{{Short description|Fictional city featuringfrom in Terry Pratchett'sthe Discworld series}}

| source = ''Discworld''

| locations = {{ubl|[[Unseen University]]<br/>|The Patrician's Palace}}

| people = {{ubl|[[Havelock Vetinari]]<br/>|[[Wizards (Discworld)|Wizards]]<br/>|[[Ankh-Morpork City Watch]]<br/>|[[Sam Vimes]]<br/>|[[Moist von Lipwig]]}}

'''Ankh-Morpork''' is a [[fiction]]al [[city-state]] whichthat featuresis prominentlythe insetting [[Terryfor Pratchett]]'smany ''[[Discworld]]'' fantasy novels by [[Terry Pratchett]].

In ''[[The Art of Discworld]]'', Pratchett explainsexplained that the city is similar to [[Tallinn]] and central [[Prague]], but adds that it has elements of 18th-century [[London]], 19th-century [[Seattle]] and modern-day [[New York City]]. He also statedsaid that since the creation of ''[[The Streets of Ankh-Morpork]]'', he has tried to ensure that the descriptions of character movements and locations in the books matched the Ankh-Morpork map; this allowed him, and fans of the series, to visualise the story more clearly.

The name "Ankh-Morpork" refers to both the city itself, a [[defensive wall|walled city]] about five miles (8&nbsp;{{convert|5|mi|km)|0}} across, and the surrounding suburbs and farms of its [[fiefdom]]. The city itself lies on the River Ankh, the most polluted waterway on the Discworld, which divides it into the more affluent Ankh and the poorer Morpork (including the slum-like "Shades"). Lying approximately equidistant from the cold, mountainous Hub and tropical Rim, Ankh-Morpork is in the Discworld's equivalent of the [[temperate]] zone.

Ankh-Morpork is built on black [[loam]], broadly, but it is mostly built on itself; pragmatic citizens simply built on top of the existing buildings rather than excavate them out as the river flooded and the [[sediment]] grew too high. There are many unknown basements, including an entire "cave network" below Ankh-Morpork made up of old streets and abandoned sewers.<ref>{{cite book|page=104|title=The Truth: (Discworld Novel 25)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzUFi46vNHwC |author=Terry Pratchett |publisher=Random House |year=2008 |isbn=978-1407035246}} 978140703524</ref>

The succession of the Patrician occurs normally occurs by either assassination or revolution. Patricians have been known to resign, but this is very much the exception. Power is, to some degree, shared with the many Guilds (see below) and the surviving nobility. They form a sort of advisory city council, with a system of one man, one vote -– the Patrician being the "one man" in question. According to ''[[The Truth (novel)|The Truth]]'', as per the city charter, a new Patrician must be elected with the unanimous approval of all Guilds.

The primary engines of Ankh-Morpork's economy are the guildsGuilds. There are hundreds of guildsGuilds, for every conceivable profession, from clowns to [[butchers]], and each has its own strictly maintained laws and trading practices. Many guildsGuilds have assumed roles which in real-world cities would be assumed by government agencies, such as the Guild of Historians, comparable to [[English Heritage]].

The City Watch is one of the greatestgreat success stories. InIt the beginning, itoriginally consisted of the Day Watch, [[:wikt:popinjay|popinjays]] headed by Captain "Mayonnaise" Quirke (rich, thick, oily, and smelling slightly of eggs) and the Night Watch, three unemployable men;: then-Captain Vimes, who was a drunk, Sergeant Colon, whose idea of major crime would be the theft of a bridge and Corporal Nobbs, who has a certificate to prove that he's is probably human. The addition of Lance-Constable Carrot was the catalyst for their reformationreform over the course of the novelin ''[[Guards! Guards!]]''. Over the course of time, theThe Watch has growngrew under the leadership of Commander Samuel Vimes to become the most modern police force on the Disc.

The '''Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild''' is a professional organisationwas widely considered by the elite to be the best option anywhere for a well-rounded education anywhere. The current Patrician, Lord Vetinari, received an Assassins' Guild education in his youth.

The Guild of Assassins is located in a light, airy series of buildings next to the Guild of Fools and Joculators, which, being a far more sinister building, is often mistaken for the Assassins'. The guildGuild is currentlywas headed by Lord Downey.

