Also known as: Suza
The homeland of the Hobbits in the northwest of Middle-earth, granted to them by King Argeleb II of Arthedain in the year 1601 of the Third Age. A green, well-ordered country of farms, smials, and small villages — Hobbiton, Bywater, Tuckborough, Michel Delving — it was quietly protected for centuries by the Rangers of the North without its inhabitants ever knowing. Saruman's ruffians briefly industrialized and despoiled it during the War of the Ring, until the four returning travellers raised the Shire and cast them out; Sam Gamgee's replanting, aided by Galadriel's gift, made the following year the most fruitful in its history.