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Panem is a sovereign nuclear state and democratic constitutional republic established sometime after a series of ecological disasters and a global conflict brought about the collapse of modern civilization. It is situated in North America[2], consisting of a federal district, the Capitol, and thirteen outlying districts.

Panem's central government operated as a totalitarian dictatorship and police state with society, particularly in the Capitol, modeled on ancient Rome. The outlying districts were subservient to the Capitol, expected to provide services in exchange for protection given by the Capitol's armies of Peacekeepers, largely to the detriment of the districts' populace. This unequal relationship was brutally enforced for several years, culminating in a civil war known as the First Rebellion, led by District 13, Panem's then-center of its military-industrial complex.

After three years of conflict, the rebellion collapsed with the apparent destruction of District 13, bringing about the Dark Days. However, unbeknownst to the wider populace of Panem, District 13 had survived, having organized a separate peace with the Capitol after securing a significant portion of the Capitol's stockpile of nuclear weaponry. In accordance with the ceasefire, District 13 disengaged from the insurrection and appeared destroyed in exchange for its independence and a non-aggression pact. The remaining districts were quickly pacified with the resulting Treaty of Treason enforcing a harsh peace on them, as well as instituting the Hunger Games, an annual event established as a continual reminder of the failed rebellion. Public executions and whippings, restrictions on civil rights, and mass surveillance became widespread throughout Panem in the following years. Travel and communication between districts were banned.

For the next seventy-four years, the districts endured oppression at the hands of the Capitol through the Hunger Games. Despite the Games' intended goal of snuffing out future insurrections, they further incited rebellious activity that gradually built up over the decades. By the time of President Snow's rule, civil unrest was mounting in a number of districts which, following the 74th Hunger Games, further escalated despite several brutal crackdowns. This culminated in the Second Rebellion following the 75th Hunger Games, with the districts once again being led by District 13 in a revolution to overthrow Panem's totalitarian government. Within a year, the Snow regime was deposed and Panem was transformed into a democratic constitutional republic, led by Commander Paylor.

The name "Panem" derives from the Latin phrase Panem et circenses, which literally translates into "bread and circuses". The phrase itself is used to describe entertainment used to distract public attention from more important matters. Furthermore, by the government providing ample food, entertainment and protection, the citizens would give up their political rights.[3]

According to the Capitol, Panem has a population of 4,556,778 people. However, adding up the known populations of the Capitol and 12 districts gives it a total of only 1,905,286 people.

Location and geography

HungerGamesPanem

Panem is located on the continent of North America, with its territory encompassing areas formerly controlled by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The administrative center of the country, the Capitol, is located in the Rocky Mountains, roughly corresponding to being within the area of the former U.S. states of Wyoming and Utah.[2] Each one of its thirteen outlying districts are situated across the continent and given their large size, cover significant portions of former U.S. states, Mexican states and Canadian provinces.

The size of the country is known not to be as large as North America today, given that, according to Katniss, large areas of land across the world were flooded by rising sea level (significant portions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coastlines of North America are shown to be inundated, including the entirety of Florida). Nevertheless, maps of Panem indicate it is about as large as the former contiguous United States, spanning from the east coast to the west coast of North America and stretching from southern Canada in the north to central Mexico in the south. Given the territory it covers, Panem's geography largely resembles that of the former United States.

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, District 12 is the easternmost district, followed by Districts 8, 6, and 11.[4]

Government

For presumably the majority of its history since its founding, Panem was run as a totalitarian dictatorship led by a president who served for life and wielded absolute power over the government and military. Four presidents of Panem are present in the book series: Ravinstill,[4] Coriolanus Snow[5], Alma Coin[6], and Paylor[7]. Previous presidents are unknown; Coriolanus Snow was mentioned to have been the president during the 50th Hunger Games, meaning he held power for at least 25 years. Ravinstill had been in power before the First Rebellion and up to and including at least the 10th Hunger Games. The exact details of the national government are unknown, but it is at least known the President possesses a cabinet, with ministers that presumably oversee different areas of the government. The government overall is modelled after that of ancient Rome, reflected in Capitol society by the citizenry taking names of Greco-Roman origin and the architecture of the city. It is unknown if Panem possesses other branches of government such as a judiciary or a legislature, although given the authoritarian nature of the Panemian central government, both either don't exist or are under the complete control of the executive branch headed by the President. Following Panem's transition into a constitutional republic after the Second Rebellion,[7] it is implied some form of representative democracy was established through the holding of presidential elections.

