Q: Where Did the People of Gondor Come From?
ANSWER: As noted in my article on where the people of Arnor came from, there seem to have been too few Númenóreans aboard the five ships that arrived with Isildur and Anarion to have constituted the majority of the population of early Gondor. Unlike Arnor, however, Gondor was able to incorporate one existing city: Pelargir. Pelargir was the northernmost surviving ancient Númenórean haven of the Third Age. Tharbad probably began as an Elvish outpost facilitating the crossing from Eriador into Eregion, so even if the Númenóreans took possession of Tharbad after the War of the Elves and Sauron, I don’t really think of it as a Númenórean haven until Elendil’s realm.
Pelargir was a royal naval base for the Kings of Númenór but it eventually became a haven of the Faithful, so many western Númenóreans from Andúnië must have settled there. From Pelargir they seem to have spread north across the Anduin into what became Belfalas and Lebennin, as well as north along the shores of Anduin into what became Anorien, Ithilien, and Calenardhon. The Númenóreans found other men dwelling in these lands and intermarried with them. What follows is at best guess-work based on random details published throughout Tolkien’s works.
Gwathuirim — The ancestors of the Folk of Haleth, the Men of Bree, and the Dunlendings were related to the Men of Ered Nimrais (from whom came the Dead Men of Dunharrow), according to the appendices in The Lord of the Rings. These “swarthy men” met the ancestors of the Drúedain (the Drúg-folk) in the Ered Nimrais.
Drúedain — Three populations of these curious people survived to the end of the Third Age: the Drúedain of Druadan Forest, whose leader Ghân-buri-Ghân formed a temporary alliance with the Rohirrim during the War of the Ring; the Drúedain of Druwaith Iaur; and the “barbarous fisher-folk” living in the marshes along the coast of Enedwaith. None of these populations seem to have ever acknowledged the lordship of the Kings of Gondor, but they apparently dwelt in relative peace beside the Dúnedain. As Tolkien developed the tradition of this “fourth” Edainic people, he included them in the settlers of Númenór but had them eventually return to Midlde-earth. By the time Ar-Pharazôn led Númenór into disaster there were no longer any Drúedain living there.
Coastal Tribes — Although I have tentatively identified some of the “swarthy” fisher-folk from Gondor’s coastlands with the Gwathuirim, there are occasional references to other tribes of men who dwelt there. The only hint about what they may have been like is found in the controversial story “Tal-Elmar”. It is not clear from the story if Tal-Elmar’s father’s people are related to any of the “historical” peoples associated with Gondor.
Tarannon Falastur (reigned Third Age year 840-913) extended Gondor’s rule over the coastal tribes between Belfalas and Druwaith Iaur. He also conquered coastlands south of Pelargir toward (but not including) Umbar.
Black Númenóreans — Tarannon Falastur married a Black Númenórean princess, Berúthiel. J.R.R. Tolkien does not say where she came from, although some readers argue it may have been Umbar (another ancient Númenórean haven controlled by descendants of the Kings Men). There were many Black Númenórean havens, and “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” says that two Black Númenórean lords who served Sauron lived very close to Gondor. One possible land for a Black Númenórean population being included in Gondor’s people (prior to the conquest of Umbar) would be Harondor, the land between the Poros and Harnen rivers. In any event, after Eärnil I captured Umbar in Third Age year 933 any Black Númenórean families still living there (and they were apparently of mixed-descent by this point) became part of Gondor’s people.
Northmen — Several waves of Northmen settled in Gondor. The first group arrived when Minalcar concluded treaties with Vidugavia and other Northman princes. The second group arrived when Eldacar brought an army of Northmen south to reclaim the throne of Gondor from Castamir the Usurper. The third and final group were a few survivors of Rhovanion who did not join the Éothéod when the Wainriders destroyed the Kingdom of Rhovanion in Third Age year 1856.
Men of Mixed Descent — As in Arnor, and apparently to a greater extent, the Númenóreans of Gondor intermarried with men from other kindreds quite often. These intermarriages increased the population of the kingdom but also led to political divisions between “pure” Númenórean families and families of mixed blood. The intermarriages were seen by many as causing the gradual “waning” of the Dúnedain, whose lives were gradually growing shorter in Middle-earth (but this waning had actually begun in Númenór itself).
