Lake-town

Lake-town, also referred to as Esgaroth, was a small independent settlement of Men in the northwestern part of the Long Lake in Rhovanion. The town was constructed entirely of wood and stands upon wooden pillars sunk into the bed of the Long Lake, south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood. Its prosperity was seemingly built on trade between the Men, Elves, and Dwarves of northern Middle-earth.The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Hobbit, "Lake-town"
It was also known as the final resting place of the dragon Smaug, whose bones ended up at the bottom of the lake, and by whom it was destroyed, then subsequently rebuiltThe Atlas of Middle-earth, The Hobbit, "Lake-town"
==Description==
Lake-town may have been separate settlements established on the same site, one predating Smaug's destruction of Dale and the Lonely Mountain in TA 2770The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age" and the other built afterwards. Uniquely, of all of the towns, settlements, fortresses, and cities of Middle-earth, Lake-town utilized water as its defense. The Long Lake was also surrounded by towering cliffs and high mountains, all helpful natural barriers that had the potential to aid its defenders in a siege (such as the Easterling invasion of the North in TA 3019). While these defenses slowed and diverted Lake-town's human enemies, it did nothing to prepare its inhabitants against Smaug, who would harass the townsfolk on a regular basis.
==History==
===Origins===
Lake-town was founded sometime in the Third Age and its inhabitants traded extensively with the Elves of Thranduil's Woodland Realm, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and Iron Hills, and their kin in Dale and Dorwinion to the south. In trading with Mirkwood, wine barrels were sent floating down from Thranduil's caverns along the Forest River to Lake-town.
===Third Age===
In the year 2941 of the Third Age, the town was visited by Bilbo Baggins and Thorin and Company in their adventure to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. Disturbed by their invasion of his lair, Smaug flew from the mountain in the night and began destroying the town. Some inhabitants escaped by boat, though many perished in the maelstrom of fire. The town's archers bravely attempted to shoot down the dragon, but it was not until Bard the Bowman, who had indirectly learned of a weakness in Smaug's armor, first noticed by Bilbo, managed to kill Smaug that the destruction ended. 
Afterwards, Lake-town was rebuilt in greater splendor than before with some of the treasure that Smaug had stolen, though the town's Master ran off with some of the gold. Part of the town's population followed Bard to resettle Dale, helping to make it the capital city of a great realm, with Bard crowned as King. Esgaroth upon the Long-lake and other lands far to the south and east became incorporated into the Kingdom of Dale, with the Lake-men joining their surrounding kin to become the Bardings, the followers of Bard's royal lineage.The Hobbit, Chapter XIX: "The Last Stage"
==Culture & language==
As trading people, the Men of Lake-town knew Westron, the Common Speech. However, amongst themselves they used a speech akin to the language spoken by the Men of Dale. A suggested name for this language by linguists is Esgarothian. Being a form of a Northern tongue, it was loosely related to but still distinct from the ancient tongue of the Rohirrim. J.R.R. Tolkien "translated" Westron into English in his text, so to represent its ancient relative that the Rohirrim spoke, he substituted Old English. Thus, Tolkien substituted Old Norse for the language of the Men of Esgaroth (in person and place names, etc.).thumb|right|250px|The location of Lake-town on a map of Middle-earthThe town was governed by an elected Master of Lake-town whose seat was in the Great House, which was possibly in the market-place. It is not known how regularly elections were held, but the unscrupulous individual who governed the town at the time of the Quest of Erebor had fled into the waste no later than TA 2949, and was replaced by a more honest Master who brought great prosperity.
==In adaptations==
===The Hobbit film trilogy===
In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, the clear Eastern design and culture of Lake-town and its inhabitants (including, the military and political leaders) are primarily derived from medieval Russian influences - i.e., the early Rus' states of Kievan Rus' and its successors. Indeed, Lake-town is reminiscent of the old northern Rus' trading city of Novgorod - itself, like Lake-town, also situated on a lake.
Further, as presented in the movies, per the complex nature of Russian ethno-cultural history, Lake-town itself and its people are thereby infused with East Slavic, Finnic, Baltic, Scandinavian and Turkic influences. In the movies, Peter Jackson clearly defines the culture of Lake-town and Dale as a part of the East.
