Quote:
Originally Posted by Victariongreyjoy
Why didn't Rohan and Gondor in the very late T.A have any contacts with the elves, except for Lake Town with Thranduil.
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William Cloud Hicklin has covered the main reason, but I think another is that we all tend to think of Gondor in terms of Minas Tirith. That's actually almost completely wrong: Gondor really consists of a wide country with multiple cities south of the White Mountains, plus a couple of forts north of them. It's only the fact that one of those forts is the City of the Kings that makes them relevant at
all. They don't trade north, because their whole kingdom is oriented to the south.
Tolkien understandably didn't talk much about trade routes, but the main commercial highway for Gondor
has to be Anduin. Goods from the countryside are shipped down the Seven Rivers to Anduin, then up or down to Pelargir, Dol Amroth, or Minas Tirith. Goods from Harad (in the days when those trade routes were open) arrive by ship to Dol Amroth or Pelargir. Goods from Rohan come in to Minas Tirith, and are then sent south by river (and I would bet the Rohirrim travel to Mundburg, rather than Gondor sending traders to the Riddermark).
Everything is focussed on Anduin. There simply isn't the capacity to send trade caravans north overland to Mirkwood - nor much need, since as far as we know the only thing Thranduil imported was food and drink, and he could get those cheaper from the Lake-Men.
hS