Game of Thrones Maps

The Game of Thrones world contains two primary continents — Westeros and Essos — plus surrounding landmasses including Sothoryos to the south. The known world spans 14+ distinct mappable regions, from the frozen Lands of Always Winter to the Shadow Lands of Asshai at the eastern extreme. Each region contains multiple sub-territories with their own castles, geographic features, and political history.

The full Game of Thrones world map is called The Known World — a term used within the fiction to describe all charted territories recognized by the inhabitants of Westeros and Essos. It encompasses both major continents plus Sothoryos (largely unexplored to the south) and the distant Ulthos. George R. R. Martin based the geography loosely on a distorted version of the real-world Atlantic Ocean and surrounding continents.

Westeros is roughly the size of South America, stretching approximately 3,000 miles from The Wall in the north to Dorne in the south. George R. R. Martin has described it as a “stretched-out South America” rotated slightly. For context: the distance from Winterfell to King’s Landing (~500 miles) is comparable to the drive from New York City to Cleveland, Ohio — yet armies in the show cover it in what appears to be days.

King’s Landing sits on the eastern coast of Westeros at the mouth of Blackwater Bay, where the Blackwater Rush river meets the sea. It occupies the convergence of three hills — Aegon’s High Hill (site of the Red Keep), Visenya’s Hill (site of the Great Sept of Baelor), and Rhaenys’s Hill (site of the Dragonpit). The city is roughly central on Westeros’s eastern coast, making it accessible to all seven kingdoms.

Yes, Essos is significantly larger than Westeros. While Westeros spans roughly 3,000 miles north to south, Essos extends thousands of miles eastward from the Free Cities on its western coast to the Shadow Lands of Asshai at its eastern extreme. George R. R. Martin has indicated that Essos is roughly analogous to Eurasia in the real world, making it several times larger than Westeros. Much of eastern Essos remains unmapped even within the fiction.

The Wall is a massive fortification of ice and ancient magic stretching 300 miles across the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms, standing 700 feet tall. On the map, it runs east to west across the narrowest point of the northern peninsula of Westeros — from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea on the eastern shore to the Shadow Tower in the west. It was built approximately 8,000 years before the events of the series by Bran the Builder to defend against the White Walkers.

The Nine Free Cities are independent mercantile republics located on the western coast of Essos and nearby islands. They are: Braavos (northernmost, home of the Iron Bank and the Faceless Men), Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, Lys, Volantis (southernmost and largest), Qohor, Norvos, and Lorath. All nine were established by Valyrian colonists before the Doom of Valyria destroyed the Freehold.