Due to the nature of the totalitarian dictatorship governing Panem, citizens, particularly in the districts, have little civil liberties and virtually no capacity for self-governance or say in how to be governed. Even in the Capitol, its citizens have surrendered such rights in exchange for "bread and circuses." As such, Capitol citizens partake in lavish and hedonistic lifestyle dominated by mass entertainment, parties, and extravagant fashion that is largely removed from the oppressions and destitution faced by the outlying districts.[3]

Panem can be compared to North Korea, and it is possible that they had turned down or ignored diplomatic relations with other survivor nations in the world, if they do exist.

Departments

Coriolanus Snow and Clemensia Dovecote approaching the War Department.

Coriolanus Snow and Clemensia Dovecote approaching the War Department.

Agriculture Department

At the time of the prequel, the department was headed by the father of Iphigenia Moss.[8]

Communications

After the Second Rebellion, Plutarch Heavensbee was appointed secretary of communications.[7]

War Department

At the time of the prequel, the War Department was housed in the Citadel,[9] and in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, it was headed by the Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul.[10]

Economy

Currency

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gave Panem's currency as dollars,[11] while coins appeared to be the main form of currency in the districts.[12] The Ballad film used coins and paper currency known as Panars, presumably a portmanteau of "Panem dollar".

Taxation

Prior to the 10th Hunger Games, Panem only collected property taxes from the districts. They began to tax Capitol citizens as well in order to fund post-war reconstruction in the city.[13]

Military

Main article: Peacekeeper

Law enforcement is provided through a military/police force known as the Peacekeepers. Each district possesses a local garrison of Peacekeepers led by a Head Peacekeeper. This individual is responsible for commanding the district's Peacekeeper force and the enforcement of the laws of Panem within their designated district. It is assumed that the President of Panem is commander-in-chief of the Peacekeepers.

The Peacekeeper force was originally headquartered in District 13, the then center of Panem's military-industrial complex. Following the First Rebellion, the Peacekeepers' headquarters were relocated to District 2. Presumably for the next seventy-five years, the Capitol's command and control center for its military was centered in the Nut, a heavily fortified mountain fortress that overlooked District 2. As a result of District 2's position regarding the Capitol military, most soldiers who enlisted in the Peacekeepers came from District 2, although a significant portion originated from the Capitol, with a small minority coming from the other Districts.

Peacekeepers were distinguished by their near-all white uniforms. In times of intense civil unrest, such as what occurred in the aftermath of the 74th Hunger Games into the lead up of the Second Rebellion, there is a tactical variant of their uniform that is more heavily armored.

The Peacekeepers had a number of mechanized equipment at their disposal including armored ground vehicles as well as the Capitol's vast fleet of hovercraft. In addition, the Capitol is known to possess a significant arsenal of nuclear weapons.

History

Much of Panem's history is shrouded in mystery, though known history dates back approximately seventy-five years prior to the beginning of The Hunger Games trilogy.

An unspecified time before the events of the story, the Earth was devastated by climate change and global nuclear war(s) that led to the collapse of modern civilization. Surviving populations that survived this initial calamity were further decimated by the subsequent nuclear winter and catastrophic ecological events that followed, which Katniss states were droughts, fires, storms, and rising sea levels.

Some time after this apocalyptic event, survivors from the collapse of civilization in North America eventually founded a new nation in the region of the Rocky Mountain that would come to be known as Panem. It is unknown precisely when Panem was established and how long it has existed, though it is certain that Panem has been around for more than seventy-five years, and it's entirely possible for it to be at least a century or two old.

Panem eventually grew large enough that it was segmented into thirteen separate districts, each responsible for producing goods of a particular industry to serve the growing needs of the nation, and all operating under the auspices of Panem's oppressive Capitol. The exact method of Panem's expansion is unknown; it is possible that some of the separate districts may have even once been smaller, separate survivor nations that were eventually annexed or conquered by Panem.

Panem in NA

A map of Panem superimposed over a map of present-day North America.

