| Glubbdubdrib | |
|---|---|
| Gulliver's Travels location | |
 Map of Glubbdubdrib, Lugnagg, and other lands east of Japan (original map, Pt III,Gulliver's Travels) | |
| Created by | Jonathan Swift |
| Genre | Satire |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Monarchy |
| Ethnic group(s) | Glubbdubdribians |
| Locations | unknown (capital) |
Glubbdubdrib (also spelledGlubdubdrib orGlubbdubdribb in some editions) was an island ofsorcerers andmagicians, one of theimaginary countries visited byLemuel Gulliver in the 1726 satirical novelGulliver's Travels byAnglo-Irish authorJonathan Swift.[1] The episode on Glubbdubdrib "explores the theme of humanity's progressive degeneration."[2]
The location of Glubdubdrib is illustrated in both the text and the map at the beginning of part III ofGulliver's Travels, though they are not consistent with each other. The map shows Glubdubdrib to be southwest of the port ofMaldonada on the southwest coast ofLuggnagg,[3] while the text states the island is southwest ofBalnibarbi, and Maldonada to be a port of that land.[4]
Glubbdubdrib is about one third as large as the Isle of Wight. The inhabitants of Glubbdubdrib can wield magic, and most of their technology is utilized through magical means. The eldest in succession is prince or governor of the island. He has a 'noble' palace, and a park of about three thousandacres, surrounded by a wall of hewn stone twentyfoot high.[5]
On visiting Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver had the occasion, thanks to the power of theirnecromancers, to speak withBrutus ofancient Rome, whom Gulliver greatly admired, among many other famous historical personages, includingSocrates. Many ideas of historians were corrected this way. Gulliver spends five days doing this, then three days looking at some of the 'modern' dead, trying to find the greatest figure in the past 200 or 300 years in his country and others in Europe. Gulliver gets a new view of historians and heroes, claiming 'I was chiefly disgusted with modern History'.[6]
