Editing Gondor (section)

==== Pre-Númenórean ====

The [[first people]] in the region were the [[Drúedain]], a hunter-gatherer group of [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]] who arrive in the [[First Age]]. They were pushed aside by later settlers and came to live in the pine-woods of the Druadan Forest<ref name="Ride of the Rohirrim" group=T/> by the north-eastern [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains]].<ref name="Many Partings" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}} book 6 ch. 6 "Many Partings"</ref> 
The next people settled in the [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains]], and became known as the Men of the Mountains. They built a subterranean complex at Dunharrow, later known as the Paths of the Dead, which extended through the mountain-range from north to south.<ref name="Last Debate" group=T/> They became subject to [[Sauron]] in the Dark Years.  Fragments of pre-Númenórean languages survive in later ages in place-names such as ''Erech'', ''Arnach'', and ''Umbar''.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}} Appendix F part 1</ref>