Ankh-Morpork is a

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

which features prominently in

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...

's ''

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat pla ...

'' fantasy novels.

Overview

Pratchett describes Ankh-Morpork as the biggest city in

and its corrupt mercantile capital. Street in Tallinn 2

In ''

The Art of Discworld ''The Art of Discworld'' is a descriptive book of the world of the Discworld as portrayed in Terry Pratchett's '' Discworld'' series. It showcases the art of Paul Kidby with descriptions of characters and locations by Pratchett and some details ...

'', Pratchett explains that the city is similar to

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

and central

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, but adds that it has elements of 18th-century

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 19th-century

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and modern-day

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He also stated that since the creation of ''

The Streets of Ankh-Morpork ''The Streets of Ankh-Morpork'' is a map and brief guide of the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork in Discworld, a fantasy series by English author Terry Pratchett. Clute, John and John Grant. ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy''. New York: St Martin's ...

'', he tried to ensure that the descriptions of character movements and locations in the books matched the Ankh-Morpork map; this allowed him, and fans of the series, to visualise the story more clearly.

Geography

The name "Ankh-Morpork" refers to both the city itself, a

walled city A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

about across, and the surrounding suburbs and farms of its

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form o ...

. The city itself lies on the River Ankh, the most polluted waterway on the Discworld, which divides it into the more affluent Ankh and the poorer Morpork (including the slum-like "Shades"). Lying approximately equidistant from the cold, mountainous Hub and tropical Rim, Ankh-Morpork is in the Discworld's equivalent of the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

zone. Ankh-Morpork is built on black

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

, broadly, but it is mostly built on itself; pragmatic citizens simply built on top of the existing buildings rather than excavate them out as the river flooded and the

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

grew too high. There are many unknown basements, including an entire "cave network" below Ankh-Morpork made up of old streets and abandoned sewers.

Politics

Leadership

The succession of the Patrician occurs normally by either assassination or revolution. Patricians have been known to resign, but this is very much the exception. Power is, to some degree, shared with the many Guilds and the surviving nobility. They form a sort of advisory city council, with a system of one man, one vote – the Patrician being the "one man" in question. In ''

The Truth The Truth may refer to: Film * ''The Truth'' (1920 film) starring Madge Kennedy * ''The Truth'' (1960 film) or ''La Vérité'', a French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot starring Brigitte Bardot * ''The Truth'' (1988 film), a Hong Kong trial crim ...

'', as per the city charter, a new Patrician must be elected with the unanimous approval of all Guilds.

Institutions

The primary engines of Ankh-Morpork's economy are the Guilds. There are hundreds of Guilds, for every conceivable profession, from clowns to

butchers A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

, and each has its own strictly maintained laws and trading practices. Many Guilds have assumed roles which in real-world cities would be assumed by government agencies, such as the Guild of Historians' role comparable to that of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

City Watch

The City Watch is one of the greatest success stories. In the beginning, it consisted of the Day Watch,

popinjays The Popinjays are a British indie pop band, mainly active between 1988 and 1994, and again from 2015 to the present. Most of their records were released on the One Little Indian Records label in the UK, and on Epic Records, Epic/One Little Ind ...

headed by Captain "Mayonnaise" Quirke (rich, thick, oily, and smelling slightly of eggs) and the Night Watch, three unemployable men; then-Captain Vimes, who was a drunk, Sergeant Colon, whose idea of major crime would be the theft of a bridge and Corporal Nobbs, who has a certificate to prove that he is probably human. The addition of Lance-Constable Carrot was the catalyst for their reformation over the course of the novel ''

Guards! Guards! ''Guards! Guards!'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighth in the ''Discworld'' series, first published in 1989. It is the first novel about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. The first ''Discworld'' point-and-click adventur ...

''. Over the course of time, the Watch has grown under the leadership of Commander Samuel Vimes to the most modern police force on the Disc.

Assassins' Guild

The Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild is a professional organisation widely considered by the elite to be the best option for a well-rounded education anywhere. The current Patrician, Lord Vetinari, received an Assassins' Guild education in his youth. The Guild of Assassins is located in a light, airy series of buildings next to the Guild of Fools and Joculators, which, being a far more sinister building, is often mistaken for the Assassins'. The Guild is currently headed by Lord Downey.

History

The Assassins' Guild was founded on 27 August AM1512 by Sir Gyles de Munforte as the ''de Munforte School for Gentlemen Assassins''. Sir Gyles was a warrior knight who, during his crusades in

Klatch The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which ar ...

, was intrigued by the Klatchian tradition of professional gentleman assassins, and decided to set up a similar organisation at home, only without the

drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...

. In AM1576, the school was elevated to the status of a Guild and the name was changed to the ''Royal Guild of Assassins''. The 'Royal' was dropped after the 'events' of AM1688 (i.e. the Ankh-Morpork Civil War, as a result of which the monarchy was overthrown). In response to huge demand among the aristocracy for their children to receive the well-rounded education the Guild offered, the Guild's charter was expanded to include those intending to gain skills in proper Assassination. For most of its history the Assassins Guild School was a male-only establishment (although talented, self-taught women might become members of the Guild itself), however it has recently become co-educational. It is said to be the only school of assassination on the Discworld. However, assassination began in Klatch, and it is stated in ''

Interesting Times ''Interesting Times'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the seventeenth book in the ''Discworld'' series, set in the Aurient (a fictional analogue of the Orient). The title refers to the common myth that there exists a Chi ...

'' that there is a small, very select Guild in Hunghung, in the

Agatean Empire The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which ar ...

