Eastern territories

Between Dagorlad and the Sea of Rhûn, north of the Ash Mountains and south of Rhovanion, stretches the open country that Gondor's records call the East-borders. No natural wall closes it. Whoever holds the crossings holds the road into Gondor from the east, which is why the kings pushed their frontier out this far and kept armies standing in it for as long as they were able. The land itself is grazing and plain rather than settled province, valued for the approach it controls rather than for anything grown on it. One reckoning puts it at something over two hundred thousand square miles under the name East-lands, though that name has never been official.