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In A Fire Upon the Deep, the humans reference the planet or country called "Nyjora" as being their ancestral home.

Is this place on Earth? I would look it up but I don't have my copy here. I do remember a reference to Earth when they mention the story behind Aniara as being a ghost ship from Earth.

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Humans in the Beyond know that their race originally came from a place they call Old Earth, but they know little more; it was a very long time ago (at least 30,000 years, possibly much more) and it's in the Slow Zone and thus inaccessible.

Nyjora was the first world settled by humans who (inadvertedly) escaped the Slow Zone. It went through a period of feudalist matriarchy (The Age of Princesses occasionally mentioned in the books) and all humans in the Beyond are ultimately descended from there.

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  • I have the impression that Nyjora itself is just below the zone boundary. Support for this: it's never mentioned in present tense in AFutD.
    – Anton Sherwood
    Commented Sep 18, 2019 at 5:29
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"Nyjora" comes from the words for "New Earth" in the Nordic languages (e.g. Norwegian).

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  • The question is where is Nyjora. Or what does it mean. Whilst this does answer the former it needs making a bit more clearer as it currently reads like it’s just answering the latter.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Sep 15, 2019 at 23:34

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