Currently the premier Quidditch-playing nation in Africa, Uganda's national team recently participated in the Quidditch World Cup with six members of their most prominent team - the Proudsticks, based in Patonga (QA8). Their national team also defeated Wales in recent World Cup competition (GF5).

Uganda is a small, mostly tropical country in eastern Africa, with borders that include the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lake Victoria. It was once under British rule but has now been independent for forty years.

The second-largest country that was once part of the Soviet Union (Russia is larger), Ukraine is an eastern European country that is now a democracy. Though the country is mostly flat, it does have a few mountains on its western edge. Presumably these mountains are the home of the Ukranian Ironbelly dragon, the largest breed of dragon in the world (FB).

The underground railway system in London - what in the U.S. would be referred to as a subway - is commonly referred to as the Underground, or occasionally the "tube." Though the names of the stations are never specified, Harry has taken the Underground three times:

• On Harry's first trip to London, he and Hagrid took the underground from an unknown surface train station (likely Paddington, though there are several other possibilities) to the stop nearest Diagon Alley - almost certainly the Charing Cross stop. On this trip, Hagrid got stuck in the ticket barrier and drew attention from the Muggles for knitting a huge yellow something or other, crammed into a seat much too small for him. After shopping, they made the return trip as well (PS5).


• Harry and Arthur Weasley took the underground from Grimmauld Place (at a "miserable little Underground station") to the Ministry of Magic - at a "station in the very heart of London" - for his hearing in 1995. This was Mr. Weasley's first time on the Underground, and the automatic ticket machines were out of order (OP7). How Harry got back to Grimmauld Place was never mentioned.


• Harry again took the Underground from Grimmauld Place - this time with Tonks, Moody, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny - to visit Arthur in St. Mungo's (OP22). Again their stop was described as being "in the very heart of London." They returned by underground as well (OP23).

For more information on Harry's second and third trips, see the essay In Search of... Grimmauld Place. [Photo courtesy www.artofthestate.co.uk]

Also referred to as Great Britain or Britain, the United Kingdom is the official country which encompasses four smaller regions in the British Isles:

• England
• Northern Ireland
• Scotland
• Wales

A country located in the center of North America and spanning the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the United States is home to the towns of Fitchburg, Salem, and Sweetwater, and is also the natural habitat of the clabbert and the doxy. We also know that Quidditch is not particularly popular there thanks to Quodpot - a game invented by Abraham Peasegood which is played almost exclusively in the U.S. (QA8).

Upper Barnton seems to just be a historical name; today no such city exists in Britain, though there is a Barnton near Liverpool which may or may not be the same town. Regardless, in the 1400s Upper Barnton was the home of a famous nasty giant named Hengist who was killed by Gifford Ollerton (fw).

Though a Muggle village, Upper Flagley has long been home to a large number of wizarding families as well, much like Ottery St. Catchpole and Godric's Hollow (DH16). Harry, Ron, and Hermione tried searching here briefly for one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, but with no success (DH22). Upper Flagley is described as being in Yorkshire, (DH16), but like the other wizarding villages, is fictitious.