The Shire is a fictional location is part of the legendarium created by the British author J. R. R. Tolkien and appears in their novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
It is a region in the northwest of Middle-earth, one of the continents of the fictional world of Arda where elapses the most part of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. It is, in turn, within the great region of Eriador, where previously existed the kingdom of Arnor. Is inhabited only by hobbits, a race similar to the men and characterized by their short stature. Founded in the middle of the Third Age, their known history is small and with little significants events because the peaceful nature of its inhabitants, with the exception of the events that took place during the War of the Ring.
Even if is not mentioned as such in the novel The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien already was then an idea of what was the Shire, was created "officially" during the composition of the first chapter of The Lord of the Rings and inspired principally in the neighborhood of Sarehole, Birmingham, where the author lived during his childhood.