Culture of Cardolan

The first Númenórean sailors came to the lands of Cardolan in the seventh century of the Second Age, and their lords maintained garrisons at Lond Daer and Tharbad intermittently for the next thousand years. Interest in Eriador then increased; the imperialists of Númenor desired the tall trees of the ancient forests as masts for their vast fleets, while those most Faithful to the Valar began to flee the gathering darkness on their glorious island. The early exiles settled mainly in the lands that would become Arthedain, but Tharbad became their chief port, and other Númenórean colonists began to permanently settle there. These colonists slowly expanded the holdings along the Gwathló basin, despite vicious wars with the native Eriadorans. Hundreds of years later, Elendil the Tall, having escaped the Downfall of Númenor with the remaining Faithful, arrived in Eriador. The Dúnedain of Cardolan were quite pleased to be included within the new kingdom of Arnor, as it was the only conceivable support they could find for their still unpopular regimes. The early years of Arnor were very prosperous, despite the horrendous losses of the War of the Last Alliance of Men and Elves. This very prosperity led to slowly increasing tensions among the Dúnedain of Arnor, as those in the southern half of the realm held attitudes similar to their kin in Gondor, displaying a materialism of which the mystically-inclined Northerners disapproved. Therefore, although the division of Arnor was primarily a result of quarrels among the Princes Royal, the Lords of Cardolan were well pleased with the result. They prospered for a rime in the newly independent kingdom of Cardolan, but the internecine wars of the Divided Kingdoms and the struggle with Angmar led to thereunification of the realm in T.A. 1356 along with Rhudaur.