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Revision as of 19:42, 22 September 2005 by Malcolm Farmer (talk | contribs) (→Incomplete list of fictional countries: Nihilon)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)A fictional country is a country that is made up, and does not exist in real life. Fictional lands appear most commonly as settings or subjects of literature or of movies.
Fictional countries appear commonly in stories of early science fiction (or scientific romance). Such countries supposedly form part of the normal Earth landscape although not located in a normal atlas. Later similar tales often took place on fictional planets.
Jonathan Swift's protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, visited various strange places. Edgar Rice Burroughs placed adventures of Tarzan in areas in Africa that, at the time, remained mostly unknown to the West and to the East. Isolated islands with strange creatures and/or customs enjoyed great popularity in these authors' times. When Western explorers had surveyed most of the Earth's surface, this option was lost to Western culture. Thereafter fictional utopian and dystopian societies tended to spring up on other planets or in space, whether in human colonies or in alien societies originating elsewhere.
Superhero and secret agent comics and some thrillers also use fictional countries as backdrops. Most of these countries exist only for a single story, a TV-series episode or an issue of a comic book.
Purpose
Fictional countries often deliberately resemble or even represent some real-world country or present a utopia or dystopia for commentary. Variants of the country's name sometimes make it clear what country they really have in mind. (Compare semi-fictional countries below.) By using a fictional country instead of a real one, authors can exercise greater freedom in creating characters, events, and settings, while at the same time presenting a vaguely familiar locale that readers can recognize. A fictional country leaves the author unburdened by the restraints of a real nation's actual history, politics, and culture, and can thus allow for greater scope in plot construction.
Writers may create an archetypal fictional "Eastern European", "Middle Eastern", "Asian", or "Latin American" country for the purposes of their story. (Relatively few fictional countries outside of alternative history have locations in North America or in Western Europe, presumably because global audiences have better familiarity with these areas' actual circumstances.)
Such countries often embody stereotypes about their regions. For example, inventors of a fictional Eastern European country will typically describe it as a former or current Soviet satellite state, or with a suspense stories about a royal family; if pre-20th Century, it will likely resemble Ruritania or feature copious vampires and other supernatural phenomena. A fictional Middle Eastern state often lies somewhere on the Arabian peninsula, has substantial oil-wealth, and either a sultan or a mentally-unstable dictator as a ruler. A fictional Latin American country will typically project images of a banana republic beset by constant revolutions, military dictatorships, and coups d'état.
Modern writers usually do not try to pass off their stories as facts. However, in the early 18th century George Psalmanazar passed himself off as a prince from the island of Formosa (present-day Taiwan) and wrote a fictional description about it to convince his sponsors.
Entrepreneurs have also invented fictional countries solely for the purpose of defrauding people. In the 1820s, Gregor MacGregor sold land in the invented country of Poyais. In modern times, the Dominion of Melchizedek and the Kingdom of EnenKio have been accused of this. Many varied financial scams can play out under the aegis of a fictional country, including selling passports and travel documents, and setting up fictional banks and companies with the seeming imprimatur of full government backing.
Incomplete list of fictional countries
Fictional works describe all the countries in the following list as located somewhere on the surface of the Earth as we know it — as opposed to inside the planet, on another world, or during a different "age" of the planet (see below).
- Abari: fictional British (and ex-British) territory in South America in novels written by John Hearne and Morris Cargill
- Aeaea: Odysseus visited the land of the Lotus-Eaters, the mythical island of Aeaea (home of Circe), and the palace of Alcinous
- Afromacoland: African country in the novel Chief the Honourable Minister by T.M. Aluko
- Agraria: Eastern country in the movie You Know What Sailors Are
- Al-Alemand: Islamic state consisting of the former Germany and the Low Countries. From the alternative history book The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Al Amarja: Mediterranean island state in the Over the Edge roleplaying game
- Albenistan: Central Asian country in the d20 adventures Raid on Ashkashem, the Qalashar Device, and the Khorforhan Gambit written by Fraser Ronald and published by Sword's Edge Publishing
- Aldestan: Central Asian country, adjacent to Kazakhstan, in the Command & Conquer: Generals video game
- Alpine Emirates: Islamic states in the Bavarian Alps. From the alternative history book The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Angria: imaginary country from the poems of the Brontë sisters
- Aquilea: South American country in the movie Les Trottoirs de Saturne
- Aquilonia: kingdom of the Robert E. Howard character Conan the Barbarian
- Arcacia: mythical kingdom in the movie A Royal Family
- Ardistan: in the novel Ardistan and Dschinnistan by Karl Friedrich May
- Aslan: anime Area 88. Sometimes also transliterated "Asran".
