Meereen

 

 The Great Pyramid overlooking the city.

Meereen and the Great Pyramid.

Meereen is the northernmost and greatest of the three great city-states of Slaver's Bay, north of Yunkai and Astapor. It is located at the mouth of the Skahazadhan River, which flows from its origins in Lhazar through the mountains separating Meereen and the rest of Slaver's Bay from the Red Waste. The Dothraki Sea lies to the north, beyond the river. The wealthiest residents live in pyramids.

Like the other major cities of Slaver's Bay, Meereen was founded as a colony of the old Ghiscari Empire, which was later conquered by the Valyrian Freehold when it destroyed the Ghiscari Empire 5,000 years ago. Similar to the Free Cities to the west, after the Doom of Valyria (four hundred years before the War of the Five Kings) the local slaver-cities reasserted their independence. Meereen is by far the largest of the now-independent city states, bigger than Astapor or Yunkai. At the time that Daenerys Targaryen arrives at the city, there are about three slaves in the city for each free man.