Dwarf realms

Throughout the history of Middle-earth, there were many Dwarf realms: 
* Khazad-dȗm was the most famous and greatest of all the Dwarf kingdoms. Located in the Misty Mountains, it was the home of the Longbeards and was later populated with Firebeards and Broadbeams fleeing Nogrod and Belegost. It prospered for thousands of years until the Dwarves awoke the Balrog which drove them from Khazad-dȗm, it was then renamed Moria ("Black Pit" in Sindarin).The Dwarves returned to Moria in the Fourth Age, led by their leader Durin VII. It is said that the halls of Khazad-dȗm were filled with the sounds of hammers once again, and was prosperous till the fading of the Dwarven race.
* Nogrod and Belegost were located in the Blue Mountains. Nogrod was the home of the Firebeards, and Belegost the home of the Broadbeams. Nogrod was completely destroyed in the War of Wrath and Belegost was ruined, leaving the Firebeards and Broadbeams to relocate to Khazad-dȗm in SA 40.The Blue Mountains were later a refuge for much of Durin's Folk who established Thorin's Halls in the latter half of the Third Age. However, the Firebeards and Broadbeams continued to live there through the Fourth Age, and probably till the diminishing of the race of Dwarves (There were and always will be Dwarves on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains).
* Mount Gundabad stood in the northernmost section of the Misty Mountains, close to the western extremity of the Grey Mountains. It was a stronghold of Dwarves and, later, Orcs. According to the Dwarves, Durin the Deathless, oldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves, awoke in Mount Gundabad sometime after the awakening of the Elves. Mount Gundabad remained sacred to the Dwarves ever after. . In the middle of the Second Age, Orcs (servants of Sauron) invaded Gundabad. The site would not be cleansed until very late in the Second Age, possibly around or after the fall of Sauron and the loss of the One Ring. In the Third Age, the Orcs of Angmar yet again claimed it, which was one of the reasons for the Dwarves' special hatred of this people. After the fall of Angmar, Gundabad remained an Orc stronghold, even after it was sacked during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. The army of goblins that fought in the Battle of Five Armies was said to have mustered at the mountain in The Hobbit. It is possible that the Longbeards may have reclaimed their ancient birthplace from the Orcs due to the reclaiming of Khazad-dûm and the power of the Reunited Kingdom during the Fourth Age.
* The Exiled Kingdom in the Grey Mountains were the halls which many of Durin's Folk relocated to after being exiled from Khazad-dȗm. The Dwarves of the Grey Mountains became very prosperous in their new halls. For over 500 years they mined and defended their halls from the dragons of the north and the Orcs from the west. Until, finally Cold-drakes forced them from the mountains, and killed their king Dáin I.
* The Kingdom under the Mountain was one of the greatest kingdoms of the Dwarves. Located at Erebor, it was founded by Thráin I, but was abandoned by his son, Thorin I. It was resettled by Thrór but, years later, Smaug sacked the mountain and drove the Dwarves out. Thorin II Oakenshield refounded the kingdom in TA 2941 at the cost of his life.
* The Iron Hills were a range of hills rich with iron, colonized by Durin's Folk during the First Age. Around the year TA 2590 of the Third Age, Grór younger son of Dáin I founded the Iron Hills as an independent lordship after the Dwarves were exiled from the Grey Mountains, and he became the first Lord of the Iron Hills. The exiles who settled in the Iron Hills were of course in friendly relations with the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain (Erebor), who were of similar like and mind, being kin to Grór and Thrór. After the Battle of Five Armies, many Dwarves of the Iron Hills relocated to the Lonely Mountain after the kingdom of Erebor was re-founded.
* The Glittering Caves of Aglarond were a cave system in the White Mountains behind Helm's Deep. Gimli son of Glóin led a group of Dwarves of Erebor there after the War of the Ring and became the Lord of the Glittering Caves. His Dwarves performed great services for the Rohirrim and the Men of Gondor, of which the most famous was the making of new gates for Minas Tirith, forged out of mithril and steel. The Dwarves of Aglarond restored the Hornburg following the War of the Ring. The Dwarves of the Glittering Caves carefully tended the stone walls of the caves and opened new ways and chambers and hung lamps that filled the caverns with light.
* The Mountains of the Far East, probably in the Orocarni range, were inhabited by four of the Dwarf clans. The distance between their mansions in the East and the Misty Mountains, specifically Gundabad, was said to be as great or greater than that of Gundabad's distance from the Blue Mountains in the West. Little is known of them save for their clan names; the Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks and Stonefoots.
* The Exiled Realm in Dunland was established by Dwarves fleeing from Erebor after it was sacked by Smaug. This is where Thrór departed from when he and his companion Nár journeyed to Moria in TA 2790. After the Battle of Azanulbizar, provoked by the Orcs' brutal slaying of Thrór, Thráin II and Thorin led the remnants of their followers back to Dunland but soon left (to eventually settle in the Ered Luin).
*Narukuthûn, later known as the Ñoldorin realm Nargothrond, was located on the western bank of the river Narog, beneath the forested hills of Taur-en-Faroth. The Caverns of Narog (Narukuthûn) were secretly inhabited by the Petty-dwarves before they were driven out. Much later, Mîm the Petty-dwarf settled there, reclaiming his people's ancient home until he was killed by Húrin. The realm remained deserted for the rest of the First Age until the War of Wrath when it was submerged beneath the sea with the rest of Beleriand.
Category:Dwarves
de:Zwerge#Bekannte_Zwergenstädte
Category:Dwarven kingdoms