| Munchkin Country aka Munchkinland | |
| Source: | The Oz series |
| Creator: | L. Frank Baum |
| Genre: | Children's fantasy |
| Type: | Fairy country |
| Locations: | Yellow brick road, Deadly Poppy Field, Mount Munch |
| Ethnic Groups: | Munchkins |
| People: | Wicked Witch of the East, Boq, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Jinjur, Dr. Pipt, Ojo the Lucky, Ku-Klip, Nimmie Amee |
| First: | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz |
Munchkin Country or Munchkinland, as it is referred to in the famous MGM musical film version, is the fictional eastern region of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Munchkin Country is in the East, noted by later being ruled by the Wicked Witch of the East.
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it was originally called "the land of Munchkins", but is referred to as "Munchkin Country" in all subsequent Oz books. Munchkin Country is linked to Oz's imperial capital the Emerald City by means of the yellow brick road. The native inhabitants of this quadrant are called Munchkins. In the story, the novel's protagonist Dorothy Gale, attends a celebration upon her arrival to Oz at the mansion of Boq, who is the friendliest and wealthiest Munchkin man. "Munchkin" does not necessarily mean someone of short stature. Many Munchkins portrayed in the books are of normal height, most notably Nick Chopper (also known as the Tin Woodman).
Michael Patrick Hearn suggests the name Munchkin may have been inspired by the fabulous Baron Munchausen. He also points out that the 1961 Russian edition derives the name from the verb "to munch."[1] Evan Schwartz suggests a reference to the Münchner Kindl.[2]
The publishing company Reilly & Britton (later Reilly & Lee) published, in the form of end-papers to the first edition of Tik-Tok of Oz (1914), one of the Oz books, the only authenticated map (reproduced here) that shows the Land of Oz in its entirety. For currently unknown reasons, this map switches the directions of east and west. The revised version of the map published by the International Wizard of Oz Club corrects the directions and reverses the map.[3]
Munchkin Country is distinguished by the color blue, which is worn by most of the Munchkins, as well as the color of their surroundings. While the Eastern part of the Munchkin Country is described as rich, beautiful, fertile and pleasant, and inhabited by friendly people, the Western part of the province (i.e., the region bordered by a large forest and the area surrounding the Emerald City) is wild, rough and dangerous. Certain areas of this land are densely forested, and inhabited by ferocious beasts.
Munchkin Country is the site where Dorothy Gale's house lands after being carried to Oz by a cyclone. Munchkin Country's ruler was the Wicked Witch of the East but upon Dorothy's arrival in Oz, she is eliminated when the house lands on top of her, causing much celebration among the Munchkins.
Princess Ozma's party visited the King of the Munchkins on their return from the Dominions of the Nome King, and found Jinjur working in his employ. This king also appears briefly in The Road to Oz.
Ruth Plumly Thompson's books identify the king of the Munchkin Country as Cheeriobed. He rules from the Sapphire City in the Ozure Isles, with his wife, Queen Orin, and son, Prince Philador. He is introduced by name in The Giant Horse of Oz and makes a subsequent appearance in The Wishing Horse of Oz. In some of Thompson's Oz books, the geography is inverted, with the Munchkin Country in the Western part of Oz and the Winkie Country in the East.
John R. Neill's Oz books name the Scarecrow as king of the Munchkins, although this contradicts the previous books. He is never shown in this capacity; he is simply stated to be so.
In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, it is revealed that parts of the Yellow Brick Road have Man-Eating Plants near them.
In Gregory Maguire's novels, and Son of a Witch (which use "Munchkinland"), the characters are not all Munchkins, and so they are actually called Munchkinlanders. In these books (unlike the more famous movie), Munchkins are generally shorter than average height, though the more powerful families, as Frexspar said, "married into some height along the way." Maguire portrays Munchkinland as the corn belt of Oz, geographically, Munchkinland is a vast province in eastern Oz, filled with huge farmlands, known as the "Corn Basket" and small towns and villages scattered all around, the famous Yellow Brick Road runs all over the region from the town of Center Munch to the southern gate of the Emerald City, known as Munchkin Mousehole, just outside a forested area known as the Pine Barrens; there are also some lakes, such as Mossmere, Illswater and Restwater, the biggest lake of the nation and the birthplace of the Munchkin River that runs along the road and between the corn fields, the Madeleines at the west make the natural border with Gillikin and the mountainous hills within the Quadling Kells are the borders of the southern Quadling Country, The mines of The Glikkus are located directly north. Munchkinland is also shown to be the native home of Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West, and her younger sister Nessarose (although in the novel, they grew up in Quadling Country). In the Broadway musical Wicked, based on the novel, their father is the governor of Munchkinland. In both adaptations, Nessarose eventually comes to power but her corrupt rule earns her loathing by the Munchkinlanders and the name, "Wicked Witch of the East".
Like all the countries of Oz, the Munchkin Country contains various unusual sights, creatures, and places. Among them are: