While John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is known for his contribution to British literature and his reliance upon old Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon literature, the author was not born in Europe, but in Africa. In 1892, Tolkien was born in the South African town of Bloemfontein, in an area known as the Orange Free State. His father, Arthur Tolkien, had left England in order to take up a senior position with a bank in the colony. When J.R.R. was almost three years old, he returned to England with his mother and his younger brother.
After Arthur's death from rheumatic fever, the family made their home at Sarehole, near Birmingham. This beautiful rural area made a great impression on the young...