Main article: First Rebellion
Main article: Dark Days

Approximately seventy-four years before the events of The Hunger Games trilogy, the various districts of Panem, led by District 13, rebelled against the Capitol. The primary reasons of the revolution largely lay with the oppressive fashion in which the Capitol government ruled over and exploited the districts. This civil war lasted three years, and although the exact number of casualties on either side is not known (the Capitol claims that for every dead Capitol citizen, two rebels died), both factions sustained heavy losses, while Panem itself was ravaged by the war.

Over the course of the conflict, the tide shifted between both sides, but in the war's waning days, it decisively shifted against the rebelling districts. Realizing the rebellion was lost, District 13 sought a separate peace with the Capitol after securing a significant portion of its nuclear arsenal. Unwilling to escalate the insurrection into a nuclear war, the Capitol agreed to 13's demands for independence and a non-aggression pact on the condition it renege its support for the other districts and appear destroyed on the surface, which District 13 accepted. Following the apparent destruction of District 13, the Capitol quickly subdued the remaining districts in the final stage of the conflict known as the Dark Days. With the pacification of the remaining twelve districts the Treaty of Treason was signed and through it the Capitol enacted sweeping new laws restricting civil liberties and enforcing heavy surveillance on the defeated districts in order to guarantee peace and order. Furthermore, as a cruel reminder to the districts each year so that the Dark Days should never happen again, the Capitol instituted the Hunger Games.[1]

Main article: The Games

In the wake of the rebellion, the Capitol established the Hunger Games, an annual event in which twenty-four children between the ages of twelve and eighteen, one boy and one girl from each district, are chosen from a lottery. The selected tributes as they were called were brought to the Capitol, where after a brief period of survival and combat training, were entered into a gladiatorial competition where they must fight each other to the death until only one remains standing. This individual was subsequently crowned a victor and was ensured a life of luxury and extraordinary privilege.

The event served three purposes. The first was for the event to serve as a continual reminder to the districts' populace of the cost of insurrection and to never again make an attempt at another rebellion. This was emphasized in the special quarter-century iterations of the Games, the Quarter Quell, whose special rules were tailored toward the actions of the rebels during the First Rebellion. The second was to demonstrate the overwhelming power the Capitol had over the districts by taking their children by force and making them slay each other in a no-rules free-for-all competition. It was to serve as proof that the Capitol's control over its people was so inexorable and unstoppable that they could do something so sadistic as to force the children of their conquered foes to slay each other in a battle royale. The third purpose was purely for entertainment, particularly for the citizens of the Capitol. The Hunger Games were a nationally televised event in the same vein as a reality show that all of its citizens were required to watch. The tributes and the inevitable victors are practically considered celebrities and the events of the Games themselves are dramatised and glorified.[1]

Over the next seventy-five years, the districts were continually oppressed and heavily surveilled by the Capitol through its ever present Peacekeeper force. Laws were strictly enforced by the districts' resident Peacekeepers, and public whippings and executions became commonplace. To add further insult to injury, the districts were forced to annually bear witness to the humiliation and horror of the Hunger Games, hoping one of the two tributes reaped return as a victor. The first ten iterations of the Hunger Games were held in the Capitol and were quite primitive and flawed. Following the disastrous 10th Hunger Games, the modern attributes of the Hunger Games were eventually implemented including that the victor shall live a life of luxury and privilege, that they shall reside in a lavish community in their district known as the Victors' Village, and that the Games would be held in specially crafted arenas in presumably isolated regions throughout North America. At some point in the history of the Games, the wealthier districts, particularly 1, 2, and 4, began instituting training programs led by victors to prepare children for the Hunger Games. Despite this being illegal according to the rules of the Hunger Games, the Capitol turned a blind eye to this practice, likely for it adding a further degree of excitement to the Games itself and as a means of further dividing the districts by driving a wedge between the Career and outlier districts.

Nevertheless, despite the Hunger Games' intended purpose of ensuring no further revolts occurred amongst the districts, the Games ironically acted to only further incite the district population to rebel. Popular resentment subtlety rose amongst the districts over the course of decades of Hunger Games. An unknown amount of time prior to the 74th Hunger Games, a conspiracy involving several Hunger Games victors, high-ranking members of the Snow regime, and District 13 arose with the intended purpose of ending the Hunger Games and overthrowing the totalitarian government of Panem.

