Calormen

"And you don't have to give treasure to the government. With some of this stuff I could have a decent time here - perhaps in Calormen. It sounds the least phoney of these countries."

- Eustace Scrubb

Calormen—or more formally, the Calormene Empire—was an empire in the south of the world of Narnia. Most of the country had a semi-arid climate, and its most notable geographic features were a volcano known as the Flaming Mountain of Lagour, and the Great Desert at its northern exterior. On Calormen's east was the Bight of Calormen, on its west were a conglomeration of unnamed nations, and on its south lay, quite possibly, the Southern Waste. The Great Desert was in the north of the country and was virtually uninhabited; the difficulty of crossing this desert prevented aggressive Calormene governments from invading Archenland and Narnia for many, many centuries.

History
The Calormene empire was founded in the early days of the Age of Conquest, after certain exiled outlaws from Archenland fled across the southern desert and arrived in a then uninhabitated land. They founded the Calormen empire in this new land in the year 204. Over the years, the Calormenes expanded their empire greatly, conquering many southern countries, whose inhabitants had separated from the early Calormene settlers. In 300, they even colonized the land of Telmar in the west, but after only two years, Aslan turned most of the Calormene colonists into dumb animals for their wicked deeds. The colonial remant was plundered into anarchy, until they were forced to assimilate with the 12 Pirates that came from Earth's "South Sea" in 460.

During the Age of Winter, the Calormens where apparently aware that Narnia was in a endless winter under the rule of Jadis, however, they thought her army was too powerful to conquer.

One of the most notable confrontations between Calormen and the northern countries was during the Golden Age, which was called the Archenland Conflict in 1014. Prince Rabadash, the son of the Tisroc, was furious that Queen Susan of Narnia had rejected him. He led a small army across the desert in an effort to surprise and quickly conquer Archenland to use as a staging ground for abducting Susan and, in the future, conquering Narnia. But his plans had been discovered by two travelers, Aravis and Shasta, and they warned the Archenlanders of the impending invasion. A Narnian relief army arrived to aid the Archenlanders, and the Calormenes were defeated.

In later centuries of the Dark Age, Calormen along with Archenland competed with each over the govermentless nation of Narnia. However, it was Telmar that was successful in capturing Narnia. During the Telmarine Era Narnia was allied with Calormen, however, after the Narnian Revolution, not only did Narnia become an enemy of Calormen, but also Archenland and Telmar. Also in this era, they had lost control of the slave trade from the Lone Islands by Caspian X.

In Narnia's last days, of the year 2555, an ape named Shift made an alliance with the Calormenes to conquer Narnia and subsequently the rest of her empire. The plot involved the False Aslan Affair, which divided the people of Narnia. However, when Calormen success seemed within reach at the final battle, Aslan declared the time had come to destroy the world of Narnia. Calormen, along with the rest of the world, was destroyed, but was surpisingly part of Aslan's Country when the world's inhabitants had escaped Narnia's destruction.

Geography of Calormen
The cultural center of Calormen was the River Calormen, which flowed from west to east along the south side of the Great Desert. The capital city was Tashbaan, located on an island in the river's delta, and the river is bordered for much of its length by farmland and wealthy communities.

The city of Azim Balda, located at a crossroads in the heart of the country, was a major hub for travel and communications.

The city of Tehishbaan was located in the west of Calormen and was rumoured to be responsible for freeing slaves.

People of Calormen
Calormenes were known as dark-skinned, with the men mostly bearded. Flowing robes, turbans and wooden shoes with an upturned point at the toe were common items of clothing, and the preferred weapon was the Calormene scimitar. Lavish palaces were present in the Calormene capital Tashbaan. The overall leitmotif of Calormene culture was portrayed as ornate to the point of ostentation. The people of Calormen were concerned with maintaining honour and precedent, often speaking in maxims and quoting their ancient poets. Veneration of elders and absolute deference to power were marks of Calormene society. Many Calormene customs spawned from the Calormene's beliefs. Power and wealth determined class and social standing, and slavery was commonplace. Narnians held Calormenes in disdain for their treatment of their animals and slaves.

It is unknown, from where the human race of Calormenes originated, although it is suspected they may have been outlaws sent into Great Desert from Narnia and Archenland as punishment. Instead of dying though, they appeared to have successfully crossed the desert, creating their own civilisation at the River Calormen, which eventually became the country of Calormen. Their migration through the Great Desert with the sun beating down on them may have also attributed to their dark complexion.

Society of Calormen
The emperor of Calormen was called the Tisroc. The nation was notorious for having a mighty fleet and army and being military and imperialistic. Society is dominated by a largely hereditary caste structure, with an almost rigid distinction between the nobility, known as Tarkaans, who filled senior advisory, governmental and military positions, and common people who worked as fishermen, farmers, merchants and labourers. At the bottom of the social scale is a slave class; it is known that commoners may be sold into slavery.

Trivia
"Calor" is Spanish and Portuguese for "heat" which seems to suggest how the name of the warm desert country was developed.

C.S. Lewis may have based Calormen off of the Middle East. Both have arid climates with dark-skinned inhabitants; however, the Calormenes follow a polytheistic religion more akin to that of the early Middle East rather than the monotheistic Muslim Middle East.

C.S. Lewis likely also derived many details about Calormene culture from E. Nesbit's Story of the Amulet.