Panemis a nation that was established during an unknown time period in a post-apocalyptic world. It is situated primarily in North America, and the Capitol is located in an area formerly known as the Rocky Mountains. Panem was run by an authoritarian-totalitarian dictatorship that was led by President Snow before the second rebellion. It is portrayed in the trilogy to be the dominant society in North America, and no other nations or civilized societies beyond Panem have been mentioned, so it is unknown if any exist at all.
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 and entertainment, the citizens would give up their political rights.
In Panem, the rules are harshly enforced: After the Dark Days, a sadistic annual event known as the Hunger Games was established as a warning reminder of the past. According to the , Panem has a population of 4,556,778 people. Adding up the Capitol and 12 districts gives it a population of only 1,905,286 people.
Panem is located in the remains of North America. Not much is known about the exact locations of the districts, other than the fact that District 12 is located in the Appalachia. The size of the country is known not to be as large as North America today, given that, large areas of land (across the world) were flooded by rising sea level.
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.
An unspecified time before the current date, the face of the Earth changed and modern civilization was seemingly destroyed. It is unknown precisely what caused the "end of the world," but major landmasses changed shape as the sea level rose to unknown heights around the planet, hinting that North America became smaller and presumably the only landmass on Earth.
Some time after the end of the world as we knew it, a nation was established in North America that would soon 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. Its exact method of expansion is unknown; it is possible that some of the separate districts may have even once been smaller, separate nations that were eventually annexed by Panem.
Approximately seventy-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, the various districts of Panem rebelled against the Capitol, primarily due to the oppressive fashion in which the Capitol government ruled over the districts. It is unknown how long the rebellion lasted or the exact number of casualties on either side (although the Capitol claims that for every dead Capitol citizen, two rebels died), but by the end of the conflict, the Capitol had quelled the rebellion, defeating twelve of the districts and obliterating the thirteenth entirely.
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 and entered into a gladiatorial competition where they must fight each other to the death until only one remains standing.
The event served two purposes. The first was to demonstrate the overwhelming power the Capitol had over the districts by taking their children by force and forcing them to slay each other in a no-rules competition. It was 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 second purpose was purely for entertainment. The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in the same vein as a reality show, its entrants practically considered celebrities and the events themselves dramatized and glorified.
The Capitol, hence the name, is the capital and largest city in Panem and serves as the nation's central seat of government. It is located in an area formerly known as the Rocky Mountains and is surrounded by the thirteen outlying districts.
The free residents of the Capitol are generally considered the wealthiest (and most decadent) of all Panem, and the city's prosperity is fueled by the industries and forced labor of the districts beyond. While it is a major territory, it is not considered one of the thirteen districts. The people are most known for their "creative" outfits, and crazy sense of fashion, even to the extent of dying the color of their own skin, or even having whiskers and talons implanted. President Snow leads Panem, until there is rebellion and eventually, war.
The nation of Panem was separated into a total of thirteen nation-states known as districts, twelve of which are recognized as operational by the Capitol, and each being responsible for producing, procuring, or refining goods in a particular industry as dictated by the Capitol. 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.
The districts barely interact with each other since it was illegal, so each district generally has a unique culture unaffected by the other districts. 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 apparently no district is nearly as wealthy as the Capitol itself.
Originally, there were thirteen districts in Panem. During the Dark Days, District 13 was obliterated by the Capitol and is no longer recognized as operational. Each district provides something different to the Capitol; for example, District 12 provides coal and District 4 provides fish.
District 1's industry is making luxury items for the Capitol. Due to the nature of its industry, it's considered to be the wealthiest district, the only other wealthier area being the Capitol itself. It is a Career District. Little else is known about this district.
District 2's industry is masonry, but also manufactures weaponry, makes trains, and supplies 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.
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.
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.
District 5's industry is power.
District 6's industry is transportation. In the 75th Hunger Games, two of the past winners ended up becoming morphling addicts.
District 7's industry is lumber and many of its residents have experience with hatchets, axes, saws, and other tree cutting tools. Also, that this district's children begin work at an early age.
District 8's industry is the production of textiles, and they have at least one factory that is primarily used for making Peacekeeper uniforms.
District 9's industry is grain. Little is known about this district, just that there are lots of farmland for grain. In the 74th Hunger Games, the boy from District 9 was the first person to be killed in the book.
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.
District 11's industry is agriculture - orchards and fields of grain and cotton surround the district. Almost everything grown is shipped directly to the Capitol. 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. Ironically, this directly results in its residents generally being malnourished and underfed despite its focus on agriculture.
District 12's industry is coal. District 12 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.
District 13 supposedly obliterated during the Dark Days as a warning to the other twelve districts of the Capitol's might. The district is now said to be uninhabitable, the ruins supposedly still smoldering from the toxic bombs dropped upon it.
After the Dark Days, the Capitol lead Panem's population to widely believe that the main industry of District 13 was graphite mining. However, this was a cover for the truth: nuclear technology research and development, including weapons.
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 do not generally face extreme poverty and malnutrition as is done in 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 winning the Hunger Games is held in highest regard in these districts. Although it is against the rules of the Hunger Games, children in these districts are often 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.