The Assassins' Guild was founded on 27 August AM1512 by Sir Gyles de Munforte as the ''de Munforte School for Gentlemen Assassins''. Sir Gyles was a warrior knight who, during his crusades in [[Klatch]], was intrigued by the Klatchian tradition of professional gentleman assassins, and decided to set up a similar organisation at home, only without the [[Hashshashin|drugs]]. In AM1576, theit school was elevated to the status ofbecame a [[Guild]] and thechanged its name was changed to the ''Royal Guild of Assassins''. The '"Royal'" was dropped after the '"events'" of AM1688 (i.e. the Ankh-Morpork Civil War, as a result ofin which the monarchy was overthrown).

The '''The AM$''' (Ankh-Morpork dollar) is equal to 100 pennies (pence). UnderThe Ankh-MorporkianAM$ tradition,is tenreputedly pencethe can[[Hard becurrency|hardest]] referredcurrency tooutside asof athe shilling,[[Agatean twenty-fiveEmpire]]. penceA dollar coin is the assize halfof a ton[[Sequin (coin)|Venetian sequin]], and fiftyalthough pencetheoretically asmade aof nob/agold ton/halfthe ametal bar/ahas knocker.been adulterated so many times that, according to ''[[The Discworld Companion]]'':

In ''[[Making Money]]'', [[Moist von Lipwig]], as deputy chairman of the Royal Mint of Ankh-Morpork (acting under authority of the actual chairman, a small dog named Mr. Fusspot), sought to take Ankh-Morpork off of the gold standard and make the Ankh-Morpork dollar a [[fiat currency]] backed by the economy of the city. And, inspired by the Ankh-Morpork citizens using stamps as currency, he introduced banknotes for multi-dollar denominations. ''Making Money'' "has often been highlighted as an example of Pratchett’s perspicacity, thanks to its superb depictions of the precarious unreality of banking systems."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/07/terry-pratchett-discworld-author-the-colour-of-magic|title=Pratchett power: from lost stories to new adaptations, how the late Discworld author lives on: It's 40 years since The Colour of Magic hit the shelves. As newly unearthed short stories are published, fans and friends celebrate the late author's enduring legacy |author=Sam Jordison |date=7 Oct 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Ankh-Morpork was [[Town twinning|twinned]] with the town of [[Wincanton]] in [[Somerset]], in the south-west United Kingdom on the spherical [[planet]] [[Earth]] (known in the Discworld books as Roundworld) on 7 December 2002.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2002-12-06|title=Pratchett city twins with real town|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2549557.stm|access-date=2021-07-26}}</ref> The town is home to a shop called "The Discworld Emporium",<ref>{{Cite web|title=Official Discworld Merchandise - Discworld Emporium|url=https://www.discworldemporium.com/|access-date=2021-07-26|website=www.discworldemporium.com}}</ref> which also doubles as an "Ankh-Morpork Consulate" according to the shop sign. However, due tofor legal reasons, the twinning was not officially displayed on the road sign. Fans, however, added stick-on notices to some of the signs.<ref>{{cite news |title=Row over fictional twin town |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3002242.stm |access-date=16 September 2020 |work=BBC News |date=19 June 2003}}</ref> ThisIn has2009, nowthis beenwas changed, and a new town sign prominently declaring the twinning with Ankh-Morpork and other Roundworld places has beenwas erected. This sign was designed by the Cunning Artificer himself, Bernard Pearson (of the Discworld Emporium). Several streets in a new housing development in Wincanton have been named after Ankh-Morpork Streets, including Peach Pie Street and Treacle Mine Road.<ref>{{cite news |title=Roads named after Discworld books |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7984118.stm |access-date=16 September 2020 |work=BBC News |date=5 April 2009}}</ref>

Many details of Ankh-Morpork appear to have been inspired by [[Fritz Leiber]]'s fictional city [[Lankhmar]] (although Pratchett has said "I didn't – at least consciously, I suppose I must say – create Ankh-Morpork as a takeoff of Lankhmar");<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Annotated Pratchett File v9.0 - The Colour of Magic|url=https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/the-colour-of-magic.html|access-date=2021-07-26|website=www.lspace.org}}</ref>); [[John D. Rateliff]] notes that Leiber's characters "the [[Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser|Gray Mouser and Fafhrd]] guest-star in the very first Discworld story, ''The Colour of Magic'', under the pseudonyms of The Weasel and Bravd".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-03-01|title=Classics of Fantasy: Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser Series|url=http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x&#61;=books/main/classicsoffantasy|access-date=2021-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050301081552/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x&#61;=books/main/classicsoffantasy|archive-date=2005-03-01}}</ref>