen Athena (until her death).
Atlantica's most famous residents are none other than Triton's free-spirited and adventurous daughter Ariel, her best fish friend Flounder, and the court composer crab Sebastian. These friends usually get Atlantica in hot water but clean up the mess they sometimes start.
Triton's Palace: The home of King Triton, Queen Athena, Ariel, her sisters, and Sebastian. The palace holds bedrooms for every member, a large dining room, many hallways, a concert hall, and a treasury.
The City: The area where the actual residents live in Atlantica. The city surrounds Triton's palace.
Ariel's Grotto: Ariel's possibly current secret room, hidden in a cave. A large boulder hides the entrance. Ariel's grotto was once filled with many human items such as paintings, weapons, books, forks, and spoons. It has held two separate collections of human items, all gathered by Ariel. Ariel was forced to destroy the first collection herself, after Ursula enchanted the objects to attack Atlantica. Ariel restarted her collection, but most of the items in the grotto were destroyed by King Triton in the film. However, at least twelve years later, the grotto still held Ariel's collection, either as a writers' oversight or implication that Triton had repaired or replaced the items that were in the collection after the events of the original film.
Ursula's Lair: Around the outskirts of Atlantica. The home of Ursula, and her eel henchmen Flotsam and Jetsam. Here Ursula cast spells on merfolk and perform great pieces of magic. The lair itself is actually the remains of a giant deceased creature. The entrance houses many polyps, all who were previously merpeople whom had not been able to uphold their bargains with Ursula. The lair still stands after Ursula's death, but is abandoned.
Ship Graveyard: A place filled with small sunken ships. Ariel and Flounder visit the graveyard often to search for human things.
Marketplace: An area where most people shop. In the animated series, Ariel frequently makes visits here, often with Urchin and Flounder.
Kingdom Hearts Series[]
Atlantica is a world in the games, encompassing not only the sea but also the land where Prince Eric resides. In this world, visitors are given magical forms to survive and adapt, such as the case with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who were given aquatic forms to swim underwater. The world seems to also hold lore on the Keyblade and its history, as King Triton was able to recognize the weapon and the danger it possessed. Atlantica appears in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (though as an illusion in this game), and Kingdom Hearts II, all of them following a plot similar to the original film, though in Kingdom Hearts II, events there play out almost similar to what happened in the original film.
Atlantica is most likely based on the mythological city Atlantis (as implied by the name).
Although the kingdom is known as Atlantica, it was never referred to as such in the original film and so the audience generally assumed that Triton ruled the entire world ocean. It was not until a Mouseworks novelization was released in 1993 that the term was coined. The TV series was the first animated medium to utilize that name and established that Atlantica is simply one of the world's many underwater nations. The name would stick in the sequel and other Disney media afterwards.
In large part because of this, the Disney Comics serial for The Little Mermaid, most notably the story arc Serpent-Teen, utilized the name Mermaid City.
Using images from the prequel Ariel's Beginning and the TV series, it can be assumed that mermaids do not receive their sea-shell bikini tops until they are teenagers (as the oldest of Ariel's sisters are pre-teens and are repeatedly seen wearing bandeau-like breastbands as children).
It is theorized to be within range of the coast of Malta or the Northern coast of Africa (the architecture of Eric's kingdom resembles that of Malta, and the palm trees and weather imply a Southern Mediterranean climate). Still, it is also accessible to the entire Atlantic Ocean, as it is revealed that Sebastian was born off the coast of Jamaica (hence the accent) in another episode of The Little Mermaid animated series. This could lead to it being somewhere near Gibraltar, or else the coast of Morocco or Algeria. However, it is also possible that Sebastian simply migrated from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.
The original story also heavily implies a Mediterranean setting as the ocean is described being light blue and clear as crystal, indicating the ocean is warm and pleasant. The story also acknowledges mountains, grapevines and a lot of Greco-Roman architecture in the prince's kingdom, which is said to be in close proximity to the mermaid's home, further reinforcing a Maltese or Cicilian setting. The Disney version appears to use the same landscape and aesthetics for the setting.
In the 2023 film, Atlantica is located in the Caribbean Sea.
In 2019, the official Disney Princess YouTube channel stated that Atlantica is in the Mediterranean somewhere near Italy,[1] lending credence to the theory of Eric's Kingdom being based on that country, and Atlantica being near it.