- Axphain: neighbor of Graustark
- Azaran: Middle Eastern country in The Andromeda Breakthrough TV series
- BabaKiueria: a fictional country in Australia in the movie BabaKiueria
- Babalstan: Middle Eastern country in the movie Harum Scarum
- Babar's Kingdom
- Bacteria: thinly-disguised version of Fascist Italy from the movie The Great Dictator
- Baki: homeland of Omio in Madeleine L'Engle's writing, a small Pacific island nation once dominated by British
- Balinderry: strategically-placed quasi-Irish nation that is crucial to a defence radar system, but has an IRA-type insurgency, in an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man
- Bangalla: The Phantom comic strip. The Phantom's base lies in the deep woods of this central African nation.
- Beninia: John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar
- Betonia: European kingdom in the movie His Royal Highness (1932)
- Birdwell Island: Imaginary de facto independent island community in the Clifford, the Big Red Dog series.
- Bonande: imaginary West African country in the movie La Nuit de la vérité
- Bongo Congo: African kingdom in cartoon King Leonardo and his Short Subjects
- Booty Island: a pirate island in the Caribbean Sea in the second Monkey Island game, part of the Tri-Island area (governed by Elaine Marley)
- Brainania: Pinky and the Brain
- Braslavia: Slavic dictatorial country in Patrouille des Castors comics
- Bregna: Aeon Flux
- Brutopia: country appearing in several Donald Duck stories, possibly referring to the Soviet Union
- Bumdumborge: Homestar Runner
- Buranda: African country in the BBC comedy series Yes, Minister
- Calia: Modesty Blaise episode "The Jericho Caper"
- Canusia: country located off the coast of South Africa
- Carbombya: fictional country mentioned in the Transformers series
- Carpania: European kingdom in The Great Race movie
- Carpathia: Balkan kingdom in the movie The Prince and the Showgirl
- Cascara: a tiny Caribbean island in the movie Water
- Cayuna: an imaginary Caribbean island modelled on Jamaica in the novels of John Hearne.
- Chekia: mythical kingdom in the movie The Only Thing
- Chimerica: Central American country from the Hidden Agenda computer game
- Chiroubistan: a fictional Balkan/Islamic country perpetually at war, in the French comic strip "Henriette"
- Cimmeria: homeland of the Robert E. Howard character Conan the Barbarian
- Costaguana: Joseph Conrad's Nostromo
- Country of the Blind: H. G. Wells
- Crab Island: poor Caribbean island shaped like a crab, under the domination of Crocodile Island, in the Patrouille des Castors comics
- Crocodile Island: Caribbean island shaped like a crocodile, with a dictatorial government which seems to be heavily influenced by Tahiti, in the Patrouille des Castors comics
- Danu: setting of Timothy Mo's 1991 novel The Redundancy of Courage, based on East Timor
- Dawsbergen: neighbor of Graustark
- Dinotopia: James Gurney's illustrated books
- Dortugal: one of the countries that neighbors Free Country USA in Homestar Runner
- Dschinnistan (Djinnistan): in the novel Ardistan and Dschinnistan by Karl Friedrich May
- Eastasia: Nineteen Eighty-Four
- Ecotopia: in the novels Ecotopia and Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach. See also Cascadia, which is a country slowly emerging based in part on Callenbach's Ecotopia.
- Ecuarico: homeland of an exiled dictator in an episode of Gilligan's Island
- Elbonia: from the comic strip Dilbert
- Electopia: country in the Megaman Battle Network series, analogous to Japan. Central to the development of network infrastructure.
