The Curious Land of Khand

JRR Tolkien created many lands and histories of Middle earth. However, it was largely the north west of the continent that was mapped. The East and the South are largely 'ignored' at least in terms of geographic and indeed demographic detail, for the most part. Nonetheless we do know a few things, and it is interesting to note that Tolkien did name one particular country specifically.

If you see a map of Middle earth, there is a land named "Khand" directly to the south of Sauron's domain, Mordor. A reference in the chapter "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" in The Return of the King, calls the inhabitants of this land "Variags". Apparently, they were horse breeders like the Rohirrim, though I've been unable to find any direct references to this idea. "Variag", I think, is Slavic, and was applied historically to peoples who composed the Byzantine Emperor's Varangian Guard-northern Germanic mercenaries. Tolkien's Variags appear not to have been mercenaries however, rather they were soldiers of their own nation fighting for Sauron's cause.

Perhaps they were a northern people who had migrated south to inhabit the lands south of Mordor-a particularly ominous choice for them.

Whatever the case, they are one of the many enigmatic peoples who inhabit Tolkien's world, and on which we'll only ever be able to speculate