The fictional world in which the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin take place is divided into several continents, known collectively as The Known World. Most of the story takes place on the continent of and in a large political entity known as the . Those kingdoms are spread across nine regions: , , , , , , , , and . A of ice and old magic separates the Seven Kingdoms from the largely unmapped area to the north. The vast continent of is located east of Westeros, across the Narrow Sea. The closest foreign nations to Westeros are the , a collection of nine independent city-states along the western edge of Essos. The lands along the southern coastline of Essos are called the Lands of the and include and the ruins of . The latter is the former home of the ancestors of H