Land of Oz

History

The documentation of Ozian history began with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, but Oz had existed for hundreds if not thousands of years prior to the events related in that book. Early Ozian history must therefore be reconstructed from the fragments scattered between later historical documents. These fragments contain many inconsistencies, and sometimes flatly contradict each other, leading to endless contention between Oz historians over what is fact and what is myth about the founding of the modern land of Oz.

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The following chronology is based on information gleaned from the Oz books, but not necessarily accepted as true by all Oz historians.

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Originally Oz was an ordinary place like any other land, until the fairy queen Lurline enchanted it and left one of her fairies there as ruler. According to some versions, the fairy left behind was Ozma herself, Lurline's own daughter. These versions of Ozian history tell that every rightful ruler of Oz was female and that her name was Ozma. Other versions mention a line of ancestors who ruled Oz before Ozma.

Related Topics:
Lurline - Ozma

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At some point Oz was ruled by a king, Pastoria, the father of the most recent Ozma. This king was overthrown by four wicked witches. They subdivided the land into the four countries and enslaved the inhabitants. Two of the wicked witches were later overthrown by good witches: Glinda the good overthrew Singra (wicked witch of the south) and ruled the land of the Quadlings, and the good witch of the north, Tattypoo, overthrew Mombi (wicked witch of the north) and ruled the land of the Gillikins.

Related Topics:
Pastoria - Glinda - Quadlings - Tattypoo - Mombi - Gillikins

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Later on, Oscar Diggs, a hack magician from Omaha, blew into Oz in his hot air balloon. He convinced the inhabitants that he was a great Wizard, and they asked him to become their new leader. Diggs reunited the four countries under one name, "Oz", his first two initials, and became The Wizard of Oz. He had the people build a great Emerald City in the center of the land of Oz, which he used as his capital. The Wizard locked himself in a room in the city and never took audience with anyone because of his fear of being discovered. The witches were allowed to continue to rule over their respective countries because the Wizard had no real magic to stop them.

Related Topics:
Omaha - Wizard - Wizard of Oz - Emerald City

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This version of Ozian history is problematic in that the Wizard named the country after himself even though it had been known as Oz and its rulers had been named Ozma for perhaps millennia. It is more likely that the story of the Wizard naming the land after himself is a type of retroactive continuity or revisionist history that attempted to explain the etymology of the name without a complete previous knowledge.

Related Topics:
Retroactive continuity - Revisionist history

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Post "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" history

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Eventually, Dorothy Gale, and her whole house are blown into Oz from Kansas by a tornado. When the house lands, it crushes the Wicked Witch of the East, ruler of the Munchkins. In an attempt to get back to her home, she journeys to the Emerald City. Along the way, she meets the Tin Woodsman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow, all of whom accompany her. Once there, they become the first people to gain an audience with the Wizard since he went into seclusion, although he disguises himself because Dorothy now has the Wicked Witch of the East's magic silver slippers, and he is afraid of her. The Wizard sends Dorothy and her party to dispose of the Wicked Witch of the West and in exchange promises to grant her request to be sent home. He believes that the Witch will probably destroy them and his charade won't be found out. Surprisingly, Dorothy destroys the Witch by throwing a pail of water on her. Defeated, the Wizard reveals to the group that he is in fact not a real wizard and has no magical powers, but he promises to grant Dorothy's wish and take her home himself in his balloon. He leaves the Scarecrow in his place to rule Oz and the Winkies ask the Tin Woodsman to be their ruler in place of the Wicked Witch.

Related Topics:
Dorothy Gale - Kansas - Wicked Witch of the East - Munchkins - Tin Woodsman - Cowardly Lion - Scarecrow - Wicked Witch of the West - Winkies

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Finally, it is discovered that the wizard had given the daughter of the last king of Oz, Princess Ozma, to the old witch Mombi to have her hidden away. Mombi had turned Ozma into a boy named Tip, whom she raised. When all of this is revealed Tip is turned back into Ozma and takes her rightful place as the benevolent ruler of all of Oz. Ozma successfully wards off several attempts by various armies to overthrow her. To prevent any upheaval of her rule over Oz, she outlaws the practice of all magic in Oz except by the wizard (after he later returns) and by Glinda, and she uses her magic belt to make all of Oz invisible to outsiders. Ozma remains the ruler of Oz for the entirety of the series.

Related Topics:
Mombi - Magic belt

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