Bree was a very ancient settlement of men in Eriador by the time of the Third Age of Middle-earth, but after the collapse of the kingdom of Cardolan, which had claimed it, Bree continued to thrive without any central authority or government for many centuries. As Bree lies at the meeting of two large roadways, the Great East Road and the (now disused) Greenway, it had for centuries been a center of trade and stopping place for travellers, though as Arnor in the north waned its prosperity declined.
Bree was the most westerly settlement of men in all Middle-earth by the time of the War of the Ring , and became one of only three or four inhabited settlements in all of Eriador. During the War of the Ring a day's ride east from the village along the road lay The Forsaken Inn , according to Aragorn , although nothing else is known of that place.
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