IHOP - The International House of Panacea

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

As a side question in this thread, what in the world made people so ignorant of other lands in Middle Earth? The distances between, say, Rivendell and Gondor were not that great. And Lorien was even closer to Minas Tirith. I can't believe that, for hundreds of years, there was no commerce, let alone contact (wouldn't the men of Gondor have been smoking Old Toby?).

Think in terms of Dark Ages Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. Markets became more and more localized as the globalized economy of the Empire shrank. The great arteries of Roman roads fell into disuse. In England during most of the early Middle Ages, the populous never left their villages throughout their entire lives, and only a few made the dangerous trek through the primeval forests to reach the next village in a clearing further through the woods.

This, I think, is what Tolkien was getting at in the Shire, where folks that lived only 10 or 20 miles away were thought of as queer -- some even wore boots! "Strange as news from Bree" not only regards the information provided, but is a comment on the insular aspect of the society.