Portal:Discworld/Article of the day/5

Article of the day

Ankh-Morpork coat-of-arms

Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state which prominently features in the Discworld series. As cities go, it is on the far side of corrupt and polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brou-ha-ha on a fairly regular basis. It is home to the Unseen University, a centre of magical learning.

Ankh-Morpork is also the mercantile capital of the Discworld, and the books give an excellent flavour of a "working" quasi-medieval city. Even when it is under attack from a dragon, the vegetable carts still have to come in.

In The Art of Discworld, Pratchett explains that the city is similar to Tallinn and central Prague, but adds that it has elements of 18th century London, 19th century Seattle and modern New York City. He also states that since the creation of The Streets of Ankh-Morpork, he has tried to ensure that the descriptions of character movements and locations in the books match the Ankh-Morpork map; this has allowed him, and fans of the series, to visualise the story more clearly. Ankh-Morpork is also referred to as "The Great [or Big] Wahoonie" on occasions, further increasing the bond with "The Big Apple", New York.