In fairness, it's mostly desert. But agreed, one of the larger gaping holes in Eddings' world history (iirc anyway) is why, after the Breaking, the good guys left all that land literally entirely empty until the Murgos, Nadraks and Thulls came - and those last two don't have such horrid desert lands, either.
I mentioned in my own response that most of that desert shouldn't be there, according to my perfunctory understanding of geography & climate, and that there was a reference to the gods setting the boundaries of each kingdom and forbidding expansion at the others' expense. The only exceptions seem to be complete genocide in internal disputes, like the Wacites, or external, like the Tolnedrans wiping out the Maragas or like the Angaraks' conquest and enslavement/annexation of the godless peoples. That latter group seems to be the numerically & geographically dominant race (assuming there are not other continents for the non-caucasians - at least Tolkein put non-white people in his world, however unfortunate their circumstances), even if most of them are ruled by others. From the servile underclass of Cthol Murgos, to the barbarian fringe in Gar og Nadrak to the entire population of Karanda, Melcene & Dalasia, to the Ulgos, and intermarried with the Arendish expatriates in Perivor, if an ambitious and non-racist god had shown up earlier, HE'D have been the ruler of the world.
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
