Geography

[Meow]

Hey, I was just having a look at the map of Randland, and was wondering, is Tar Valon part of Andor? Or any land for that matter, because above Andor and below Kandor there just seems to be a massive gap. o.O

[Stitch]

No, it is a nation unto itself (similar to the vatican)

[Meow]

Oh, okay, thanks. :)

[Stitch]

Next time a question like this should probably go in the General Wheel of Time Discussion board ^.^

[CUBAREY]

Also if you read Book two of the series RJ talks about the fact that the land between the Borderlands and Andor has been abandoned during the "retreat" of humanty" of the last several hundred years.

[W_A]

Yeah, looking at the map, there are a whole bunch of unfilled spaces that the nations just can't maintain, and I suspect that they will be resettled with the new consolidations of nations, which would make them more powerful.

[CUBAREY]

Also note that the depopulation is not limited to that part of Randland as as we are told that the both Illian and Tear where both previously claimed authority over land that is now depopulated and unclaimed. Further even Andor has shrunk, as we are repeatedly told that while the Two Rivers was claimed by the Queens of Andor it had not seen a tax collector or troops for 6 generations.

[Luckers]

Yeah Tar Valon doesn't bother to claim a border because no nation impinges on the areas it controls. In earlier, more populous times, it did (there is a map of pre-Hawkwing times in the BWB that shows where Tar Valon chose to dilineate their rule).