- Eleutheria: a fictional island nation in the Southwest Pacific Ocean from the Eleutheria Model Parliament role playing game.
- Eretz: home of a visiting prime minister, Salka Palmir, in an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man ('Eretz' is Hebrew for 'land')
- Erewhon (anagram of nowhere): in the novel Erewhon by Samuel Butler
- Estrovia: European kingdom in the movie A King in New York
- Esturia: Slavic country in Patrouille des Castors comics
- Euphrania: tiny kingdom in the movie The Slipper and the Rose
- Eurasia: Nineteen Eighty-Four
- Evallonia: Central European country in the novels of John Buchan
- Filemonia: One of the countries resulting of the 1991 collapse of USSR as told in Mortadelo y Filemón: El 35 Aniversario
- Findas: country sunk under the waves in the Book of Conquests
- Florin: William Goldman's The Princess Bride
- Flyspeck Island: Home of Gunk in the comic strip Curtis
- Forest Kingdom: Simon Green's Blue Moon Rising. Ruled by King John.
- Franistan: Lucy pretends to be a "Maharincess" (cross between the daughter of a Maharaja and a Princess) from here, in the first season of I Love Lucy.
- Freedonia: nation from the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup
- Freiland: Theodor Hertzka
- Frobnia: Eastern Bloc nation from Infocom's interactive fiction game Border Zone
- Gavel: the republic in the animated picture Ghost in the Shell
- Genovia: European country from the movie The Princess Diaries and its sequel
- Gilead: fictional republic in the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Gnubia: from television series Macgyver
- Gondal: imaginary country from the poems of Bronte sisters
- Gormenghast Castle: Mervyn Peake
- Grand Fenwick: a duchy in The Mouse That Roared and sequels by Leonard Wibberley
- Graustark: Eastern European country in several novels by George Barr McCutcheon
- Groland: French television channel Canal+ "presipality"
- Guilder: William Goldman's The Princess Bride
- Herland: in the novel Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Hidalgo: South American country in the movie Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
- Hillsdown: duchy in Simon Green's Blue Moon Rising. Ruled by Duke Alaric.
- Huella Islands: islands off the coast of Cayenne, mentioned in the Hardy Boys books. They are ruled by dictator Juan Posada and their "spy chief" is named Bedoya. The adjective is Huellan.
- Hy-Brazil
- Hyetsu: archipelago of islands, regrouping three nations, off the coast of South America
- Interzone: a fictionalized version of Tangier from William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch
- Ishtar: a Middle Eastern emirate in the movie Ishtar
- Islandia: self-isolated country in Austin Tappan Wright's novel Islandia
- Isthmus: a fictionalized version of Panama in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill
- Ixania: a small Balkan country of little global importance in Eric Ambler's The Dark Frontier
- Jambalaya Island: an ex-pirate island in the Caribbean, turned to a tourist attraction center, in Escape from Monkey Island
- Javasu: an island in the Indian Ocean, the alleged country of "Princess Caraboo"
- Jesusland: from the Jesusland map Internet meme
- Kampong: The Thirteen-Gun Salute
- Karathia: Slavic monarchy in the Three Young Investigators series
- Keltic Sultanate: Islamic sultanate comprising the British Isles. From the alternative history book The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Kinakuta (Queenah-Kootah): island state from Neal Stephenson's novels Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle
- Kinjanja: African country in the movie A Good Man in Africa (1994) starring Sean Connery
- Klopstockia: from the W. C. Fields movie Million Dollar Legs
- Krakozhia: from the movie The Terminal
- Kuhndu: African country from the television series The West Wing
- Kuristan: from the movie Mr. Magoo, central Asian nation that is home to the famous jewel The Star of Kuristan
- Kurland: mythical kingdom in the movie A Royal Family (but see Courland)
- Ladonia - fictional, non-boundary country based in the southwest of Sweden
- Laevatia: from Nevil Shute's Ruined City
- Laurania: the republic in Savrola (A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania) by Winston Churchill
- Lavernia: Eastern European country in the movie Another Meltdown (Bi xie lan tian)
- Leutonia: Eastern European home of the Happy Wanderers (Yosh & Stan Shmenge) from SCTV
- Libria: a totalitarian state in the movie Equilibrium
- Litzenburg: neutral country in the Border Zone computer game
- Lividia: mythical kingdom in the movie Greater Than a Crown
- Loompaland: a "terrible" country from Roald Dahl's 1964 children's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is inhabited by dwarves called Oompa Loompas and is full of extremely dangerous creatures called Snozzwangers, Hornswogglers, Verminous Knids, and wicked Whangdoodles.