Main article: Second Rebellion

The Second Rebellion's origin laid in the aftermath of the 74th Hunger Games, although momentum toward the revolution had been building for decades since the institution of the Games. It was sparked by Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark's near double-suicide at the end of the Games[14], which was interpreted as an act of rebellion by many residents of the districts. As a result, it caused a dramatic rise in civil unrest in the districts in the months following the 74th Games and into the lead up to the start of the 75th Hunger Games, which was also the Third Quarter Quell.

During the finale of the Third Quarter Quell, whose special rule stipulated that past victors were to be reaped into the games, Katniss Everdeen shot an arrow attached to a piece of conductive wire into an imperfection in the force field surrounding the arena. The wire, which was connected to an artificial tree, was then struck by lightning, with the energy of the strike passing through the wire into the force field, destroying it in the process. She was subsequently rescued and transported to District 13, which had been rebuilt as an underground city-sized bunker before being bombed during the Dark Days. Other surviving victors such as Beetee and Finnick were also rescued, while Peeta, Johanna, and Enobaria were left behind and captured by the Capitol. Immediately following the impromptu conclusion of the 75th Games, multiple districts throughout Panem went into full-blown revolt against the Snow regime, marking the start of the Second Rebellion. As an act of retribution for Katniss's actions at the end of the Third Quarter Quell, the Capitol destroyed District 12, echoing the faked destruction of District 13 during the First Rebellion[1], although a small number of citizens would escape prior due to the actions of Gale Hawthorne and be taken in by District 13.

With the revolution now in full swing, Katniss was recruited to be the 'Mockingjay' at the urging of District 13 President, Alma Coin, and Plutarch Heavensbee, for the purpose of serving as a symbol of the rebellion and rallying call for the resistance to overthrow the Capitol. Over the course of the following year, Katniss performed multiple propaganda shoots at several battlefields throughout Panem, inspiring citizens to continue the fight against the Capitol by showcasing the atrocities they inflicted on the districts. In a similar vein, the Capitol utilized Peeta Mellark as their own spokesperson to convince Panemian citizens that the continuation of the war will lead to the country's destruction and should be stopped immediately. Despite this effort, Capitol forces were gradually pushed backed as District 13 military forces, alongside local rebel forces, liberated each one of the outlying districts. Following the destruction of The Nut, the Capitol's command and control center for their military forces, and the fall of District 2, its most loyal district, the city of the Capitol itself was the only territory left under their control.

In the final battle of the war, the Capitol itself was placed under siege in the Battle of the Capitol, with rebel forces invading the city. Fierce fighting overtook the city, as rebel forces pushed back Capitol forces block by block, despite the latter's liberal use of sadistic traps and mutts alongside their Peacekeeper forces. At the battle's climax, with rebel forces pushing into the City Center, President Coin ordered a false flag operation by using a Capitol-marked hovercraft to bomb Capitol civilians being used as a human shield in front of the President's Mansion. After a second round of bombings resulted in the deaths of several Capitol children, an impromptu ceasefire was declared as all remaining support collapsed for the Snow regime and President Snow himself was subsequently arrested.

Following the fall of the Snow regime, President Coin instated herself as interim president and issued a vague promise of holding democratic elections at some point in the future once reconstruction from the revolution was completed. In reality, she intended to consolidate power and even continue the Hunger Games with one final Games involving Capitol children that saw narrow approval amongst the surviving victors. During the public execution of Coriolanus Snow that was to be conducted by the Mockingjay at her own request, Katniss, at the last moment, assassinated President Coin, putting an end to her authoritarian ambitions before they could start, while Snow died from what is rumored to have been from either suffocation or because of choking on his own blood. After Coin's death, Commander Paylor of District 8 was elected President of Panem and the Hunger Games were officially abolished. Soon after, President Paylor oversaw the liberalization and restructuring of Panem into a democratic constitutional republic.

Districts

The nation of Panem is separated into a total of thirteen self-contained subdivisions known as districts spread across North America. For seventy-five years after the First Rebellion, twelve of the districts were recognized as operational by the Capitol, while District 13 was destroyed during the closing days of the war (in reality having secretly seceded as an independent nation-state as part of a separate peace with the Capitol). Following the Second Rebellion, District 13 was reintegrated into Panem's political structure.

