Editing World of A Song of Ice and Fire (section)

=== Summer Islands {{anchor|Summer Islands|The Summer Islands}} ===
As indicated on a map in ''A Storm of Swords'', the Summer Islands are a group of tropical islands situated to the south of Westeros,{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Map}} with a local fauna of talking birds,{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Sansa II, p. 302}} apes,{{sfn|''A Clash of Kings''|loc=Arya II, p. 86}} and monkeys.{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Brienne III, p. 300}} The novels describe the island natives as dark-skinned people who speak their own language.{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Prologue, p. 11}} They wear colored feathery clothes{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Sansa II, p. 294}}{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Cat of the Canals, pp. 722–728}} and live on fruit and fish.{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Samwell V, p. 965}} From their port city named Tall Trees Town,{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Samwell IV, pp. 740–741, 751–752}} the Summer Isles export rare goods to Westeros such as wine,{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Tyrion II, p. 121}} spices,{{sfn|''A Clash of Kings''|loc=Prologue, pp. 20–21}} feathers,{{sfn|''A Clash of Kings''|loc=Theon I, pp. 172–173}} but also a special kind of wood from which bows are made that have a longer range than most others.{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Prologue, p. 8}}{{sfn|''A Dance with Dragons''|loc=The Griffin Reborn, p. 801}} People of the Seven Kingdoms call the Summer Islanders' great vessels ''swan ships'', "for their billowing white sails and for their figureheads, most of which depicted birds".{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Samwell IV, pp. 740–741, 751–75}} Samwell Tarly, who spends two chapters in ''A Feast for Crows'' aboard a swan ship, describes the Summer Islander women as wanton, and their gods as strange; they "revered the elderly and celebrated their dead" through sexual intercourse.{{sfn|''A Feast for Crows''|loc=Samwell IV, pp. 740–741, 751–752}} As a prostitute explains to Tyrion in ''A Clash of Kings'', the Summer Islanders regard their sexuality as the gods' gift to worship them through mating, and hence many of their highborn youths and maidens serve in pleasure houses for a few years to honor the gods.{{sfn|''A Clash of Kings''|loc=Tyrion III, p. 238}}