Anfalas

The coastlands of Gondor running westward from the Mouths of Anduin were divided into two stretches, divided at the point where the rivers Morthond and Ringló flowed into the Bay of Belfalas. The coasts eastward of this point belonged to the region of Belfalas, and were known as the 'short beach' or 'short shore', thenfalas in Elvish. Beyond Morthond's mouth, the coasts ran on to form an unbroken shoreline some two hundred and fifty miles in length. This coast was known as the Anfalas, the 'long beach' or 'long shore' (commonly rendered into English in the archaic form 'Langstrand').

Behind the long shore lay a narrow hinterland, rising up into the heights of Pinnath Gelin, the Green Hills. The inhabitants of this narrow land were a rustic people, living far from the great cities of eastern Gondor. For the most part, they lived in small villages (we know of no significant settlement in this region) earning a living by hunting or herding. Despite their pastoral existence, they did follow a lord and acknowledge the power of the Stewards, and would march to war for Gondor when duty called on them.

To the west, the Anfalas was bounded by the river Lefnui, which marked the farthest extent of Gondor's power along the coast. Beyond Lefnui lay only the wild lands of Drúwaith Iaur and the peninsula known as Andrast, land in which the people of the Anfalas believed that the Wild Men known as Drúedain were to be found (a belief that would eventually be proved to be correct). They also had a tradition that Elves had lived within the Anfalas itself in the past, and indeed there were ancient Elven structures to be found at the mouths of Morthond in the east of the land. By the end of the Third Age, however, this Elf-haven, known as Edhellond, had long been abandoned.

Lying far from the centres of power in Gondor, the Anfalas played little direct part in its history. Indeed, only a single historical incident is recorded: long before the War of the Ring, the coasts of the Anfalas suffered raids from the Sea by the Corsairs of distant Umbar. Seeking to bring these raids to an end, and to avenge his great-grandfather Minardil who had been slain by the Corsairs, King Telumehtar went in force against their city of Umbar and captured it for Gondor.

This is the last we hear of the Anfalas in history until the time of the War of the Ring more than a thousand years later. At that time Golasgil was lord of the region, and he gathered what forces he could from the people of the Anfalas. He led those Men on the long journey eastwards to Minas Tirith, a distance of at least three hundred miles and perhaps more. As a poor people of herdsmen and hunters, these Men were not well equipped for war, but they were ready to do what they could in the defence of their homeland.