Essos

Essos is the great eastern continent of the known world in A Song of Ice and Fire, lying across the Narrow Sea from Westeros. Far larger than the western continent, Essos is home to the Free Cities, the Dothraki of the great grass sea, the slaver cities of Slaver's Bay, and many ancient and exotic peoples and realms stretching east toward lands few Westerosi have ever seen.

Essos is the continent of the old empires. Here rose Valyria, the dragonlord freehold whose Doom shattered it; here lie the ruins and successors of the older empire of Ghis; and here run the trade roads to Qarth, the Jade Sea, Yi Ti, and Asshai by the Shadow.

Geography

The western edge of Essos is occupied by the Free Cities, a string of independent city-states that were once colonies of Valyria: Braavos, Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, Lys, Lorath, Norvos, Volantis, and Qohor. East of them sprawls the vast Dothraki sea, an ocean of grass roamed by the horselords from their seat at Vaes Dothrak.

Farther east and south lie the cities of Slaver's Bay, Astapor, Meereen, and Yunkai, built on the bones of the old Ghiscari empire. Beyond stretch the red wastes, the city of Qarth at the Jade Gates, and the distant lands of Yi Ti, Leng, and Asshai. The smoking ruin of Valyria lies on a great peninsula off the southern coast, shunned by sailors.

History

Essos was the cradle of the First Men before they crossed to Westeros, and of many of the world's oldest civilizations. The Ghiscari Empire rose first and warred five times against the Valyrian Freehold, which destroyed it utterly. Valyria then dominated much of the continent for thousands of years through the power of its dragons, until the cataclysm known as the Doom of Valyria broke its power and left the Smoking Sea where the peninsula's heart had been.

In the chaos after the Doom, Braavos and the other Free Cities became fully independent, the Dothraki rose to dominate the central plains, and the slaver cities of the bay carried on the cruel trade of old Ghis.

In the story

Much of Daenerys Targaryen's arc unfolds in Essos: her marriage to Khal Drogo among the Dothraki, the hatching of her dragons, and her conquest of the slaver cities of Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, and others also cross to Essos over the course of the story.