A term used to refer to the populated and comparatively civilised regions of Middle-earth, as opposed to the wild and dangerous regions to the East and the South. The term is somewhat vague, but it certainly includes the region known as Eriador, the wide land that lay westward of the Misty Mountains. It presumably also included Lindon, the land of the Elves westward of Eriador beyond the Blue Mountains.

The term 'West of Middle-earth' is specifically used with reference to the history of the Second Age (it would not have been relevant in the First Age, as there was a significant landmass - Beleriand - still further to the west). If applied to the Third Age, it would presumably also include the civilised lands of Gondor and later Rohan southward of the Misty Mountains, though during the Second Age this was a sparsely settled region with little historical significance.