 The land north of the Wall still makes up a large chunk (being roughly the size of Canada) of Westeros, but remains largely unmapped and unexplored, especially the ice field region north and west of a massive mountain range called the Frostfangs, which marks the farthest geographic limit of human settlements.The northern extent of the continent is therefore unknown, although thought to be continuous with a polar ice cap north of the Shivering Sea known as the White Waste.At the novel's beginning, the majority of Westeros is united under the rule of one king of the Targaryen dynasty, with each of nine regions controlled by a different major house.