The Shire as a Free Land

Hobbiton by Roger Garland

In The Lord of the Rings in the Appendix B we can read that in 1427 of the Shire Reckoning (in the 6th year of the Fourth Age): 

"King Elessar issues an edict that Men are not to enter the Shire, and he makes it a Free Land under the protection of the Northern Sceptre

As we can read in the Tolkien Gateway (see here): 

"Free Land" was the political designation of the Shire from Fo.A. 6 (S.R. 1427).^[1]

Following the re-establishment of Arnor by King Elessar in T.A. 3019,^[2] the King declared that the Shire was to become a Free Land under the protection of the Northern Sceptre. Furthermore, he declared that no Men are to enter the Shire - a policy he even upheld himself.^[1]

You can see that in Tolkien's world, the border is the border, and the nation has the right to defend its integrity and identity (#MuremZaPolskimMundurem #HoldTheLinePoland). Illegal immigration is prohibited. I remember this element of Tolkien's creation at a difficult time, when my country has to defend our eastern border. In Europe we are now in the situation of the Bree-folk:

The Bree-folk were sympathetic, but plainly not very ready to take a large number of strangers into their little land. One of the travellers, a squint-eyed ill-favoured fellow, was foretelling that more and more people would be coming north in the near future. 'If room isn't found for them, they'll find it for themselves. They've a right to live, same as other folk,' he said loudly. The local inhabitants did not look pleased at the prospect.

(J. R. R. Tolkien, FotR, "At the sign of the Prancing Pony")

 

The Shire map (Karen Wynn Fonstad)