Each of the districts were responsible for producing, procuring, or refining goods in a particular industry as dictated by the Capitol, with the vast majority of said goods being shipped to the Capitol to fuel the hedonistic and lavish lifestyles of the city's populace. Each district provides something different to the Capitol; for example, District 12 provided coal, District 11 provided agricultural produce, District 7 provided lumber, and District 4 provided seafood. District citizens have little freedom to choose careers outside of their district's designated industry. Free markets outside of the Capitol, such as the Hob in District 12, are illegal, though some grey market exchange is tolerated, and District 12 itself does have a merchant sector that provides goods such as a bakery. With all major industries privately owned by wealthy Capitol families under state oversight, Panem operates as a semi-feudal fascist state. All trade and commerce between the districts is generally forbidden, as most of the districts' produced goods are sent to the Capitol. Welfare levels vary significantly, and are often dependent on the goods it produces; some districts, such as 10, 11 and 12, are far more impoverished than wealthier districts like 1, 2, and 4, though no district is nearly as wealthy as the Capitol itself. Following the restructuring of Panem after the Second Rebellion, it is assumed the districts were allowed to diversify their economies as a rebuilt District 12 opened a medical facility.

All of the districts are subject to the unrelenting will of the authoritarian Capitol, and have no known influence concerning the national politics of Panem beyond their own individual territories. As such, the local government of the individual districts are not entirely known. District 12 possessed a mayor[1], with a garrison of Peacekeepers composed of local and Capitol-sourced soldiers overseeing law enforcement under a Head Peacekeeper and it can be assumed the other Districts are governed in a similar way. It is unknown how the mayor of a district is selected, whether by election of the districts citizens or via appointment from the Capitol, although given the authoritarian nature of the Capitol, the latter is more likely.

While it is unclear as to the level of interactions the districts had prior to the First Rebellion, following the implementation of the Treaty of Treason, all inter-district travel and communications was banned as a means of isolating the district from one another. As such, the districts retain very little if any interactions with one another and each one has developed a unique culture unaffected by the other districts. Information on the other districts is similarly heavily restricted amongst the basic citizenry, beyond knowledge of the other districts' industry in relation to the Capitol. During her conversation with Rue about District 11 during the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss wonders if their conversation is being censored by the Gamemakers in order to prevent the watching districts from learning about another district’s way of life.

Main article: The Capitol
The Capitol Seal

The Capitol seal

The Capitol, as its name suggests, is the seat of government of Panem and has long been considered the center or heart of the nation. For nearly the entire history of Panem, the Capitol has dominated all of the districts, whose food and resources are forcibly taken to propagate the city's economy and the prosperity and lifestyle of its inhabitants.

Location

The Capitol is located in the western part of the country, in an area formerly known as the Rocky Mountains, specifically situated in the southern and northern part of the U.S. states of Wyoming and Utah respectively. The Capitol is surrounded by the thirteen outlying districts and while it is a prominent territory, it is not considered a district in-and-of-itself.

Capitol

The Capitol as it appears in The Hunger Games Adventures.

People and Lifestyle

The residents of the Capitol are generally the wealthiest and most decadent in of all Panem; living lives of conspicuous consumption, the people are most known for their lavish and "eccentric" sense of fashion, to the extent of radical body modifications such of dying their skin different colors and even having whiskers and talons implanted, a thought that disgusts and is seen as bizarre by Katniss Everdeen and many of the citizens of the outlying districts. The city's prosperity is fueled by the industries and forced labor of the districts, and Capitol citizens are rarely, if ever, seen engaging in manual labor or any other serious work of their own. Instead, the lives of the Capitol citizens are centered around the latest fashion trends and the vast array of entertainment provided by the city, including the Hunger Games, which is considered the largest and most celebrated form of entertainment for its citizens.

Main article: District 1
District 1 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 1's industry is manufacturing luxury items for the Capitol. Due to the nature of its industry, District 1 considered the wealthiest district, the only other wealthier place being the Capitol itself. Alongside Districts 2 and 4, it is a Career district where prospective tributes often train for years to compete in the Hunger Games, but little else is known about the district. At the end of Mockingjay, memorials were made for the fallen tributes and victors from District 1, meaning District 1 has 150 of Panem's memorials in their district (4 from the 50th Hunger Games and 2 each from the 1st–49th and 51st–74th Games). Notable ones among these memorials would be Cashmere, Gloss, Glimmer and Marvel.

District 1 as it appears in The Hunger Games Adventures

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures, the district is located north and west of the Capitol, roughly encompassing eastern Idaho, southern Montana, and northern Utah and Wyoming.

