Narnia (country)

In C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series of novels, Narnia is the country around which the books revolve. It is one of several lands in the Narnian world.

Geography

Narnia is a land of rolling hills rising to low mountains in the south. It is predominantly forested except for marshlands in the north. The country is bordered on the east by the Eastern Ocean, on the west by a great mountain range, on the north by the River Shribble, and on the south by Archenland.

The economic heart of the country centres on the Great River of Narnia, which crosses the country from the northwest on an east-southeasterly course to the Eastern Ocean. The seat of government is Cair Paravel, at the mouth of the Great River. Other communities along the river include (from east to west):

 Beruna: One of four named towns in the country of Narnia. Beruna grew as a strategic location because of the fords on the Great River that were located there. When Narnia was conquered by the Telmarines, a town was built at the Fords of Beruna and a bridge over the river was constructed. In Prince Caspian, Susan Pevensie and Lucy Pevensie accompany Aslan to the bridge, and Bacchus destroys it at the request of the river-god ("Loose my chains").
 Beaversdam: A community named for the dam in the area built by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, helped to escort the four Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) to the Stone Table to meet Aslan. (LWW) The name kept alive memory of the beavers, though in later times they became extinct in Narnia. The community was likely developed before the Telmarine conquest (unless the Telmarines named it after the "Old Narnian" story of the Pevensies', which is unlikely), but it still existed under the Telmarine rule, and seemed to have hosted a majority of the Telmarine-descent population. At the time when the usurper Miraz purged the aristocracy of anyone who might threaten his rule, two brothers who were the lords of Beaversdam were locked up as "madmen" (PC)
 Chippingford: One of four towns named in the country of Narnia. It is mentioned briefly at the start of The Last Battle when Shift the Ape sends Puzzle the donkey there to buy oranges and bananas. It is a British English name, made up as if derived from the Anglo-Saxon Cēapungford which means "market ford". (LB)

History

Inhabitants

The Kings and Queens of Narnia

Regnal history
While only some kings and queens are named in the book, the custom of Narnians to name sons after fathers, as well as a timeline that Lewis wrote outside of the series proper, helps create a fairly complete list of monarchs in the world of Narnia. This table gives the regnal years of the monarchs, as determined by the timeline and clues in the books themselves.

Titles
When monarchs are installed on the throne of Narnia, they receive the following titles:
 King/Queen of Narnia
 Emperor/Empress of the Lone Islands (first acquired by Gale of Narnia) & Dragon Island
 Lord/Lady of Cair Paravel
 Lord/Lady of Telmar (from Caspian I to Tirian)

They may also receive the following titles:
 Knighthood of the Order of the Lion
 Knighthood of the Order of the Table
 Duke/Duchess of the Lantern Waste
 Duke/Duchess of Galma and the Seven Isles
 Baron/Baroness of Ettinsmoor (acquired by Caspian X)
 Count/Countess of the Western Marches

Narnia and Narni (Italy)
C. S. Lewis took the name from the Italian town of Narni, whose Latin name was in fact Narnia. Concerning Narnia and Narni Roger Lancelyn Green writes about C.S. Lewis and Walter Hooper:

See also 
 Outline of Narnia

References

Narnia
Category:Fictional kingdoms