_Was_ Middle-earth Europe?

© Ronald Kyrmse certur @ amonhen . com . br

WAS MIDDLE-EARTH EUROPE?

Certur Harmatir (Ronald Kyrmse)

J. R. R. Tolkien is quoted as having said that ‘Middle-Earth is Europe’. He did affirm it was ‘the North-West of the Old World, east of the Sea’; based on that, I have tried to establish a closer correspondence between the two continents (or is it one and the same, modified only during the intervening millennia?).

The latest cartographical evidence available to us¹ is Christopher Tolkien’s map of “The West of Middle-Earth at the End of the Third Age”, so I took this as my basis. The main question was establishing a superposition between two features related in a significant way, one in Europe and the other in Middle-earth. Uncountable possibilities for such an equivalence existed: Minas Tirith and Rome, Lond Daer and Malta, Forochel and the Baltic, ... The ones finally chosen were Hobbiton and Sarehole. This seemed rather fitting to me, for in a way those were the places where “it had all begun”: Bilbo’s journey (which led to his possession of the One Ring and all the other world-shaking events) in the former, and Tolkien’s life in England (with all the impressions that influenced his later descriptions of the Shire) in the latter. I therefore made these two points coincide, as theirs must be the surest identification in my opinion². My latitude and longitude for Sarehole (and therefore Hobbiton) are the rounded co-ordinates for Birmingham: 52·5ºN, 2·0ºW.

The linear scale was already defined, and I took it to be constant all over the map. That, of course, if I were to draw the parallels, or lines of constant latitude, as horizontals (which I did), would make the meridians converge towards the top of the map. I considered only the meridian of Hobbiton to be vertical on the map (that is, coincident with the Northern direction as drawn in).

The result is shown in the accompanying diagram. It is, of course, only approximate at best, but even so several interesting correspondences arise:

The Anduin parallels the flow of the Rhine, albeit in the opposite direction. The French Bay of Biscay coast corresponds quite closely to the shoreline of Minhiriath and Enedwaith, between the mouth of Baranduin and Drúwaith Iaur. The following further coincidences are worth mentioning:

Rivers:	Gwathló	Loire
	Onodló	Po
	Lhûn (Gulf)	Shannon
	Celduin	Vistula (opposite direction)
Mountains / Ranges:	Ered Nimrais	Massif Central / N. Apennines
	Ephel Dúath	S. Apennines
	Pinnath Gelin	Cévennes
	Emyn Muil	Dolomites
	Ered Lithui	Dinaric Alps
	Emyn Beraid	Cambrian Mountains
Forests:	S. Mirkwood	Bohemian Forest
Other Areas:	Udûn	Istria

Not all of these appear on the accompanying map, but may be easily deduced from it. Others certainly may occur to the reader.

As some kind of confirming evidence, I may yet mention the following. The choice of latitude at least was a good one, for in Unfinished Tales (The Disaster of the Gladden Fields) we read that: ‘At the date of the disaster, in the latitude of Imladris ... there were at least eleven hours of daylight ... at midwinter less than eight.’ This agrees quite well with the times arrived at by taking the latitude of Rivendell to be 52·5ºN: about 11·5 hours of daylight in early Narbeleth (Kings’ Reckoning: late September), and about 7·5 hours of daylight around the New Year (Kings’ Reckoning: late December).

The matter is not closed, and discussion thereon may — and certainly will — arise. I believe, though, to have contributed somewhat towards the solution of what has always appeared to me a most baffling problem.

¹ At the time of writing (24Oct81)
² I later changed my mind, although with no large practical consequences.

The coastline in brown on the top left corresponds to the shores of Beleriand

For slightly different views, try the pages by Alberto Monteiro or Lalaith

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