Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/8/26: Let’s Talk About Galma – and a rant about Narnia geography (Narnia LXXIX)

A Grand Tourney

” [ … ] We had a fair wind from Cair Paravel and stood a little north for Galma, which we made on the next day. We were in port for a week, for the Duke of Galma made a great tournament for His Majesty and there he unhorsed many knights—” “And got a few nasty falls myself, Drinian. Some of the bruises are there still,” put in Caspian. “—And unhorsed many knights,” repeated Drinian with a grin. “We thought the Duke would have been pleased if the King’s Majesty would have married his daughter, but nothing came of that—” “Squints, and has freckles,” said Caspian. — The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Unlike The Seven Isles, the nation of Galma receives a fair bit of description in the Chronicles. The reader never gets to visit it, but there’s the quote above and a few others which can let us sketch it in.  The first time it’s mentioned in the Chronicles is in  Prince Caspian in this throwaway line from Lucy: “Do you remember our voyage to Terebinthia—and Galma—and Seven Isles—and the Lone Islands?” which already lets the reader know it’s an island nation.

The next place we hear it is in Capian’s and Drinian’s conversation above  from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a more maritime-oriented book. It lets us know Galma lies very close to Narnia and is on good terms with it. It’s  a nice bit of world extension.

Except… and this is a problem with Narnia as a whole mind you … this island world as written seems pretty substantial and populous, but given how Narnia itself is rather small, the island depicted on Bayne’s classic map must be small too. After all, in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the Pevensies ride up to Lantern Waste in one day, and in The Silver Chair Rilian and his mother ride north as well to go a-maying, and it’s a day trip for them, too. The average speed of a horse and rider is 25 – 30 mph, probably less so for large parties with wagons and pack animals and such. Take a look back at the map and note Galma’s size in relation to the distance between Lantern Waste and Cair Paravel,  and it’s tiny.  Yet it has forests to support a shipbuilding industry ** and a noble class to support a tourney, which was quite a large Medieval undertaking in terms of food served, structures built, and manpower for setup and takedown.

This discrepancy has always bothered me about the Chronicles. Anyway, let’s say for now that Galma is larger than it seems, like the magic garden Lucy stares at in The Last Battle.

Now on to the name.  Galma sounds Biblical (Galilee, Gilead) which makes sense as in Lucy’s quote is comes right after Terebinthia, which also has Bible roots. But it reminds me more of Galloway, Glasgow, and other Scottish place names. Since Caspian and the ship’s crew attend a tourney there, so you can also say it’s a gala — add in one consonant, m, and you have the name Galma.

So, my headcanon says the island is a more culturally sophisticated, less rugged, and even-climed version of Scotland. Since the Duke’s daughter has freckles, that must mean she has fair hair or red hair, also appropriate for Scotland. I can picture  one part of Galma with rugged hills and highland forests, while the other part consists of verdant lowlands with villages and towns and a large city or two which serves as a port. There are many harbors and inlets and spectacular cliffside castles, and herds of sheep and long-horned cattle as well.

Narnia fandom often claims that Galma has the best ships and sailors and is the most experienced nation in the ways of the sea, but the text doesn’t support this. The narrative says only that the seven lords had to commission a Galmian ship in Voyage of the Dawn Treader because the Telmarines had let Narnia’s own shipbuilding industry decay. Which makes sense when you consider how close Galma is to Narnia: Caspian’s Dawn Treader reaches it within a day. I can imagine it, even, being observable from Narnia’ s shores, like how  Molokai can be seen from Honolulu is the weather is right.

Fandom also occasionally claims that Galma is part of Narnia the same way the Lone Islands are. This is not supported by the text either. Number one, it’s never mentioned when the king’s or queen’s titles are spouted off. Number two, when Lucy is tempted to say the beautifying spell from Coriakin’s magic book, she has a vision of ” [ … ] all Narnia and Archenland, Telmar and Calormen, Galma and Terebinthia, were laid waste with the fury of the kings and dukes and great lords who fought for her favour.” It’s nation pitted against nation. I don’t know why Galma is ruled by a duke instead of a king, but maybe he’s a steward or something, as Denethor II was in Minas Tirith.

So let’s get on to some place names for such a country.

Place names of Galma

**  “When his uncle, Miraz the usurper, had sent the seven lords to sea, they had had to buy a Galmian ship and man it with hired Galmian sailors.” From Voyage of The Dawn Treader.