Location of Durmstrang

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 44577

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "pengolodh_sc" <pengolodh_sc at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups, "Steve" wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups, "Jesta Hijinx" wrote:
> > 
> > Jesta Hijinx almost asked but was betrayed by he email
> > program 'Where is Durmstrand?'
> > 
> > bboy_mn replies:
> > Just to the right of Finland is my best guess.

pengolodh_sc Replied:
> 
> Most likely further North, or further West.  From what I remember 
> from the Atlas, there are few or no mountains in Finland or East of 
> Finland - flat as a pancake, mostly, if you ignore all the sprooce-
> trees.  Locations East of Finland also appear to be too landlocked 
> for it to be culturally probably with a large ship as mode of 
> transportation.  The descriptions of the geographical features of 
> Drumstrang require a location that is to the North of Hogwarts, in an 
> area with mountains and lakes, and most likely a certain cultural 
> connection to seafaring.  Areas that might be suitable will be found 
> in the Northern parts of the Scandinavian peninsula, as well as parts 
> of the Russian Arctic coast.  
> 

bboy_mn responds:
Well, JKR as good as said it was in Northern Scandinavia, but I submit
that the area I mentioned logically qualifies as Scandinavia, even if
it doesn't qualify in a geo-political sense. As a side note, Finland
used to be part of Russia.

Let me say that I've never been to Finland or the area of Russia just
to the right of Finland, but I have an atlas, and my atlas makes it
appear as if that area of Russia has very similar terrain to Finland. 

So let's tackle mountains first. UK has several named moutain ranges,
yet, according to the CIA World Factbook 2001, the highest elevation
in the UK is 1,343 Meters. The highest elevation in Finland is 1,328
Meters. Give their similarity on my somewhat topograhic atlas, I have
to assume that there is something in that area of Russia that
qualifies as a mountain.  Not all mountain have to be 20,000 feet.

Next, landlocked, while the easter border of Finland is landlocked,
the land to the east of Finland is not. It is bordered by the White
Sea (Beloye More) and the Barents Sea (Barentsevo More) and it has
many lakes and certainly is heavily forested. Also the southern end of
this little section of Russia borders on the Gulf of Finland. So, it
is certainly a seafaring region.

Next, lakes, Finland has 60,000 lakes. This area of Russia has similar
geography, and has several very large lakes; several of which are in
the north.

Proximity to UK, this area of Russia is FAR north of any part of the
main land mass of the UK. Which means, far north of northern Scotland.
The northern border of this area of Russia, borders the northern most
part of Norway.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

bboy_mn