Where is Middle-Earth?
ICELAND!
Iceland
The landscape is exactly what I imagined while reading The Hobbit. Iceland has everything from the rolling green hills where Bilbo Baggins would have lived, to the snow capped mountains Hvannadalshnjúkur and Snæfellsjökull, which are like the Misty Mountains. Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður is a National park that has many glaciers and is very snowy and pretty.
In Iceland they speak Icelandic. I used Google Translate to look up some phrases to hear how they talk. It sounds like how someone from Middle-Earth would speak. There is a unique accent when someone from there speaks.
The Icelandic culture has been shaped by the extreme forces of nature there, just how I imagined Middle-Earth to be.There was a lot of sheep there, at one point they outnumbered people 4 to 1, so many people were shepherds. Working in agriculture was another popular occupation.
My Argument
In the Hobbit, scenes are in grassy, hilly landscapes, big, snowy mountains, and caves. Snæfellsjökull is a mountain that looks like it would be the Misty Mountains, where the Dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf go. Leiðarendi is a cave that looks like the caves in the mountains that the goblins are in. There are also many grassy hills and plains where Bilbo or other hobbits would have lived.
Iceland is the perfect Middle-Earth!
Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður National Park
The Misty Mountains where the dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf go.
Icelandic cave
This is like the cave that the goblins and Gollum live.
Hobbit Holes
These hills are where I imagine the Hobbit hills to be located.
Counter Claim
Other people may say that the U.S.A. was where Middle-Earth was. The landscape may look like Middle-Earth but the culture isn't like Middle-Earth at all. I am convinced that Iceland was once Middle-Earth.
In conclusion...
In my opinion, Iceland was once Middle-Earth. The facts that I have gathered clearly point to this conclusion that I have drawn. The culture, language, and all of the landscapes have so many things in common that it is out of the question to say any other place is Middle-Earth.
EXTRA, EXTRA!!
Snæfellsjökull Mountain
This is what I imagined the Misty Mountains to look like.
Leiðarendi Cave
This cool cave that looks like the ones the goblins occupied.
Leiðarendi Cave
This looks like Gollum might have lived.