- published: 05 Feb 2011
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Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for a further six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind. All are set in the world of Earthsea, as are (to date) seven short stories by Le Guin, two of which are not collected in any of these books.
The world of Earthsea is one of sea and islands: a vast archipelago of hundreds of islands surrounded by mostly uncharted ocean.
The term "archipelago" is used to refer only to the central grouping of islands around the main island of Havnor and the Inmost Sea. The outlying islands are loosely grouped into four "Reaches" (The West, North, South and East), and the Kargad Lands, four large islands to the northeast inhabited by the warlike nation of the Kargs. Islands pivotal to the novels include Roke and Havnor in the Inner Sea; Gont in the northeastern Archipelago, and Atuan, one of the Kargad lands.