- Low countries: Simon Green's Beyond the Blue Moon. Capital city: Haven.
- Lower Slobbovia: ice-covered wasteland from the comic strip Li'l Abner
- Lucre Island: a pirate island in the fourth Monkey Island game, Escape from Monkey Island
- Lugash: Mideast nation from the Pink Panther series of movies
- Luly: island of the bards in Patricia McKillip's Song for the Basilisk
- Lyonesse: land sunk under the waves in Welsh legend
- Maguadora: tiny Central American country in the movie Whoops Apocalypse
- Magyaristan - Islamic state in the former Hungary. From the alternate history book The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Makovnia: small European kingdom in the operetta The Merry Widow
- Maple White Land: land of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World
- Mardi archipelago: Herman Melville's Mardi and a Voyage Thither
- Matobo: a state in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, from the 2005 film The Interpreter
- Dominion of Melchizedek: a micronation widely linked to fraudulent banking activities
- Mêlée Island: a pirate island in the Caribbean Sea, from the Monkey Island games, part of the Tri-Island area (governed by Elaine Marley)
- Melnibone: from Elric by Michael Moorcock
- Mervo: an island principality in the Mediterranean in the novel The Prince and Betty by P. G. Wodehouse
- Mesa de Oro: unstable Latin American island in the Three Young Investigators series. (The name means "golden table" in Spanish.)
- Molvania: Eastern European country from a parody travel guidebook; from the same author as Phaic Tan.
- Monica: Aeon Flux
- Moominland: home of the Moomins in the books of Tove Jansson
- Moribundia: in Patrick Hamilton's Impromptu in Moribundia
- Moronica: parody of Nazi Germany from the Three Stooges short You Natzy Spy
- Mortadelonia: One of the countries resulting of the 1991 collapse of USSR as told in Mortadelo y Filemón: El 35 Aniversario
- Munma Holy Republic: Islamic republic, formed out of the southern quarter of Iran and Pakistan, Appleseed manga.
- Mypos: home of Balki from Perfect Strangers
- Isle of Naboombu: kingdom of anthropomorphic animals in the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- Nagonia: fictional African country in Yulian Semyonov's spy novel TASS is authorized to announce... (ТАСС уполномочен заявить...), and in the Soviet movie of the same title
- Nayak: imaginary West African country in the movie La Nuit de la vérité
- NetFrica: country in the Megaman Battle Network series analogous to Africa
- Netopia: country in the Megaman Battle Network series analogous to North America
- Nibia: African country in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
- Nihilon: A country somewhere in central Europe, run by nihilists, in Alan Sillitoe's comic novel "Travels in Nihilon"
- Nivia: from the Photon TV series
- Novistrana: from the computer game Republic: The Revolution
- Nutopia: John Lennon's conceptual country
- Oceania: Nineteen Eighty-Four
- Olympus: an artificial island nation, run by genetic modified humans and advanced technology, Appleseed manga
- Orsinia: Ursula Le Guin's Orsinian Tales and Malafrena
- Osterland: Patricia McKillip's Riddle Master of Hed. Ruled by Har from Yrye. There is an Osterland in Thuringia, Germany, but there is probably no connection.
- Osterlich: nation invaded by Bacteria and Tomania in the movie The Great Dictator; obviously supposed to be Austria.
- Ostnitz: country from the Border Zone computer game
- The Land of Oz: L. Frank Baum's World of Oz novels
- Pala: fictional island utopia in Aldous Huxley's Island
- Palombia: Spirou comics
- Panquita: European monarchy mentioned in second season of Yakitate!! Japan anime. A member of that nation's royal family, Princess Anne, was a guest judge at the baking exhibition.
