Vinyalondë
Vinyalondë was a harbour founded by Aldarion and the Venturers at the mouth of the Gwathló. It was one of the first settlements built by the Númenóreans in Middle-earth, and survived (at least in part) into the Third Age as the port of Lond Daer.
History
Vinyalondë, or "New Haven", was founded by Númenor's crown prince Aldarion on the estuary of the river Gwathló, between Second Age 750 and Second Age 800. It was the first permanent settlement of the Númenóreans in Middle-earth. From here Aldarion's Guild of Venturers began harvesting the local timber for the shipbuilding industry of Númenor. It was one of their primary shipyards, fed with their reckless cutting of trees.
Within a few centuries, the deforestation of the outlying regions Enedwaith and Minhiriath became cataclysmic, angering the local native population, and they began to fight back with increasing ferocity, destroying the haven several times, and frequently burning the great wood-stores in "hit-and-run" attacks.
By the time of the War of the Elves and Sauron in the middle of the Second Age, this 'New Haven' had become very well established, and its name had shifted over the intervening one thousand years to Lond Daer, the "Great Haven". As such, it was one of the two beachheads of the Númenórean forces in Eriador that were used to support the Elves around Second Age 1700.
Its shipyards were starved of timber following the war, as the forces of Sauron had burnt almost all of what remained in Enedwaith and Minhiriath. Once its shipbuilding yards were no longer practicable, it declined in importance, and the Númenórean hunger for ever more wealth shifted focus to the establishment of newer havens to the south, Pelargir and Umbar. Following this, the haven was now one of several major ports in Middle-earth, and was known as Lond Daer Enedh (also spelt Ened), or "Great Middle Haven". Despite this, Númenor still maintained traffic on the Gwathló as far as the city of Tharbad.
Etymology
Referencias
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