Munchkin Country facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Munchkin Country aka Munchkinland
Map of Oz, with Munchkin Country shown in the West due to a reversed image
The Oz series location
Created by	L. Frank Baum
Genre	Juvenile fantasy
Type	Fairy country
Ethnic group(s)	Munchkins
Notable locations	Yellow brick road, Deadly Poppy Field, Mount Munch
Notable characters	Wicked Witch of the East, Boq, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Jinjur, Dr. Pipt, Ojo the Lucky, Ku-Klip, Nimmie Amee
First appearance	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Munchkin Country, also known as Munchkinland in the famous MGM musical film, is a magical eastern part of the Land of Oz. It was first described in L. Frank Baum's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900. This land is known for being ruled by the Wicked Witch of the East.

In the first book, it was called "the land of Munchkins." Later Oz books changed its name to "Munchkin Country." This area is connected to the Emerald City, the capital of Oz, by the famous yellow brick road. The people who live here are called Munchkins. When Dorothy Gale first arrived in Oz, she celebrated with the Munchkins at the home of Boq, a friendly and wealthy Munchkin. It's important to know that Munchkins are not always short. Many Munchkins in the books, like the Tin Woodman, are of regular height.

Exploring Munchkin Country

Munchkin Country is known for its bright blue color. Most Munchkins wear blue clothes, and their surroundings are often blue too. The eastern part of Munchkin Country is described as beautiful and pleasant, with friendly people. However, the western part, which is closer to the Emerald City, is wilder and can be dangerous. Some areas have thick forests filled with fierce animals.

This is the place where Dorothy Gale's house landed after a cyclone carried it to Oz. When her house landed, it accidentally crushed the Wicked Witch of the East, who ruled Munchkin Country. This made the Munchkins very happy!

Later, Princess Ozma and her friends visited the King of the Munchkins. They even found Jinjur working for him. This king also appears briefly in another Oz book called The Road to Oz.

More Adventures in Oz

In some of Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz books, the king of Munchkin Country is named Cheeriobed. He rules from the Sapphire City in the Ozure Isles with his wife, Queen Orin, and son, Prince Philador. He is first mentioned in The Giant Horse of Oz. Sometimes, in Thompson's books, the map of Oz is flipped, so Munchkin Country is in the west instead of the east.

Another author, John R. Neill, wrote that the Scarecrow became king of the Munchkins. However, this idea doesn't quite fit with what other books say.

In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, parts of the Yellow Brick Road are shown to have dangerous Man-Eating Plants nearby.

Munchkinland in Modern Stories

In Gregory Maguire's novels, like Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the area is called "Munchkinland." In these books, not everyone living there is a Munchkin; they are called Munchkinlanders. Here, Munchkins are generally shorter than average, but some powerful families are taller. Maguire describes Munchkinland as the "corn belt" of Oz, with huge farms and small towns. The Yellow Brick Road runs through this region. There are also lakes, like Mossmere and Restwater, and mountains that form borders with other parts of Oz.

In these stories, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and her sister Nessarose are from Munchkinland. In the Broadway musical Wicked, their father is the governor of Munchkinland. Nessarose eventually takes power, but her unfair rule makes the Munchkinlanders dislike her, earning her the name "Wicked Witch of the East."

Places and People in Munchkin Country

Munchkin Country is full of unique sights, creatures, and places. Here are a few:

• Munchkin Village - This is the village where Dorothy's house landed after the tornado.
• Deadly Poppy Field - This field has poppies with a strong scent that makes anyone living fall asleep. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Field Mice had to rescue Dorothy, Toto, and the Cowardly Lion from this field. In the 1939 movie, the Wicked Witch of the West enchanted the poppies to put them to sleep, but Glinda used her magic to make it snow, waking them up.
• Mount Munch - A very tall hill at the eastern edge of Munchkin Country. It's close to the the Deadly Desert. The Hyups live on Mount Munch, as seen in The Magic of Oz.
• College of Art and Athletic Perfection - A school founded by Professor Woggle-Bug in the southwestern part of Munchkin Country. Students at this college take special pills that give them knowledge, so they don't have to attend lessons. This allows them to spend more time on sports and physical activities.
• Dicksy Land - This is a "mixed and topsy-turvy" place in Munchkin Country. Apples grow on raspberry bushes, and roses are daisies! Houses have windows where doors should be, and chimneys stick out from the sides. It's an urban area, but it's also home to Dicky Birds. The people who live here are called Dicks.
• Fiddlestick Forest - A forest that plays soothing music at night. It also has a river where a magic boat floats.
• Lake Orizon - A saltwater lake high in the mountains of Munchkin Country. It's unusual for an inland lake to be saltwater. It has five islands called the Ozure Isles, which are their own small country with Sapphire City as their capital. Lake Orizon used to have Hippocampus (mythical horse-fish) that could be used for travel. The Wizard of Oz later brought them back to life.
  • Cave City - A series of caves found under Lake Orizon. These caves are home to the Cave Men, who are two-dimensional, like living drawings.
  • Ozure Isles - These are five islands in Lake Orizon. They are small, with sparkling cliffs and caves filled with colorful gems like amethysts, opals, and sapphires. The beaches are covered in these gems, making the islands glow with a dazzling blue light.
  • Sapphire City - The capital of the Ozure Isles. It is considered the second most beautiful city in Oz, after the Emerald City. Sapphire City is famous for its sapphires. The king's castle garden has a magical tree that grows a single golden pear. Eating this pear gives the eater a powerful pair of magic gold wings!
• Moojer Mountain - A mountain peak in Munchkin Country, not far from the Emerald City. A cabin on its barren top was once the home of Mooj the Magician. An unusual character named X. Pando, the elevator man, offers rides to the top of the mountain.
• Mudge - A dry, desert-like area in the southern part of Munchkin Country. According to Glinda, the Mudgers are wild and warlike. Any Mudger who leaves Mudge is said to be beheaded.
• Munchkin River - A river that flows through Munchkin Country. It crosses the path of the Yellow Brick Road near the Poppy Field.
• Seebania - A small kingdom in the southern part of Munchkin Country. Its rulers once controlled much of the land. When Princess Ozma became the ruler of Oz, the Seebanian kings chose to rule only their small land from their capital, Shamsbad.
• Shutter Town - A town where the people, called Shutterfaces, have shutters on their faces to keep others from seeing them. The Shutterfaces prefer to be left alone.
• Unicorners - A place where a community of unicorns lives. Blue dwarves serve the unicorns, who live inside hollowed-out trees. There are also silver apples here that can prevent hunger for seven days.