- Parador: Latin American nation from Moon Over Parador
- Paragonia: Latin American country in the movie The Americano (1916)
- Pathos: neighbor of Mypos, part of a different Tri-Island Area in Perfect Strangers
- Petoria: from the "E. Peterbus Unum" episode of Family Guy
- Phaic Tan: South East Asian country from a parody travel guidebook; from the same author as Molvania.
- Phatt Island: an island in the Caribbean in the second Monkey Island game
- Pimlico: self-proclaimed country in the area of London in the movie Passport to Pimlico
- Plunder Island: a pirate island in the Caribbean in the third Monkey Island game, part of the Tri-Island area (governed by Elaine Marley)
- Pokoponesia: island nation from the animated version of The Tick
- Poldévie: Eastern European country in a famous petition in the 1930s and in many novels by Jacques Roubaud
- Pottsylvania: Jay Ward's The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
- Poyais: 1820's fraudulent creation of Gregor MacGregor
- Prance: Homestar Runner
- Qumar: Middle Eastern state from the television series The West Wing
- Qumran: Arab country in the BBC comedy series Yes, Minister
- Qwghlm: a country off the northwestern coast of Britain in Neal Stephenson's fictions Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle
- Ragaan: Southeast Asian country located between Thailand and Malaysia featured in the ABC's TV series Embassy
- Razkavia: Germanic country in Philip Pullman's The Tin Princess
- Realia: fictional republic in the Boiling Point video game
- La Republica de las Bananas (literally, "banana republic"): from the board game Junta
- Riallaro archipelago: Godfrey Sweven's Riallaro, the Archipelago of Exiles
- Robonia: from Futurama television series. Country made up by Bender so he could compete in the Olympics.
- Ruritania: Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda and associated works
- Sachenia: a tiny state close to the Alps in the movie Herz ohne Krone
- Sacramento: a banana republic from Érico Veríssimo's novel, O Senhor Embaixador (The Ambassador)
- Salouf: Arabic oil-rich monarchy in the movie Where the Spies Are
- San Cristobel: tropical island country in The Guiding Light TV series
- San Glucos: The Simpsons episode "Sweets and Sour Marge"
- San Lorenzo: Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle
- San Marcos: Latin American republic in Woody Allen's comedy Bananas
- San Monique: Caribbean nation run by a drug lord in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die
- San Pedro: Sherlock Holmes story "Wisteria Lodge"
- San Serriffe: April Fool's Day joke
- Santa Cristal: Central American country in the movie Santa Cristal
- Sarkhan: Southeast Asian country from the novel Ugly American by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick and the subsequent movie
- Scabb Island: an anarchic pirate island in the Caribbean in the second Monkey Island game
- The Triple Monarchy of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania: the Dr. Engelbert Eszterhazy stories by Avram Davidson
- Sercia: fictional republic in Time Crisis video game
- Shadaloo: Southeast Asian state in the 1994 film Street Fighter, based on the Capcom computer game (in which the same word was used to describe various other things, including a criminal organisation). In the television series Street Fighter II V, a similar name, Shadowlaw, refered to a master organization controlled by Bison which several lesser syndicates operated under.
- Shangri-La: from James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon
- Sharo: country in Megaman Battle Network series analogous to Russia
- Skandistan: Islamic state comprising what was formerly Scandanavia. From the alternate history book The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Skeptos: neighbor of Mypos, part of a different Tri-Island Area in Perfect Strangers
- Skull Island: King Kong movie(s)
- Skull Island (2): a small pirate island in the Caribbean in the third Monkey Island game
- Skypiea: an island in the sky ruled by a false god in the anime/manga series One Piece
- Slovetzia: a tiny country in Eastern Europe in the movie The Beautician and the Beast
- Island of Sodor: between England and the Isle of Man, the setting for the Reverend Awdry's Thomas the Tank Engine railway network managed by "The Fat Controller"
- Sonzola: fictional African republic mentioned in the novels of Christopher Brookmyre.
