The Crownlands is one of the nine constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms. Instead of being ruled by a Lord Paramount, the Crownlands are ruled directly by the monarch on the Iron Throne from the city of King's Landing, the largest city in Westeros and the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. The Crownlands were never a sovereign nation, instead being contested between the Riverlands, the Stormlands, and other regions for thousands of years until Aegon the Conqueror seized control of the area during his invasion and made it his primary foothold on the continent, three centuries before the death of King Robert Baratheon. It is therefore the newest of the regions in Westeros, and as a result, does not have much of a distinct "cultural identity", so much as it is shaped by its distinction as the region containing the capital city. Bastards born in the Crownlands are given the surname Waters.

Culturally and historically, the Crownlands were primarily an extension of the Riverlands, but with cultural influences from neighboring regions which periodically captured territory in the region, such as the Stormlands, the Reach, and even the Iron Islands. One of the main reasons Aegon the Conqueror began his invasion in the area which would become the Crownlands is because it was where the borders between these three powerful rival kingdoms met. None of them wanted to deal with the Targaryen threat directly, and each wasted so much time arguing that Aegon was really the problem of the other two respective kingdoms that the Targaryens were able to land all of their forces and establish a firm beachhead unopposed.

For most of its three centuries of existence the Crownlands were ruled directly by House Targaryen and their subordinate vassals. When House Targaryen was deposed at the end of Robert's Rebellion, seventeen years before the War of the Five Kings, Robert took the throne, and his new House Baratheon of King's Landing took up the rule of the Crownlands. On Robert's death, control of the Crownlands and King's Landing passed to King Joffrey Baratheon. Following the rapid succession of deaths from Joffrey, Tommen and Cersei Lannister, as well as the Battle of King’s Landing, an election was held by the Lords of the remaining Great Houses who appointed Bran Stark as the King of the Six Kingdoms, with the North re-claiming their independence.

The Crownlands are located on the east coast of Westeros, on the shores of the Narrow Sea, north of the Stormlands and south of the Vale of Arryn. The Reach borders it to the southwest, and the Riverlands border it to the northwest. The Crownlands do not directly touch the lands of the Vale, as the Bay of Crabs separates them by sea, and a small strip of the eastern Riverlands separates them by land. Gods Eye lake forms the southern part of the border between the Riverlands and the Crownlands, but the northern part of the border with the Riverlands is arbitrary, not defined by geographical features. The Crownlands consist of two major regions: the mainland area which is ruled from King's Landing itself, and the islands of Blackwater Bay, which had been ruled from Dragonstone island.

Notable places shown in the series are: