JK Rowling has recently been releasing some brand new information on the international Wizarding Schools of the Harry Potter universe
So, using my ~incredible~ digital art skills (you may be able to see why I struggled with my Graphic Design GCSE), I decided to have a little look at what we know about their locations, and who would go to them.
We now know there are 11 ‘‘Great Wizarding Schools’’; the schools that are internationally recognised as providing presitigious and high levels of education, and which are monitered by the International Confederation of Wizards. There are other schools; she mentioned specifically others within Africa, but they tend to be less well regulated, and the vast majority of Wizarding communties apparently tend to home-school their children, which is why the number of schools is so small.
However, it seems the 11 Great Schools serve quite large areas for those who do want a formal education for their children.
We have details about 8 of them. This means there are still 3 Great Schools out there which we have NO information on.
HOGWARTS: In purple. Well duh, we all know about Hogwarts. It specifically takes students from the UK and Ireland, and it is located in the Scottish Highlands. It turns out it is actually one of the smallest schools.
BEAUXBATONS: In blue. Whilst it is thought of as a French school, it serves most of Western Europe; taking students from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Located in the French Pyrenees. Despite what the films claim, it is NOT an all-girls school.
DURMSTRANG: Founded by a Bulgarian woman, Nerida Vulchanova, it is located somewhere in the far north of either Norway or Sweden. We can thus assume it definitely takes students from the countries in red, but what other countries it may serve is unknown. It is likely it serves at least some of the shaded countries in Eastern Europe. It does take international students; Lucius Malfoy attempted to send Draco there, but it does not accept muggle-borns. Like Beauxbatons, it is a mixed-sex school, depsite the film’s depiction.
MAHOUTOKORO: The Japanese school, serving ONLY Japan (in pink.) The only school where we have a precise location; the Japanese island of Minami Iwo Jima, about 1000km south of Tokyo. In real life, it is uninhabited (or so muggles believe.) It is the smallest of the 11 schools, and the only one where younger students have the option to not live on site.
UAGADOU: Located in Uganda, it is the only African school to have stood the test of time and be classifed as ‘Great’, although it seems there are other schools in the continent which are not registered with the International Confederation. It is the largest of the 11 schools, in part because it takes students from the entire African continent (in green). They apparently practise more ancient magic (magic, it seems, originated in Africa) and thus are taught to not need wands to perform it.
CASTELOBRUXO: The school is specifically Brazillian, but it does take students from the rest of South America (in brown). It is located somewhere in the north, in the Amazon Rainforest. It has an exchange programme with the European schools. It is implied to be at least as old as Hogwarts, which would mean it was founded by Native South Americans as the modern day country of Brazil would not yet have existed.
KOLDOVSTORETZ: The Russian school, and the one we know least about as it has so far only been mentioned briefly in the Wonderbook: Book of Potions game and the 2014 special editions of the novels. It may serve other countries, but is only known to take Russian students.
ILVERMORNY: The most recently revealed, information about it is being kept under wraps as students from it are apparently set to be main characters in the Fantastic Beasts films. It is known to serve the USA and Canada, and it is known that Native American magic was important in its founding. More information, including a more precise location and if other countries send pupils there, will presumably be revealed as the films get closer.
UPDATE AS OF JUNE 2016: Ilvermorny is located at the peak of Mount Greylock in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It has been confirmed to be the only Great School in the USA or Canada.
Obviously there are a lot of blanks on this map; it can be presumed the remaining 3 schools will take students from some of these countries (I would be very surprised not to see another school in Asia.) Other countries though, especially the smaller ones, may simply be members of those home-schooling communities.
It’ll be interesting to see what other information we get about the magical world outside of Britian!