Shire (Middle-earth)

**The Shire** is a fictional location is part of the legendarium created by the British author J. R. R. Tolkien and appears in their novels *The Hobbit* and *The Lord of the Rings*.

It is a region in the northwest of Middle-earth, one of the continents of the fictional world of Arda  where elapses the most part of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. It is, in turn, within the great region of Eriador, where previously existed the kingdom of Arnor. Is inhabited only by hobbits, a race similar to the men and characterized by their short stature. Founded in the middle of the Third Age, their known history is small and with little significants events because the peaceful nature of its inhabitants, with the exception of the events that took place during the War of the Ring.

Even if is not mentioned as such in the novel The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien already was then an idea of what was the Shire, was created "officially" during the composition of the first chapter of The Lord of the Rings and inspired principally in the neighborhood of Sarehole, Birmingham, where the author lived during his childhood.

## The Shire in the languages of the Middle-Earth 
Hobbits sometimes call it **Sûza** (which means "Shire")  or **Sûzat** ("the Shire"), terms that have their origin in the Rohirric, the language of Rohan with which they came in contact before colonizing the Shire. On the other hand, in the Elvish language Sindarin they call it *i Drann*. It is also called "*Four frames*", the name refers to their territorial division.

## Geography 
According to Tolkien, the Shire measured 40 leagues (193&nbsp;km, 120 miles) from the Far Downs in the west to the Brandywine Bridge in the east, and 50 leagues (241&nbsp;km, 150 miles) from the northern moors to the marshes in the south, where he describes the Shire as having an area of 18,000 square miles (47,000&nbsp;km²).

The original territory of the Shire was bounded on the east by the Baranduin River, on the north by uplands rising to the old centre of Arnor, on the west by the White Downs, and on the south by marshland south of the River Shirebourne. After the original settlement, hobbits also expanded to the east into Buckland between the Baranduin and the Old Forest, and (much later) to the west into the Westmarch between the White Downs and the Tower Hills.

The Shire was originally divided into four Farthings. The outlying lands of Buckland and the Westmarch were formally added after the War of the Ring when they were officially granted by King Elessar.

Climate studying and modeling based on local topography and geography by climatologists at the University of Bristol, UK, have found that the Shire holds an annual average temperature of 44 °F (6.7 °C) and an annual yearly precipitation average of 24 inches (61 cm), similar to that of Lincolnshire or Leicestershire, England, or Dunedin, New Zealand.http://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/media/press/10013-english.pdf

## Population 
The Shire is populated only by hobbits. By the time of the War of the Ring, most of the whole hobbit race was there, except those who lived in Bree-land to the east.

The original three tribes of hobbits (Harfoots, Fallohides, Stoors) united and mixed in the Shire. Only in the east part of the Shire there is a bigger Stoorish influence, which can be seen in that those hobbits sometimes grow beards.

The Shire has three leader positions:
*The **Thain** is the leader of all Shire-hobbits. The Thain originates from the Took family.
*The **Master of Buckland**, at the eastern border of the Shire. The Master of Buckland is from the Brandybuck family.
*The **Mayor of Michel Delving**. He is elected every seven years by the Shire-hobbits. He administers the post system and the police.

## References