Main article: District 2
District 2 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 2's industry is masonry, but also manufactures weaponry, makes trains, and supplies the nation's Peacekeepers. The main military complex in the district is known as the Nut. Citizens of District 2 are sometimes called "the pets" of the Capitol. They are the biggest supporters of the Capitol and therefore are pampered and given many extra conveniences. They are one of the three Career districts, and like District 1 and 4, children in their district undergo extensive combat and survival training to participate in the Hunger Games, which its citizens consider a great honor. Some notable tributes are Clove, Cato, Enobaria and Brutus.

District 2 as it appears in The Hunger Games Adventures

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, it is located south/southeast of the Capitol, encompassing primarily the former U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico, and small portions of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Main article: District 3
District 3 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 3's primary industry is general electronics of many types, though it is known for also making various mechanical products such as automobiles and firearms. Their tributes are skilled with electronics and engineering. Some notable tributes are Wiress and Beetee.

District 3 as it appears in The Hunger Games Adventures

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures, District 3 is located northwest of District 12, which explains the fact that District 3 is not a Career district. Its territory primarily encompasses northern Indiana, northern Illinois, and eastern Iowa, as well as western Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, and northern Missouri.

Main article: District 4
District 4 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 4's industry is fishing, thus most residents have experience using nets and tridents, making fishhooks from scratch, swimming, and identifying edible sea life. It is considered a Career district alongside District 1 and 2, and notable victors from this district are Finnick Odair, Mags, and Annie Cresta. Finnick was an important ally of Katniss Everdeen in the Quarter Quell. According to the Mockingjay podiums, District 4 had 6 victors.

District 4 as it appears in The Hunger Games Adventures

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, it is located on the west coast of North America around the former U.S. states of California and Oregon, as well as southern Washington state.

Main article: District 5
District 5 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 5's industry is power production, which is emphasized by the presence of a large hydroelectric dam in the district. Foxface, a clever tribute nicknamed by Katniss in the 74th Hunger Games, was from District 5. In the 75th Hunger Games the man from District 5 was the first person to die, while he attacked Katniss.

Location

According to the Panem map shown in Catching Fire, it is located fairly close to the Capitol, southwest of it, primarily encompassing Arizona and southern Utah.

Main article: District 6
District 6 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 6's industry is transportation. In the 75th Hunger Games, two of the past winners ended up becoming morphling addicts. Another known tribute from District 6 was Titus. Little else is known about District 6. According to the Mockingjay podiums, District 6 had 4 victors.

Location

According to the Panem map shown in Catching Fire, it is located directly around the Lake Michigan shores of Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as Upper Michigan near Lake Superior.

According to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, District 6 is the third easternmost district. It lies to the east of District 11, and west of District 8 and District 12.

Main article: District 7
District 7 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 7's industry is lumber and many of its residents have experience with hatchets, axes, saws, and other tree cutting tools. Katniss notes that District 7 children begin work at an early age. Katniss and Peeta furthermore note they had to travel through District 7 to get to the Capitol. Johanna Mason and Blight came from this District. According to the Mockingjay podiums, District 7 had 7 victors.

District 7 as it appears in The Hunger Games Adventures

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, it is located in the upper northwest region of North America, north of District 4 and 1, encompassing eastern Washington, northern Idaho and Montana, and the southern portions of the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Main article: District 8
District 8 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 8's industry is the production of textiles, and they have at least one factory that is primarily used for making Peacekeeper uniforms. It was the first district to rebel after Katniss Everdeen spurred the revolution after the 74th Hunger Games. The rebellion worsened conditions for residents and some, including Bonnie and Twill, escaped. However, Bonnie and Twill never made it to safety in District 13. Cecelia and Woof were victors from District 8. According to the Mockingjay podiums, District 8 had 4 victors.

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventure, it is located north of District 11, roughly spanning eastern Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, southern Illinois, and western Kentucky.

According to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, District 8 is the second easternmost district. It lies to the east of Districts 6 and 11, and west of District 12.

Main article: District 9
District 9 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 9's industry is grain. Little is known about this district, just that there are large numbers of farmland for the production of grain. In the 74th Hunger Games, the boy from District 9 was the first person to be killed in the book. According to the Mockingjay podiums, District 9 has 5 victors.

