The earlier hypothesis about how continents move is called continental drift.
Continental drift was first proposed by Alfred Wegener in the early 20th century. It suggested that the Earth's continents were once joined together in a single supercontinent called Pangaea, and that they have since drifted apart to their current positions.
Although Wegener's hypothesis was initially met with skepticism, it eventually contributed to the development of the modern theory of plate tectonics. Therefore, the answer is continental drift.
The images above show how the Earth's continents looked 250 million years ago and how they look today. The change in the continents' positions is explained by the modern theory of plate tectonics. The theory of plate tectonics developed in part from an earlier hypothesis about how continents move. What is the name of this earlier hypothesis?continental drift
natural selection
earthquake development
evolution