Harad

Haradwaith, or simply Harad, was the immense region located south of both the kingdoms of Gondor and Mordor. The Men of Haradwaith were known as Haradrim or Southrons ("South-multitude").
==Geography==
Haradwaith lay between the Belegaer sea to its west, and Khand to its northeast, and was divided into two main provinces: Near Harad, which was the closest to both Mordor and Gondor, and Far Harad, nearest to the city of Umbar. Harondor, otherwise known as South Gondor, was a buffer zone in the very north of Harad between the lush, verdant grasslands on Gondor's side of the Anduin and the inhospitable dunes of sand to the far south, and was contested over by Gondor and Haradwaith.
The boundary between Near Harad and Khand is not described, and it is unclear how far east Near Harad extended. The majority of Near Harad was a desert, described by Gollum as where the "yellow face is bright and terrible". In the southeast of Near Harad, a natural gulf fed far into the landmass, and a large river flowed inland from there to the northwest, later forking. One branch of the river flowed westwards towards Umbar, and the other northeast. Neither the gulf nor the rivers were given names by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The boundary between Near and Far Harad is indistinct, but compared to the other regions of Middle-earth Far Harad was immense, with likely an extremely varied climate. Much of the southern extents of Far Harad were covered in forests and jungle. The great Mûmakil, called Oliphaunts in legend by the Hobbits, were native to this area. The Mûmakil were rarely seen outside of Far Harad after the Third Age.
==People==
Haradwaith's tribes were divided (at least, in the minds of the men of north-western Middle-earth) into those of Near and Far Harad, although there were many tribes of the Haradrim, often mutually hostile. Those of Near Harad were swarthy, with black hair and dark eyes, whereas the people of Far Harad had black skin.
==History==
===Second Age ===
After the First Age, the men of these lands were among the lesser men who were instructed by the voyaging Númenóreans in the basic arts of civilization. This went on for some time until the middle of the Second Age when the Númenóreans turned their backs on wisdom and became their overlords.
From the latter part of the Second Age, many of the Men of Haradwaith were dominated by the Númenóreans, as were many other peoples whose lands included a coastline. Shortly before the War of the Last Alliance, two Númenórean lords, named Herumor and Fuinur, "rose to great power amongst the Haradrim", but their ultimate fate is not recorded.
===Third Age===
For the first millennium of the Third Age, many Haradrim were still ruled by Black Númenórean lords. However the power of the Black Númenóreans was broken in TA 1050 by King Hyarmendacil I of Gondor and the Haradrim brought under the overlordship of Gondor. Following the Kin-strife this hold was broken and war resumed until the Haradrim were again defeated a century later by Hyarmendacil II. In the 19th century of the Third Age the Haradrim gained possession of Umbar itself, mounting further invasions of Gondor in TA 1944 and TA 2885. Ultimately, Harad fell under the influence of Mordor for much of the Age.
Near Harad later formed an alliance or maybe even a coalition of some sort with the Corsairs of Umbar, and was involved in a series of continual battles with Gondor over South Gondor or Harondor, with Gondor claiming the river Harnen as it's southern border and the Haradrim claiming the Poros as their northern border. By the time of the War of the Ring all the land south of the river Poros was under the influence of the Haradrim and they sent large forces to aid in the Siege of Gondor.
===Fourth Age===
After the revival of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor in the Fourth Age, many of the Haradrim were pardoned and allowed to live in peace. They were required to relinquish South Gondor and Umbar, but remained a free people. 
==Etymology==
In Sindarin, Harad means "South".Parma Eldalamberon, Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien In Quenya, it was Hyarmen.
In earlier versions of the legendarium, the southern continent of the Great Lands was called in Early Quenya Salkinórë, meaning"grass land", or Andesalkë, meaning "long-grass"."Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon" in Parma Eldalamberon, n. XII
==Background==
From the shape of the southern lands shown in Ambarkanta maps, it is clear that the continent of Haradwaith parallels .The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, chapter V: "The Ambarkanta" In fact, the descriptions of the inhabitants of Middle-earth's southern lands and early etymologies of their name suggest that the Haradrim are based on northern African and Middle-Eastern people.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Two, Ch. III: "The Black Gate is Closed"The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VII: The Treason of Isengard, chapter XXV: "The Story Foreseen from Fangorn" Tolkien himself, in an interview in 1967, stated that "south of Harad is Africa, the hot countries."Henry Resnick, "An Interview with Tolkien"
==In adaptations==
*In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, warriors from Haradwaith are prominently featured.
*Haradwaith and its surroundings are depicted in The Lord of the Rings Minecraft mod. The region is significantly fleshed out with original content.
*Haradwaith appears in the 1987 game The Shadows of Mordor; if the player enters the land, the game terminates.
==See also==
*Rhûn
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Amharic 	ሃራድ
Arabic 	هاراد
Armenian 	Հարադ
Belarusian Cyrillic	Харад
Bengali 	হার্ড
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Харад
Chinese 	哈拉德
Chinese (Hong Kong)	哈化德林 , or simply translated to 哈德
Danish 	Harad (Sydlandet)
Georgian 	ჰარადი
Gujarati 	હરાદ
Hebrew 	האראד
Hindi 	हरद
Japanese 	ハラド
Kannada 	ಹರಾದ್
Kazakh 	Харад (Cyrillic) Xarad (Latin)
Korean 	하라드
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Hарад
Macedonian Cyrillic	Харад
Malayalam 	ഹരദ്
Marathi 	हरद
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Харад
Nepalese 	हरद
Pashto 	هاراد
Persian 	هاراد
Punjabi 	ਹਰਡ
Russian 	Харад
Serbian 	Харад (Cyrillic) Harad (Latin)
Sindhi 	هاري
Sinhalese 	හරද්
Tajik Cyrillic 	Харад
Tamil 	ஹரத்
Telugu 	హరద
Thai 	ฮารัด
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Гарад
Urdu 	حرض
Uzbek 	Ҳарад (Cyrillic) Harad (Latin)
Yiddish 	חאַראַד
==References==
Category:Sindarin names & words
Category:Regions
Category:Realms
Category:Far Southern Lands
 
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ru:Харад