- Strackenz: European country in the novel Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser
- Strong Badia: Homestar Runner
- Sylvania: belligerent neighbor to Freedonia in the movie Duck Soup
- Tanah Masa: Karel Čapek's War with the Newts
- Taronia: from the movie Thirty Day Princess
- Tawaki: from the movie Man of the Moment
- Tecala: from the movie Proof of Life
- Terresta: European country in the movie His Royal Highness (1918)
- Tijata: Central American dictatorship from the movie The In-Laws
- Tir Na n'Og: "Land of the Youth," the Celtic paradise
- Tirania (also Republic of Tirania): Country governed by dictator Bruteztrausen; Spanish secret agents Mortadelo and Filemón helped depose Bruteztrausen and president Rompetechen was then elected.
- Tomania: Nazi Germany–like country from the movie The Great Dictator, ruled by Adenoid Hynkel
- Tontecarlo: A gambler's paradise in Superlópez comic-books until Superlópez's turistic visit. Clearly based on Montecarlo; "Tonte" refers to Spanish word tonto (=fool).
- Totalslava: "Homestar Runner"
- Tropico: island nation in the Caribbean in the Tropico computer game
- Tsalal: an island in the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe and its sequel An Antarctic Mystery by Jules Verne
- Unistat: analogue of the United States of America in the Schrödinger's Cat trilogy of Robert Anton Wilson
- Uqbar: Jorge Luis Borges's Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
- Utopia: Thomas More's De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia
- Val Verde: Spanish-speaking country resembling Cuba, Commando and Die Hard 2
- Valeska: a tropical country from the Three Stooges short Saved by the Belle
- Vandreka: European country in the movie The Lady Vanishes
- Vespugia: South American nation located in Patagonia, site of ancient step pyramids and a history of some Welsh settlement; in books by Madeleine L'Engle. In an alternate timeline it was ruled by a dictator who threatened nuclear warfare.
- Virtú: virtual reality in Roger Zelazny's novel Donnerjack
- Volsinia: the country with unknown location in Dr Trifulgas: A Fantastic Tale by Jules Verne
- Vulgaria: the far-off, make-believe land in the children's story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car by Ian Fleming
- Wallarya: a small country in the Balkans in the movie His Royal Highness (1918)
- Whalallapa: a country used in parlor games to dupe an intoxicated person.
- Yakastonia: mountainous eastern European nation, where yodeling is prominent in local culture, but so is surfing on its coast. Important landmark is Mount Bubneboba, and its fresh mountain air is celebrated worldwide. A traditional greeting is doing an armpit fart while repeating the word "zwooba!". Home of exchange student Fentruck on the animated series Doug.
- Kingdom Of Yr: Joanne Greenberg's novel I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
- Yukon Confederacy a country in the novel Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson
- Yumland: a country in the Megaman Battle Network series analogous to Southeast Asia, mostly Thailand.
- West Xylophone - fulfils the letters W and X in They Might Be Giants' Alphabet of Nations
- Zamunda: fictional African monarchy from the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America
- Zangaro: West African country in the movie The Dogs of War
- Zanzibar Land: sole nuclear power in the Metal Gear series of video games
- Zekistan: a Middle Eastern country between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China in the Full Spectrum Warrior computer game; its history and setting closely resemble Afghanistan's
- Zembla: a fictional Northern European country in Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire
- Zinariya: an African country famous for its copper mines, ruled by a dictator, General Bindiga, in A. N. Wilson's My Name Is Legion
Lands in Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan had adventures in:
- Ashair
- Caspak
- Castra Sanguinaries & Castrum Mare
- London-on-Thames
- Opar
- Pellucidar
- Pal-ul-Don
- Xujan Kingdom
Lands in the Tintin stories by Hergé
Tintin traveled to:
Lands in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Lemuel Gulliver stumbled upon:
- Balnibarbi
- Brobdingnag
- Glubbdubdrib
- Laputa
- Lilliput and Blefuscu
- Luggnagg
- the land of the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos
- the Kingdom of Tribnia, called by the natives Langden (anagrams of Britain and England)
- Japan although real had a semi-mythical aura about it in Swift's day
Lands inside the Earth
See also Hollow Earth.
- Agarthi - mysterious empire inside the earth
- Pellucidar - Edgar Rice Burroughs
- D'ni
- Zion - The Matrix
Lands of Robert E. Howard
While the map of Earth in the "Hyborian Age" differs markedly from today's, some of Howard's fictional, ancient countries are obviously serve as ancestors of historical ones.
- Aquilonia, kingdom of Conan the Barbarian.
- Cimmeria, home of Conan the Barbarian.
- Valusia, kingdom of Atlantis ruled by Kull
...and others.
Lands of Arda and Middle-earth
Though J. R. R. Tolkien indicated that he intended Arda to represent our Earth in a previous age, sometimes few correspondences exist between modern landmasses and countries and those of Arda. The following countries, areas or regions feature on the continent Middle-earth:
- Angmar, country of the Witch-king of Angmar
- Arnor, the northern kingdom of men.
- Dol Guldur Hill of Black Magic, stronghold of the Necromancer (Sauron). From the description, probably based on Glastonbury Tor, Somerset.
- Dunland, the country of the Dunlendings
- Eriador
- Erebor, the Lonley Mountain
- Forodwaith, the Northern Waste
- Gondor
- Haradwaith, a Southron land, home to the Haradrim
- Ithilien, trans-Anduinian Gondor
- Lothlórien, greenwood land of Galadriel (also Lórinand and Laurelindórenan.
- Mirkwood an elven forest invaded by the evil of Sauron
- Mordor, mountain-girt land of evil
- Moria (also Khazad-dûm), a country or city-state beneath the Misty Mountains
- Rohan, home to the horse-lords
- The Shire, land of the Hobbits
See also the category Realms of Middle-earth.
Lands of the DC Comics universe
- Austanburg
- Badhnisia
- Bialya
- Corto Maltese - Small South American nation
- Dinosaur Island
- Feithera
- Gorilla City - African city-state and home of supervillain Gorilla Grodd
- Hasaragua - South American nation
- Kaznia
- Khandaq - Conquered by Black Adam and associates. Presumably near Egypt.
- Kooey Kooey Kooey
- Markovia
- Modora
- Posidonis (Atlantis)
- Qurac
- Rheelasia - Asian nation
- Santa Prisca - Caribbean republic, birthplace of supervillain Bane in the DC Universe.
- Themyscira (Paradise Island) - Country of the Amazons (Hippolyta, Wonder Woman), believed to be in the Caribbean, specifically in the Bermuda Triangle.
- Transbelva - Eastern European nation
- Tritonis
- Vlatava - Balkan nation once ruled by ancestors of Count Vertigo, destroyed by The Spectre
- Zandia
Lands of the Marvel Comics universe
- Al-Mazahmiya
- Alberia
- Althea Island
- Aquiria
- Azania
- Bagmom
- Bartovia
- Bastrona
- Belgriun - European kingdom
- Boca Caliente
- Bodavia
- Bolamoira
- Bora-Buru
- Bosqueverde
- Burunda
- Canaan
- Carnelia
- Carpassia
- Celsia
- Central Saharan Republic
- Costa Brava
- Costa Diablo
- Costa Dinora
- Costa Salvador
- Costa Verde
- Delvadia
- Draburg
- El Dorado (Marvel Comics)
- Europa, birthplace of Henrietta Hunter in the Marvel Universe
- Genosha
- Ghudaza
- Ghulistan
- Grand Nixon Island
- Halwan
- Hidalgo
- Imaya
- Isla Suerto
- Khamiskhan
- Kiber's Island
- Koslavia
- Ksavia
- Latveria
- Lichtenbad
- Llhasa
- Madripoor
- Maura
- Moldavia (Marvel Comics)
- Monster Isle
- Morvania
- Muir Island
- Murtakesh
- Narobia
- Puerto Dulcer
- Rhapastan
- Rudyarda
- Rumekistan
- Ruritania (Marvel Comics)
- The Savage Land (hidden under Antarctica)
- San Diablo
- San Gusto
- San Lorenzo (Marvel Comics)
- San Revilla
- Santo Angelo
- Santo Marco
- Santo Rico
- Sarawak
- Sifand
- Sin-Cong
- Slorenia
- Symkaria - European kingdom, birthplace of Silver Sable in the Marvel Universe.
