Nonestica

Nonestica, aka Continent of Imagination
Oz and surrounding countries (note that east and west are reversed on the map)
Continent of Imagination, as mapped by John Drury Clark and John Burton Hatcher
The Oz series location
Creator	L. Frank Baum
Genre	Children's books
Type	fairy continent
Notable locations	Land of Oz, Forest of Burzee, Land of Ev, Ix, Merryland, Mo, Noland, Nome Kingdom
Notable characters	Wizard of Oz, Princess Ozma, Santa Claus

Nonestica (also known as the Continent of Imagination) is a fictional continent within L. Frank Baum's Oz universe on which the Land of Oz and its neighboring countries are located.

History

It is located in the fictional Nonestic Ocean and contains the countries of Oz, Ev, Ix, Mo (Phunniland), Noland, the Forest of Burzee, Merryland, the unidentified Kingdom of Dreams, and many others. The Land of Oz is separated from the other lands by the Deadly Desert.

Due to the course of Dorothy's shipwreck in Ozma of Oz on her way to Australia, it has been speculated that Nonestica might be imagined to be located in the Pacific Ocean between California and Australia in geographical position, but this is impossible to verify. It does, however, appear to be in the same hemisphere as Kansas.

The name "Nonestica" derives from the Latin phrase "non est," meaning "it does not exist." The name does not appear in any canonical Oz book; however, "Nonestic Ocean" does. The name "Nonestica" was proposed by Robert R. Pattrick for the name of the continental mainland. He proposed "Ozeria" as the name of the entire continent, including its islands.

David Hardenbrook's The Unknown Witches of Oz contains one of the most ambitious cosmographies of Nonestica and Baum's Oz universe yet attempted.

List of places

• Boboland - A large country to the southwest of the Land of Oz. Not much is written for Boboland except for the fact that the Sugar Pyramids are located there and that the Land of the Mangaboos, the Land of Naught, Pyramid Mountain, and the Valley of Voe are located underneath Boboland.
  • Land of the Mangaboos - An underground fairy land that is inhabited by the Mangaboos (a race of vegetable people).
  • Land of Naught - An underground country that is inhabited by wooden gargoyles and is located on the top of Pyramid Mountain. It is sometimes called the County of the Gargoyles. The Land of Naught is made entirely of wood that consists of wooden plants, wooden birds, and wooden animals. The grounds are like sawdust and the pebbles are like knots. The country was set on fire by Dorothy Gale, Zeb Hugson, and the Wizard of Oz.
  • Pyramid Mountain - An underground mountain that leads from the Valley of Voe to the Land of Naught. It is also connected to the Land of the Mangaboos by the Black Pit. The first landing overlooks the Valley of Voe. The second landing looks out on the side opposite of the Valley of Voe that is inhabited by Giant Birds, Cloud Fairies, and the Braided Man. The third landing overlooks the rolling cloud bank that obscures everything else that might be visible.
  • Valley of Voe - A cup-shaped valley that is beneath Boboland and is near Pyramid Mountain. It is known for the Dama-Fruit that makes anyone who eat it invisible. Besides the invisible people that live there, the Valley of Voe also contains Red Bears the size of horses.
• Country of the Whimsies - A small country that is to the south of the Land of Ev that is bordering on Ripple Land. It is home to the Whimsies (a race of large people with small heads).
• Dunkiton - A village of Donkeys that is south of the Land of Oz and across the Great Sandy Wastes. It is located in the same unnamed country as Foxville, Musicker Valley, and the Scoodler Territory.
• Forest of Burzee - The main setting of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It is a mighty and grand forest that is hundreds of years old.
  • Laughing Valley - The Laughing Valley is located east of the Forest of Burzee. It was empty for years until Santa Claus built his house there. He still lives there to this day.
• Foxville - A village of Foxes that is south of the Land of Oz and across the Great Sandy Wastes. It is located in the same unnamed country as Dunkiton, Musicker Valley, and the Scoodler Territory.
• Hiland and Loland - Twin kingdoms that are inhabited by the Hilanders (a race of 7 ft. people that are tall and slender) and the Lolanders (a race of short and fat people). The kingdoms are ruled by John Dough.
• Land of Ev - A fairy land that across the Deadly Desert from the Land of Oz.
• Land of Ix - A country that is ruled by the centuries-old witch queen Zixi.
• Land of Mo - A magical country that lives near the Land of Oz. Its inhabitants never die and every animal there can speak the human language.
• Land of Oz - The main setting of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is surrounded in all sides by the Deadly Desert.
• Macvelt - A country that is mentioned to be south of the Land of Oz and across the Great Sandy Wastes.
• Menankypoo - A tiny principality in Nonestica. It is located in a mountainous region between Ev and Rinkitink and borders on the Nonestic Ocean. Its population is only 600.
• Merryland - An enchanted country ruled by the Queen of Merryland and consisting of seven valleys connected by archways through which a river flows.
• Noland - A kingdom that is near the Land of Oz and is a neighbor to the Land of Ix.
• Nome Kingdom - It is the home of the Nomes and also known as the Dominion of the Nome King. The Nome Kingdom is located underground beneath the mountains to the north of the Land of Ev.
• Rinkitink - A country that lies near the Land of Oz and is close to the Nonestic Ocean. It is ruled by a king who is also called Rinkitink.

