The Atlas of Tolkien’s Middle-earth: by J.R.R. Tolkien, Karen Wynn Fonstad and Christopher Tolkien

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Before the end of the Second Age, when the Men of Númenor rebelled against the Valar, Ilúvatar destroyed Númenor, separated Aman from the rest of Arda, and formed new lands, making the world round. Only Endor remained of the original world, and Endor had now become Eurasia.

The Endor continent became approximately equivalent to the Eurasian land-mass, but Tolkien's geography does not provide any exact correlations between the narrative of The Lord of the Rings and Europe or near-by lands. It is therefore assumed that the reader understands the world underwent a subsequent undocumented transformation (which some people speculate Tolkien would have equated with the Biblical deluge) sometime after the end of the Third Age, or possibly at the fall of Sauron at the end of the Third Age. Another explanation is that many places shifted location, the Misty Mountains moving North to Scandinavia, the White Mountains rotating to become the Alps and the mountains of the west Balkans, Near Harad moving south and west to become the Sahara, Eriador flooding to become northern France and the British Isles, and so on. This would not be the first time that this had happened, as it seems that a consequence from the Siege of Utumno was that Endor rotated eastward, its axis the north pole. Fonstad, Karen Wynn (1981). The Atlas of Middle-earth (1sted.). Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-28665-4.Swycaffer, Jefferson (1983). "Historical Motivations for the Siege of Minas Tirith". Mythlore. 10. article 14.

a b c d Magoun, John F. G. (2013) [2007]. "South, The". In Drout, Michael D.C. (ed.). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp.622–623. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1. As for the shape of the world of the Third Age, I am afraid that was devised 'dramatically' rather than geologically, or paleontologically. [T 12] Thingol quarrelled with the Dwarves of Nogrod and they slew him, stealing the Silmaril. With the help of Ents, Beren waylaid the Dwarves and recovered the Silmaril, which he gave to Lúthien. Soon afterwards, both Beren and Lúthien died again. The Silmaril was given to their son Dior Half-elven, who had restored the Kingdom of Doriath. The sons of Fëanor demanded that Dior surrender the Silmaril to them, and he refused. The Fëanorians destroyed Doriath and killed Dior in the Second Kinslaying, but Dior's young daughter Elwing escaped with the jewel. Three sons of Fëanor – Celegorm, Curufin, and Caranthir – died trying to retake the jewel.

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a b Christopher, Joe R. (2012). "The Journeys To and From Purgatory Island: A Dantean Allusion at the End of C. S. Lewis's 'The Nameless Isle' ". In Khoddam, Salwa; Hall, Mark R.; Fisher, Jason (eds.). C. S. Lewis and the Inklings: Discovering Hidden Truth. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p.206. ISBN 978-1-4438-4431-4. The History of Middle-earth ( The Book of Lost Tales Part One [1983] • The Book of Lost Tales Part Two [1984] • The Lays of Beleriand [1985] • The Shaping of Middle-earth: The Quenta, The Ambarkanta, and The Annals [1986] • The Lost Road and Other Writings [1987] • The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One [1988] • The Treason of Isengard: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Two [1989] • The War of the Ring: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Three [1990] • Sauron Defeated: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Four [1992] • Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion, Part One: The Legends of Aman [1993] • The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two [1994] • The Peoples of Middle-earth [1996] • Index [2006]) It was Karen Wynn Fonstad who later drew detailed, though non-canonical, maps of the whole world to align with the historical ages as portrayed in “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit,” and “The Silmarillion.” J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien created maps that they published as illustrations and foldouts in "The Silmarillion,""The Hobbit," and "The Lord of the Rings," and these encompassed the worlds in all three books. There were early print outs of the map as Tolkien conceptualized early on and were published in "The Silmarillion," and "The Lord of the Rings," and are also in a lot of the volumes of "The Shaping of the Middle Earth," to include "The First Silmarillion Map."