- Temasika
- Terra Nuevo
- Terra Verde
- Tierra del Maiz
- Tierra Verde
- Trans-Sabal
- Trafia
- Transia (location of Wundagore Mountain)
- Trebekistan
- Triji
- Tropica
- Ujanka
- Vulcan Domuyo
- Wakanda
- Yashonka
- Zukistan
Not on Earth
These countries do not exist on our Earth, but on another planet (or in another universe). Some are planets unto themselves.
- Abh Empire from the anime Crest of the Stars
- Archenland a kingdom featured in The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis.
- The Autarchy of Yzordderrex and the Reconciled Dominions ruled over by the Autarch in Imajica by Clive Barker
- Calormen an empire featured in The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis.
- Aveh from the Playstation Game Xenogears
- Fanelia - from the anime Escaflowne is a kingdom on the planet gaia, from whom Earth is visible as a moon.
- Hyrule, a kingdom that is the chief setting of Nintendo's Legend of Zelda games.
- Jurai - Planet and interstellar empire from the anime Tenchi Muyo!.
- Klatch empire on the Circle Sea in Terry Pratchett's Discworld
- Kislev from the Playstation Game Xenogears
- Lancre, mountain kingdom of Terry Pratchett's Discworld
- Lost Hope, faerie kingdom ruled by the man with thistle-down hair in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
- Majipoor and other lands appear in works by Robert Silverberg
- The Mushroom Kingdom, setting for Nintendo's Super Mario video game series.
- Narnia a kingdom that is the chief setting for many of The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis.
- Novindus, a continent in the book series The Riftwar by Raymond E. Feist
- Tlön (actually an entire world), of Jorge Luis Borges's Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
Semi-fictional countries
Some lands exist uneasily on the borderlands of fiction and fact, of imagination and reality. There follows a list of places with a real counterpart, but which in romantic/poetic imagination or nationalist fervour or historical dimmed memory can become "other". Note that a Latinate name may conjure up visions of (questionable) past grandeur.
- Andalusia
- Antarctica
- Arabia
- Australia
- Oz (distinct from L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz)
- Austria
- Kakania (based on The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil)
- Brazil
- Britain
- Canary Islands
- Blessed Islands (putative identification)
- China
- Cathay
- The Middle Kingdom
- Czech Republic
- Kocourkov (a comedy movie U nás v Kocourkově, 1934, starring Jan Werich and others)
- Eastern Roman Empire
- England
- Blighty
- Cidershire
- Deep England
- Merry England
- Mortshire
- Ethiopia
- Germany
- Prussia (not an exact match...)
- Greece
- Hispaniola
- Iceland
- India
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Israel
- Promised land (in the metaphorical sense)
- Zion
- Japan
- Maghreb
- Maluku
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Maoriland
- Zelandia
- Pacific Ocean
- Peru
- Jauja
- Tahuantinsuyu (aka Tahuantinsuyu, Inca empire)
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Rome
- New Troy
- Russia
- United States
- Columbia (as in "Columbia, the gem of the ocean...")
- Scotland
- Siberia
- Somalia
- South East Asia
- East Indies (approximately)
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- Turkey
In the 1991 film King Ralph, Finland (which is a republic) is portrayed as a Kingdom with a Royal Family.
Questionable cases
Countries from stories, myths, legends, that some people have believed to actually exist
Books
- Alberto Manguel & Gianni Guadalupi: The Dictionary of Imaginary Places ISBN 0-15-626054-9
- Excellent book; includes details of inhabitants, government structure, and sightseeing tips. Does not cover off-planet locations.
- Brian Stableford: The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places
Related articles
- Archive of fictional things
- Imaginary country
- List of fictional counties
- List of fictional buildings
- List of fictional companies
- List of fictional planets
- List of fictional U.S. states
- Fictional city
- Constructed world
- Jennifer Government: NationStates