Nonestic Ocean

The Nonestic Ocean is an ocean that surrounds Nonestica. Besides surrounding Nonestica, the Nonestic Ocean contains a variety of islands including:

• Bridge -
• Conjo's Island -
• Coregos - An important island in the Nonestic Ocean. The society on Coregos is closely linked to the society of Regos. It lacks a mountain interior. Coregos is ruled by a tyrannical king with a fierce warrior class where they invade other islands to obtain slaves for their mines.
• Elbow Island - A small rocky isle in the Nonestic Ocean. It is a "barren reef" where nothing grows but rocks. It has served as a place of refuge for pirates and a place to store their treasure.
• Isa Poso - An ice-bound, frigid, and miserable island in the Nonestic Ocean. Its inhabitants are Snow Giants with cruel forbidding faces were carved from ice. Isa Poso is ruled by King Chin Chilly.
• Isle of the Mifkets - An island that is home to the Mifkets (a race of creatures with coconut-shaped heads, short coarse hair, putty-like faces, pear-shaped bodies, short legs, and long arms). The Mifkets live in a village where their houses are made from the leaves that are found on the island. Other inhabitants of the Isle of the Mifkets are Pittypat the White Rabbit, Para Bruin the Rubber Bear, and a race of Fairy Beavers.
• Mount Up -
• Nonagon Isle - A small nine-sided island in the Nonestic Ocean. It is rocky and inhospitable. The nine fishermen who live on Nonagon Isle subsist on the fish they catch and the meager vegetables they can grow in their rocky little gardens. The fishermen are as hard and unfriendly as their island, for each of them keeps to his own side of the Nonagon. They tend live in nine-sided houses and even sail nine-sided boats.
• Norroway - A small, rocky, heavily fortified island in the Nonestic Ocean. Its inhabitants have been at war with Roaraway for centuries where it went through nine generations of the ruling family.
• Octagon Island - A small eight-sided island in the Nonestic Ocean that is eight miles east of Pingaree. The population of the island is 180, for there are 80 men, 40 women, and 60 children. The men are divided by occupation: there are eight courtiers and eight councillors, eight farmers, fishermen, sailors, servitors, shopkeepers, soldiers, and musicians each, and eight artists or scholars.
• Patrippany - A jungle-like island in the Nonestic Ocean. It bears the normal forms of life in a tropical environment where crocodiles, monkeys, and hippopotami are endemic. Patrippany was once home to a race of Leopard Men until a hurricane wiped them out.
• Peakenspire - An island in the Nonestic Ocean with a remarkable appearance and nature. It is a mountainous island devoid of flat lands where it contains needle-like peaks. The inhabitants of Peakenspire have constructed a City of Bridges for them to live in. The people of Peakenspire are war-like and musical. The people of Peakenspire use suspended baskets to descend and ascend the heights of Peakenspire.
• Phreex - An island in the Nonestic Ocean with a broad sandy beach, green meadows, and mountains. It is southwest of the island of Pingaree. Phreex is ruled by a Kinglet who lives in a three-story building. The people of Phreex pride themselves in having a greater variety of queer personages than any other kingdom in existence. Phreex is terrorized by a one-wheeled automobile which careens around knocking people over.
• Pingaree - An island in the Nonestic Ocean that is famous for producing the largest and finest pearls in the whole world.
• Pirate Island - An island in the Nonestic Ocean that is near the Isle of the Mifkets. It is inhabited by retired pirates and a strange creature named Sport (who is made from various sports equipment like a punching bag for a torso, a football for a head, golf putters for legs, a tennis racket and a baseball bat for arms, golf balls for eyes, a cube of billiard chalk for a nose, and a slit in the football where the lacing has come loose for a mouth). Anyone who lands on the island must pay a heavy ransom or be boiled in oil for three days.
• Regos - An important island in the Nonestic Ocean. The shorelines are fertile and well-wooded. The society on Regos is closely linked to the society of Coregos. The mountains of Regos have gold and silver within them and is mined by slaves who have fierce overseers that make the slaves sleep in the mines to keep them from seeing the light of the sun. Regos is ruled by a tyrannical king with a fierce warrior class where they invade other islands to obtain slaves for their mines. Regos Island also has the Choggenmugger, a hard-scaled wide-jawed dragon-eater that is responsible for eating all of Regos Island's dragons, crocodiles, and serpents into extinction.
• Roaraway - A small, rocky, heavily fortified island in the Nonestic Ocean. Its inhabitants have been at war with Norraway for centuries where it went through nine generations of the ruling family.
• Salamander -
• Tazara - A large landmass or "great continent" in the Nonestic Ocean. It is a tropical climate that consists of jungles and deserts. The animals on that island include camels, horses, and elephants.
  • Amaland - An area that makes up the eastern shore of Tazara. Its people are associated with the color gray and it also has gray swift horses. They are war-like and often fight with the inhabitants of Ozamaland.
  • Ozamaland - An area of jungles and deserts that makes up the western shore of Tazara. Its people are associated with the color white and it also has white elephants and white camels.

There were also exotic and undersea locations in the Nonestic Ocean:

• Sea Forest - An unusual and probably unique feature in the Nonestic Ocean. It consists of green trees with silver leaves that are rooted to the sea floor and it grows up to break the surface of the Nonestic Ocean where the trees support the vines made of coral and has a growth of mushrooms at the water-lines. The creatures of the Sea Forest include fish, clams, crabs, monkey fish (a monkey/fish hybrid), flying fish with crab claws, and sea lions with scaly manes, tufted tails, and sharp claws on their forelegs.
• Seeweegia - A strange and beautiful undersea kingdom within the Nonestic Ocean. It is a brightly colored growth of seaweed where its inhabitants are Jellyfish People.

References

• Hardenbrook, David. The Unknown Witches of Oz: Locasta and the Three Adepts. Lakeville, MN, Galde Press, 2000.
• Moore, Raylyn. Wonderful Wizard, Marvelous Land. Bowling Green, OH, Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1974.
• Pattrick, Robert R. "Oz Geography." The Baum Bugle, Vol. 3 No. 1 (May 1959) to Vol. 4 No. 1 (May 1960).

External links

• Geography of Nonestica