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Umbar

The city was originally founded by Númenor as a trading post. It was here at Umbar that Númenor's last king named Ar-Pharazôn landed a huge military force that forced Sauron to surrender. Sauron was taken back to Númenor as a prisoner. But he was a rather crafty individual, turning the Númenoreans against the Valar. The result was an attack on the undying lands that led to the destruction of Númenor itself. Literally the entire island was wiped out like Atlantis. While the other two Realms in Exile aligned themselves with the Free Peoples of Middle Earth, the settlers that moved to Umbar continued to worship Melkor and Sauron. Umbar was the most northern place the Black Númenoreans settled. They preferred the company of other servants of Mordor and wanted to stay away from the detested elves.   Eventually, Gondor captured the city at a high cost. It held it for 500 years. This proved to be of great cultural significance as it showed the continued dominance of the free people over those loyal to Mordor. The legacy of the more noble elements of Númenorean culture still had prominence. This naturally did not sit too well with the Black Númenoreans and Southrons. So 82 years after losing the city, they laid siege to it. But Umbar is a port and at the time, Gondor was the main naval power. The attack lasted 35 years but never was a major threat. Eventually the Black Númenoreans were totally defeated by Gondorian reinforcements.   Then Gondor began to decline. The Kin-strife saw Gondor's navy and Umbar defecting to the rebel faction under Castamir the Usurper. This meant that there was essentially no means to retake Umbar. The Great Plague halted the main attempt to regain it. There was one short lived reoccupation almost 200 years later. Aragorn led a raid that did a lot of damage to the Corsair's fleet but was ubale to either retake it or eliminate the threat entirely. It remained openly loyal to Mordor and the Corsairs were able to use it as a base to attack Gondor.

Demographics

The original inhabitants were Black Númenoreans who were hostile elves and worshiped Sauron. After the Downfall of Númenor, much of the aristocracy that had a hand in the disastrous invasion and a small part of the fleet that survived set up in Umbar. They led and eventually integrated with the local Southrons. So we can assume that the "native" residents of Umbar are made of their descendants.   We can assume that by the events of Lord of the Rings, the main inhabitants would be Slaves, pirates, criminals and other brigands. I would imagine that the population ethnically would be Southrons due to the location.

Government

There is little real information on its government. But major leaders are mentioned in pairs. Many take this to mean that Umbar was ruled in a manner similar to Rome or Sparta - two consuls or kings.

Defences

There was a great fortress built there when Umbar was still controlled by Númenor

Infrastructure

Yet, we can expect that the majority of their military and economic infrastructure would be based here. After all, there would be a reason the Corsairs got their name from the “city”. Their Great Ships, Triremes, possibly the majority of the long ships and all the needed facilities, supplies and equipment would be in Umbar. Similarly, the slave markets, quarantine facilities and warehouses would be here. The merchant marine and the facilities for the export of the commodity crops would be here too. So while it would not be big in population, it would have huge cultural significance to the Corsairs and be a major military and economic powerhouse.

Assets

So, the Great Ships of the Corsairs are rather massive. Which to me suggests getting them up the river past Umbar would be somewhere between impractical and impossible. The most likely outcome is the port area of Umbar would host the main docking facilities for these Great Ships.   The rest of their ships would be the long ships or triremes. Some of these could be cared for at the plantations of the captains along the coast or up the river. But some would be kept at Umbar so those who live on the river don't have to sail all the way down to start a raid. So, all the great ships would be located in Umbar, but only part of the rest of their fleet.

History

Umbar itself was the site of a fortress that expanded to become a major port built by the Numenorians prior to that kingdom’s destruction. It was situated on the coast of Harad in a natural harbor. After the downfall of Numenor, it was populated by those who chose to worship Sauron. This same group came to intermingle and establish dominance over the Haradrim. It was later conquered by Gondor and used as the base of its navy. The Black Numenorians fled into the Haradrim and later were defeated again in a bid to retake it. The Corsairs later took it for themselves after they defected from Gondor and fled retribution.

Architecture

There was a massive column built here to demonstrate the power of the Númenoreans.

Geography

It was located to the far south of Middle Earth, along the coast near Far Harad.
Type
Outpost / Base
Population
Given the numbers we have to work with, we can assume Umbar would be a medium to large town, big only by the standards of the Corsairs.
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