A special case of mixed descent included the descendants of Mithrellas, the Silvan Elf who married Imrazôr the Númenórean. Her descendants included all future Princes of Dol Amroth (Belfalas) and their close kin. One of those close relatives as Morwen of Lossarnach, who married Thengel of Rohan (father of Théoden).
The descendants of Aragorn and Arwen would have added another line of mixed Elvish-Dúnadan descent to the kingdom’s population. Of course, all descendants of Elros Tar-Minyatur (and there were probably many by the end of the Third Age) could claim some Elvish heritage, but Mithrellas and Arwen infused new Elvish descent into the population.
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Well those nine ships of Elendil could contain about 1500 people each (though maybe some had more than the others or overal the ships could carry even larger number of passangers than we think) if they were packed tightly (though of course there’s no knowing how big those ships were but I think they were at least size of galleon or even bigger, if I’m wrong feel free to correct me, many times over we’re told that numenorean ships were getting bigger and bigger already in time of Aldarion) so five coming to the south and four to Mithlond up north, already existing colonists and people of mixed descent, then natives and fairly peaceful time at the beginning of kingdoms could positively influence birth rate, all the goods that were brought, establishing infrastructure and reordering of acquired lands, high production of food and other products along with great amount of knowledge would allow for very plentiful life in early Arnor and Gondor, quite an economic boom as you suggested in essay Merchants of Middle Earth. If I’m not wrong there was whole century or so until Sauron begun another campaign, even for long lived numenoreans a hundred years is long time, so I think that there was a time of accelerated growth in two kingdoms. Before that time Numenor didn’t strike me as especially caring towars it’s colonies, they were simply providing riches for center of their colonial empire, when the local populations had no obligations towards the island of Numenor all the resources of continental regions were the profit of new Realms in Exile which in turn led to significant growth of population (and I think it would be important for early surviving numenoreans to increase their number in face of such apocalyptic event that nearly wiped them out) even if they were like elves in this one century there would be already two another generations of adult eles with their own families started (in Numenor population increased slowly but in this new situation things could change).
The largest historical wooden sailing ships (and fleet) I have ever heard of would be Zheng He’s fleet from the mid-1400s (he was probably known in Tolkien’s generation as Cheng Ho). I don’t know if Tolkien ever heard of Cheng Ho’s seven sea voyages but his fleet consisted of several hundred ships with about 27,000 sailors. The largest ships in his fleet — the so-called “treasure ships” — are said to have been about 400 feet long. Some modern scholars dispute the feasibility of building such ships, but I doubt the Chinese government of the time felt it necessary to exaggerate about the size of their ships.
There was also a large Greek galley, the tessarakonteres (i.e., “forty”), that Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt built in the 3rd century BC. According to the Roman writer Plutarch the ship — which could hold about 7,000 rowers, sailors, and marines — was only “built for show” and not actually used in combat. It was around 425 feet long and maybe 60 feet wide and 80 feet high (Zheng He’s ships were wider and flatter).
Without any idea of of what Tolkien imagined, it’s impossible to put a number on the size of Elendil’s following. Still, if you want to plug numbers in, I would guess an upward limit of 2,000-3,000 passengers for any of the 9 ships assuming Tolkien was aware of any of the nautical criticisms of the design of these old wooden vessels.
Of course, he could have assumed that the Numenoreans had overcome all those structural issues the Greeks and the Chinese would have faced with “lost” technologies. In which case, I guess you could extend the number upward to 7-10,000 passengers per ship. Elendil assembled his fleet after Amandil left, and it appears from “Akallabeth” that Ar-Pharazôn may have assumed that Elendil was just preparing for the great armada; the narrative says that Elendil refused the summons when it finally came.
Part of the reason Zheng He could build such big ships was the basic design. Like today’s “junks” they were a collection of watertight boxes, and much stronger than European ships. The European ships, and probably the Numenorean, were single shells, and were both leakier and more flexible. Flexibility in a ship is good, to a point, but eventually the wooden frame can’t support the ships weight when balanced on a wave crest, or suspended between two crests. Also, the Chinese design could survive the holing of a compartment, where the European design would sink unless the water could be pumped fast enough.