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventure, it is located roughly in the center of Panem along the Great Plains extending northward, correlating to the idea that District 9 is the 'breadbasket' of Panem. The district spans the U.S. states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and western Minnesota, as well as the southern part of the Canadian province of Manitoba.

Main article: District 10
District 10 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 10's industry is livestock. Not much is known about this district, but some known information is that its marriage rituals are similar to that of District 4's. In the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss names the boy from District 10 "the boy with the bad leg" as he was crippled. Katniss and Peeta had to travel through District 10 also to get to the Capitol.

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures, it is located in the western part of Texas, extending south into northern and central Mexico.

Main article: District 11
District 11 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 11's industry is agriculture - orchards of various fruits, fields of grain, and cotton surround the district. Almost everything grown is shipped directly to the Capitol, leaving little for its district residents. As such, it is one of the poorest districts in Panem, second only to District 12. In addition, it is also one of the districts where the Peacekeepers are the strictest, with a fortified wall surrounding the district. Ironically, this directly results in its residents generally being malnourished and underfed despite its focus on agriculture. Rue and Thresh were notable tributes. Seeder and Chaff were victors from District 11. According to the Mockingjay podiums, District 11 has 5 victors.

District 11 as it appears in The Hunger Games Adventures

Location

According to the Panem map shown in Catching Fire and in The Hunger Games Adventures District 11 is located roughly in what remains of the southern United States, spanning eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, and northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. This is supported in Catching Fire, as Katniss said on her and Peeta's Victory Tour, that District 11 is south of District 12.

According to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, District 11 is the fourth easternmost district. It lies to the west of District 6, District 8, and District 12.

Main article: District 12
District 12 seal

Industry/Lifestyle

District 12's industry is coal and is located somewhere near what was the Appalachian mountains. The district has the distinction of being one of the poorest districts, if not the outright poorest, in all of Panem. Before Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the 74th Hunger Games, the district had not had a winner of the Hunger Games emerge from the ranks of its residents for twenty-four years since Haymitch Abernathy, a raging alcoholic and an embarrassment to the district, won the 50th Hunger Games. Before Haymitch, there was only one other victor (Lucy Gray Baird) from District 12, forty years before Haymitch's victory in the 50th Hunger Games and the last female victor before Katniss's joint victory with Peeta in the 74th Hunger Games, 64 years later.

District 12 is largely considered the laughing stock of Panem. Shortly after the abrupt end of the 75th Hunger Games and during the opening hours of the second rebellion, District 12 was destroyed by the Capitol, using firebombs. Less than 900 people escaped, mostly thanks to the foresight of Gale Hawthorne. At the end of the Second Rebellion, District 12 was rebuilt. According to the Mockingjay podiums, District 12 had 3 victors; however in the book it was revealed District 12 had a total of 4.

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, it is located in the Appalachian Mountains in a region belonging to eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and southern Ohio.

According to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, District 12 is Panem's easternmost district. It lies to the east of District 11, District 6, and District 8.

Main article: District 13
District 13 seal when it was part of Panem

District 13 was one of the thirteen districts of Panem. Its main industry was nuclear research and technology, including the production of nuclear weapons. In addition it served as the Capitol's original command and control center for its military-industrial complex. District 13 was the instigator of the First Rebellion and led the other twelve districts in revolution against the oppression of the Capital. At the climax of the First Rebellion, the district was supposedly obliterated as a warning to the other twelve districts of the Capitol's might and that further resistance was futile. In the years following the Dark Days, the Capitol led Panem's population to widely believe that the main industry of District 13 was graphite mining and that the district was now an uninhabitable ruin, supposedly still smoldering from the toxic bombs dropped upon it.

It is revealed in Mockingjay that the district is in fact still operational. During the waning days of the First Rebellion, District 13 secured a significant portion of the Capitol nuclear arsenal, and under threat of escalating the rebellion into a nuclear war, demanded independence and a non-aggression pact. The Capitol acquiesced to these terms on the condition that District 13 abandon the remaining rebelling districts and its surface infrastructure be destroyed. As such, District 13 seceded from the nation of Panem and operated covertly in a vast city-sized underground bunker. Per the terms of the non-aggression pact, the Capitol left District 13 to its own devices. As such, none of its citizens ever participated in the Hunger Games.