Currency

The AM$ (Ankh-Morpork dollar) is equal to 100 pennies (pence). Under Ankh-Morporkian tradition, ten pence can be referred to as a shilling, twenty-five pence as half a ton, and fifty pence as a nob/a ton/half a bar/a knocker. The AM$ is reputedly the hardest currency outside of the

. A dollar coin is the size of a Venetian sequin, and although theoretically made of gold the metal has been adulterated so many times that, according to ''

The Discworld Companion ''The Discworld Companion'' is an encyclopaedia of the Discworld fictional universe, created by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs. Four editions have been published, under varying titles. The ''Companion'' contains precise definitions of word ...

'': In ''

Making Money ''Making Money'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, part of his ''Discworld'' series, first published in the UK on 20 September 2007. It is the second novel featuring Moist von Lipwig, and involves the Ankh-Morpork mint and ...

'',

Moist von Lipwig Moist von Lipwig is a fictional character from Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. A "reformed con-man" who is one of the major characters of the series, von Lipwig is the protagonist of the novels ''Going Postal'', ''Making Money,'' and ''R ...

, as deputy chairman of the Royal Mint of Ankh-Morpork (acting under authority of the actual chairman, a small dog named Mr. Fusspot), sought to take Ankh-Morpork off of the gold standard and make the Ankh-Morpork dollar a

fiat currency Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometime ...

backed by the economy of the city. And, inspired by the trend of Ankh-Morpork citizens using stamps as currency, von Lipwig introduces banknotes for multi-dollar denominations, with the five-dollar note possibly incorporating imps as an anti-forgery measure.

Real-world connections

Ankh-Morpork was twinned with the town of

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a small town and electoral ward in South Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. The town and electoral ward has a populati ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, in the south-west United Kingdom on the spherical

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

(known in the Discworld books as Roundworld) on 7 December 2002. The town is home to a shop called "The Discworld Emporium", which also doubles as an "Ankh-Morpork Consulate" according to the shop sign. However, due to legal reasons, the twinning was not officially displayed on the road sign. Fans, however, added stick-on notices to some of the signs. In 2009, this was changed, and a new town sign prominently declaring the twinning with Ankh-Morpork and other Roundworld places was erected. This sign was designed by the Cunning Artificer himself, Bernard Pearson (of the Discworld Emporium). Several streets in a new housing development in Wincanton have been named after Ankh-Morpork Streets, including Peach Pie Street and Treacle Mine Road. The word "Morpork" is from a type of New Zealand owl called the

morepork The morepork (''Ninox novaeseelandiae''), also called the ruru, is a small brown owl found in New Zealand, Norfolk Island and formerly Lord Howe Island. The bird has almost 20 alternative common names, including mopoke and boobook—many of t ...

, which is depicted holding the ankh on the coat of arms. " Discworld: Ankh-Morpork" was published as a board game in 2011.

Fiction connections

Many details of Ankh-Morpork appear to have been inspired by

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

's fictional city

Lankhmar Lankhmar is a fictional city in the ''Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser'' stories by Fritz Leiber. It is situated on the world of Nehwon, just west of the Great Salt Marsh and east of the River Hlal, and serves as the home of Leiber's two antiheroes. ...

(although Pratchett has said "I didn't – at least consciously, I suppose I must say – create Ankh-Morpork as a takeoff of Lankhmar");

John D. Rateliff John D. Rateliff is an author of roleplaying games and an independent scholar. He specializes in the study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, particularly his Middle-earth fantasy writings. Early life and education John D. Rateliff was raised in Ma ...

notes that Leiber's characters "the Gray Mouser and Fafhrd guest-star in the very first Discworld story, ''The Colour of Magic'', under the pseudonyms of The Weasel and Bravd".

Notes

References

*Pratchett, Terry (1983). ''

The Colour of Magic ''The Colour of Magic'' is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the ''Discworld'' series. The first printing of the British edition consisted of only 506 copies. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to ...

''. Colin Smythe. *Pratchett, Terry (1989). ''

''. Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry & Briggs, Stephen (1993). ''

''. Corgi. *Pratchett, Terry (1993). ''

Men At Arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a knig ...

''. Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry (1996). ''

Feet of Clay Feet of clay is an idiom used to refer to a weakness or character flaw, especially in people of prominence and power. It can also be used to refer to larger groups, such as societies, businesses, and empires. An entity with feet of clay may appe ...

''. Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry (1997). '' Jingo''. Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry (2000). ''

''. Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry (2002). '' Night Watch''. Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry & Briggs, Stephen (2003). ''

'' (3rd ed.). Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry & Pearson, Bernard (2004). ''

The Discworld Almanak ''The Discworld Almanak'' is a spin-off book from Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' novels, in a similar format to the Diaries and ''Nanny Ogg's Cookbook''. It was written by Pratchett and Bernard Pearson Bernard Stanley Pearson (born 13 ...

''. Doubleday. *Pratchett, Terry & Kidby, Paul (2004). ''

'' . Gollancz. *Pratchett, Terry (2004). ''

Going Postal ''Going Postal'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 33rd book in his ''Discworld'' series, released in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2004. Unlike most of Pratchett's Discworld novels, ''Going Postal'' is divided into ...

''. Doubleday. *Pratchett, Terry (2005). ''

Thud! ''Thud!'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 34th book in the ''Discworld'' series, first released in the United States on 13 September 2005, then the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. It was released in the U.S. three wee ...

''. Doubleday. *Pratchett, Terry & June (2007). ''

''. Corgi.

External links

Discworld & Pratchett Wiki

The L-Space Web
possibly the definitive Discworld web site
Ankh-Morpork Anthem
performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. {{Discworld Discworld locations Fictional city-states Fictional elements introduced in 1983 de:Figuren und Schauplätze der Scheibenwelt-Romane#Ankh-Morpork