In the behind the scenes material for the second film, it is explained that Lake-town was broken up into twenty-five areas distinguished between poorer areas and more bourgeois areas. The important areas are bolded.10x10 - Realms of the Third Age - Lake-town | hobbit Behind the Scenes on YouTube
Bourgeois areas:
* North Gate
* Merchant District
* West Gate
* Soldiers District
* Bureaucrats District
* Business District
* Civic Centre
Poor areas:
* Farewell District
* Servants District
* Labourers District
* East Gate
* Warehouse District
* Fish Processing District
* Market District
* Boatbuilding District
* Food District
* South Gate
* Elderly + Sick District
* Bards District
* Immigrant District
* Arrival District
* Tradesmans District
* Craftsman District
* Fishermans District
==Gallery==
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Meer-dorp
Albanian 	Liqeni-qytet
Amharic 	ሐይቅ-ከተማ
Arabic 	بحيرة بلدة (Lake-town)
إسغاروث (Esgaroth)
Armenian 	Լիճ-քաղաք
Assamese 	লেক টাউন
Azerbaijani 	Göl-şəhər
Basque 	Aintzira-herri
Belarusian Cyrillic 	Азёрны горад (Lake-town)
Эсгарот (Esgaroth)
Bengali 	লেক শহরে
Bhojpuri 	झील कस्बा
Bosnian 	Jezero-grad
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Град на езерото
Burmese 	ရေကန် မြို့
Cambodian 	ទីក្រុងបឹង
Catalan 	Ciutat del Llac (Lake-town)
Èsgaroth
Cebuano 	Lungsod sa lanaw
Chinese (Hong Kong) 	長湖鎮
Croatian 	Jezergrad
Czech 	Jezerní město
Danish 	Søenby
Dutch 	Meerstad
Esperanto 	Lago-urbo
Estonian 	Järve linn
Filipino 	Lawa bayan
Finnish 	Järvikaupunki
French 	Bourg-du-Lac / Lacville
Frisian 	Mar-stêd (Western)
Galician 	Cidade do lago
Georgian 	ტბა ქალაქი (Lake-town)
ესგაროთი (Esgaroth)
German 	Seestadt
Greek 	Λίμνη-πόλη
Gujarati 	તળાવ-નગર
Haitian Creole 	Lak-bouk
Hausa 	Tafki-garin
Hebrew 	עיר האגם (Lake-town)
אסגארות (Esgaroth)
Hindi 	झील शहर
Hungarian 	Tóváros
Icelandic 	Vatnabænum
Indonesian 	Danau kotamadya
Irish Gaelic 	Loch-baile
Italian 	Pontelagolungo / Città del Lago
Japanese 	レイクタウン
Kannada 	ಸರೋವರ ಪಟ್ಟಣ
Kazakh 	Көл-қала (Cyrillic) Köl-qala (Latin)
Korean 	호수 마을
Kurdish 	Gol bajar (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Көл шаар
Laotian 	ເມືອງທະເລສາບ
Latin 	lacus oppidum
Latvian 	Ezers-pilsēta
Lithuanian 	Ežeras-miestas
Luxembourgish 	Séi-stad
Macedonian Cyrillic 	Езеро-град
Maithili 	झील शहर
Malagasy 	Farihy tanàna
Malayalam 	തടാക നഗരം
Malaysian 	Tasik bandar
Manx 	Logh Balley
Marathi 	लेक-टाउन
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Нуур-хот
Nepalese 	ताल-शहर
Norwegian 	Langsjøby
Occitan 	Estanh ciutat
Pashto 	د جهيل ښار
Persian 	شهر دریاچه
Polish 	Miasto Na Jeziorze
Portuguese 	Cidade do Lago (Brazil)
Punjabi 	ਝੀਲ ਦਾ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ
Romanian 	Lacului Orașul
Romansh 	Lai Citad
Russian 	Озёрный город (Lake-town)
Эсгарот (Esgaroth)
Serbian 	Град језера (Cyrillic) Grad jezera (Latin)
Scots 	Loch Toun
Scottish Gaelic 	Loch a 'bhaile
Shona 	Nyanza-taundi
Sindhi 	ڍنڍ شهر
Sinhalese 	ලේක් නගරය
Slovak 	Jazero-mesto
Slovenian 	Jezero-mesto
Somalian 	Harada magaalada
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Ciudad del Lago
Sundanese 	Situ kota
Swahili 	Ziwa mji
Swedish 	Sjöstaden
Tajik Cyrillic 	шаҳраки кӯл
Tamil 	ஏரி-நகரம்
Tatar 	Күл шәһәр
Telugu 	లేక్ పట్టణం
Thai 	เมืองริมทะเลสาบ
Tigrinya 	ከተማ ቀላይ
Turkish 	Göl Kasabası
Turkmen 	Kol Şäher
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Озеро-місто
Urdu 	جھیل قصبہ
Uyghur 	كۆل بازىرى
Uzbek 	Кўл шаҳар (Cyrillic) Ko'l shahar (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Thị trấn hồ
Waray 	Danaw Bungtó
Welsh 	Llyn-dref
Xhosa 	Echibi idolophu
Yiddish 	אָזערע שטאָט
Yoruba 	Adágún ilu
Zulu 	Ichibi idolobha
==References==
Category:Cities of Men
Category:Rhovanion
de:Esgaroth
es:Esgaroth
fr:Esgaroth
it:Esgaroth
nl:Esgaroth
pl:Esgaroth
pt-br:Esgaroth
ru:Эсгарот
Category:Harbours and ports