While the surface of District 13 remained scarred and supposedly uninhabitable, its residents lived deep underground, hidden away from the world and the eyes of the Capitol. Over the subsequent decades, District 13 gradually rebuilt its strength, and in the lead up to the 74th Hunger Games, began subtly supporting a conspiracy alongside Hunger Games victors and high-ranking members of the Snow regime to instigate a second revolution. In the immediate outbreak of the Second Rebellion, District 13 served as the leading force and supplier of military equipment for the rebels in the other districts. Following the successful overthrow of the Snow regime at the conclusion of the Second Rebellion, District 13 was reintegrated into Panem.

Location

According to the Panem map shown in The Hunger Games Adventures, District 13 is located north of District 12 in a region encompassing western New York, and northwestern Pennsylvania, as well as the southern part of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Many of the wealthier districts such as Districts 1, 2 and 4, known as "Career districts," have a more positive orientation toward the Hunger Games. As residents in these districts do not generally face extreme poverty and malnutrition as is experienced in the more impoverished districts, their tributes are generally healthy and strong. In these districts, it is not uncommon for children to volunteer to be tributes, as participating and winning the Hunger Games is held as a great privilege and honor in these districts. Although it is against the rules of the Hunger Games, many children in these districts attend specialized training academies run by past victors, where they are specifically raised to participate in the Hunger Games, and thus are trained in the arts of combat and survival. They are typically known as Career Tributes, or "Careers" for short and are commonly cited as being regular contenders for being crowned a victor, to the ire of the residents of outlying districts who look down upon them in disgust and disdain.

Behind the scenes

Panem and the general setting of The Hunger Games has many references to the Ancient Roman Empire. The Games themselves are reminiscent of the Roman munera, or gladiatorial games. The districts surrounding the Capitol are similar to the Roman provinces that surrounded the city of Rome. Many names, particularly of those from the Capitol are Roman names, such as Cinna, Seneca, Caesar, Coriolanus, Portia etc.

The name "Panem" itself comes from the Latin expression panem et circenses, which means "bread and circuses", a political strategy to keep the people satisfied with the current leaders by distracting them with cheap food ("bread") and entertainment ("circuses"), the two basis of Panem's control over the districts and the people within. The Hunger Games version of panem et circenses is far darker and crueler than the Roman version, as food and entertainment are also used as a means of coercion (through threats of being withheld) as well as for distraction.

Additionally, Panem may also have a secondary derivation as a corrupted form of "Pan-Am" ("Pan-America"), hinted by the fact that the name "Panem" is pronounced in the movies with both syllables stressed.

Panem had 13 districts, possibly an allusion to the original Thirteen American Colonies that rebelled against their British rulers.

You can find a map of all 13 districts of Panem here.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Hunger Games, Chapter 1
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Hunger Games, Chapter 3
  3. 3.0 3.1 Mockingjay, Chapter 16
  4. 4.0 4.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 2
  5. The Hunger Games, Chapter 5
  6. Mockingjay, Chapter 25
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Mockingjay, Chapter 27
  8. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 16
  9. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 7
  10. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
  11. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 14
  12. The Hunger Games, Chapter 18
  13. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 1
  14. The Hunger Games, Chapter 25
The Hunger Games trilogy
Novels The Hunger GamesCatching FireMockingjay
Main Characters Katniss EverdeenPeeta MellarkGale HawthorneHaymitch AbernathyEffie Trinket
Supporting Characters Primrose EverdeenPresident SnowCinnaMrs. EverdeenMr. EverdeenPresident CoinClaudius TemplesmithCaesar FlickermanMadge UnderseePaylorPlutarch HeavensbeeSeneca Crane
Tributes MarvelGlimmerCatoCloveFoxfaceThreshRueMaysilee DonnerTitus
Past Victors Augustus BraunAnnie CrestaBeetee LatierBlightBrutusCashmereCeceliaChaffEnobariaFinnick OdairGlossJohanna MasonLymeMags FlanaganMorphlingsPorter Millicent TrippSeederWiressWoof
Groups RebellionGamemakersPrep teamTributesVictors
Locations PanemThe CapitolDistrict 1District 2District 3District 4District 5District 6District 7District 8District 9District 10District 11District 12District 13
Behind the Scenes Suzanne CollinsGary RossFrancis Lawrence
Films The Hunger Games (film)Catching Fire (film)Mockingjay - Part 1Mockingjay - Part 2
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