Dunland means 'Hill Land' in the language of neighbouring Rohan, who's people named it after arriving in nearby Calenardhon in the later Third Age.
The ancient ancestors of the Dunlendings inhabited the forested regions of Middle-earth either side of the Gwathló in the early Second Age, and so were called 'Gwaithuirim' by the early Númenoreans. They spoke a language related to that of the Second House of Men, the Haladin, rather than the vastly different Bëorian/Marachian tongue which stood at the base of Adûnaic, and this lack of mutual understanding led to outright hostility. The Númenoreans greedily harvested their forests for timber, and after much war and bloodshed, the Gwaithuirim from south of the Gwathlo fled east to the Hithaeglir, while others scattered to the cape of Eryn Vorn and the White Mountains.
Special Features:
- Main vegetation: forest
- Special units: Dunlendings, Dunlending Axemen
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