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  ==Sothoryos ==
  To the south of Essos is the continent of Sothoryos (mistakenly spelled Sothoros in early novels). Sothoryos is the third continent of the known world, and is vast, plague-ridden, covered in jungles, and largely unexplored. It is reported to be as large as Essos and described as a "land without end" by Jaenara Belaerys, a Valyrian dragonlord from before the Doom of Valyria.  
  The continent is first named on a map in ''A Storm of Swords'' (2000), showing the cities of Yeen and Zamettar on it. The narrative itself first refers to the continent in ''A Feast for Crows'' (2005). Martin had described Sothoryos in 2002 as "the southern continent, roughly equivalent to Africa, jungly, plague-ridden, and largely unexplored". The novels provide little other information. The swampy nature of Sothoryos is briefly referenced by Victarion in ''A Dance with Dragons'', and teak from Sothoryos is said to be used to build ships. A corsair's road runs along the continent's northern coast. ''A Dance with Dragons'' refers to the diseases on Sothoryos in regards to the wealthy but sick Yunkai slave trader Yezzan zo Qaggaz. Victarion describes some people as "squat and hairy as the apes of Sothoros", and some people fighting in Daznak's Pit for Daenerys's entertainment in ''A Dance with Dragons'' are described as "brindle-skinned half-men from the jungles of Sothoros". Martin said that, unlike other peoples in the novels, the brindled men of Sothoryos were pure fantasy constructs.