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During the Second Empire, the vast swamplands encompassing Black Marsh were claimed as Imperial territory. Naturally, the obtuse Elves (and other admirers of this seeping pustule on the buttocks of Tamriel) favor the name Argonia, an ancient battleground where their forebears were put to death. Perhaps because of this, it was deemed appropriate to give the primordial tribes of lizard-folk the name "Argonian" in our common tongue. What cannot be argued is the pitiful state of this province; it positively oozes with the devastated and fetid: the scars of battles past and plunderers present permanently disfigure these already-inhospitable borderlands. Wade inward, though, and the dark heart of Black Marsh will elude you; its elements combine to infect explorers with poxes both real and imagined.
The inhabitants of this province enjoy an anonymity not seen elsewhere. The early Aldmeri explorer and poet Topal the Pilot described "manlike reptiles, fleet of foot and running the length of this great mire," and gave the impression of an abandoned place, unlivable to settlers. However, primitive Men such as the Kothringi, primal Mer like the Barsaebic Ayleids, and relatives of the Khajiit like the vulpine Lilmothiit all fought for their own pieces of this noisome refuge.