Orgrimmar and Durotar are established

Full History

Orgrimmar rose in Durotar as Thrall's Horde sought a permanent home after its long wandering and the Battle of Mount Hyjal. The settlement gave the orcs a capital of their own on eastern Kalimdor, far from the human internment camps and the older Horde's wars. Its construction marked the beginning of a new political order rather than the end of the Horde's troubles.

Thrall's followers reached Kalimdor by sea and allied with Darkspear trolls and tauren during the struggles surrounding the Third War. The land they chose was difficult, but independence mattered more than comfort. Building a capital meant securing supplies, gaining allies, and holding the territory against hostile forces. Rexxar's journeys across the Barrens took place while that new order remained fragile.

The city also became the place from which Thrall faced Admiral Proudmoore's renewed war against the orcs. That crisis tested the possibility of peace with Jaina's Theramore before the Horde had fully settled. By the original World of Warcraft starting state, Orgrimmar stood as the political heart of a Horde joined by peoples who had chosen cooperation despite very different histories.