Minhiriath was the area in the south of Eriador situated between the Rivers Brandywine and Greyflood.

Its earliest inhabitants seemed to be the ancestors of the Dunlendings. They were of the race of men, but unrelated to the Númenorians.

Early in the Second Age the southern regions of Minhiriath were heavily forested but by SA 800 the Númenorians had begun harvesting its trees for their shipbuilding industry. By the Third Age the original population had dwindled and only a few forests remained.

When the Dúnedain founded Arnor, Minhiriath was its southernmost region and it became part of Cardolan in 861 when Arnor was split into three Kingdoms. During and after the Wars with the Witch-King the population of the region diminished and scattered with the remnants settling in Bree, Dunland and Dunharrow.

The last city in the region was Tharbad, which was founded where the North-South Road crossed the Greyflood. The city was in both Minhiriath on the west bank and Enedwaith on the east. Tharbad was finally destroyed by the floods that followed the Fell Winter of TA 2911 and at the time of the War of the Ring the entire region of Minhiriath was uninhabited.