Eastmarch of the Shire

The land between the River Brandywine and the Old Forest, more commonly known as Buckland. Lying eastward beyond the river, it was not originally settled by the Hobbits, and did not form a part of the Shire itself. It was only in III 2340 (more than seven centuries after the Shire was founded) that the then Thain, Gorhendad Oldbuck, chose to settle the region. At that time he took a new name, Brandybuck, to mark the crossing of the Brandywine. Thus the lands across the river became the Eastmarch (meaning 'eastern borderland') of the Shire, and were settled by the people who would come to be known as Bucklanders.

For more details about the history of the Shire's Eastmarch, see the entry for Buckland.