Durin's Folk were the eldest and greatest of the seven folk of the Dwarves, descended from Durin I. The ancestral hall of Durin's Folk was Khazad-dûm.

They were little concerned with the Wars of Beleriand, but they were friendlier with the Elves than most Dwarves, and in the Second Age they prospered from their contact with the Noldor of Eregion.

In the Third Age, Durin's Folk flourished in Khazad-dûm for nearly two thousand years, growing rich from the treasures of its mines, especially mithril.

Although they had weathered all assaults from without, they were eventually driven from Khazad-dûm by the rising of the Balrog in TA 1980.

They then became a fragmented and wandering people, settling at various places in the Ered Mithrin and in Erebor, until they were driven out by dragons.

In TA 2790, Thrór attempted to visit Khazad-dûm, but was slain by the Orcs who dwelt there. His son, Thráin, the began the War of the Dwarves and Orcs (TA 2793-2799) to take revenge for his father's death. Durin's Folk played the major role in this conflict.

By TA 2800, they lived only in the Ered Luin and the Iron Hills, though in TA 2941, Thorin II recovered Erebor, and Durin's Folk once more had a home.

Although Balin's re-colonisation of Khazad-dûm in TA 2989 failed, with the death of the Balrog and the passing of Sauron in the War of the Ring, Khazad-dûm may have been recovered by Durin's Folk in the Fourth Age.