E-Rock-23's Journal: Discuss Amongst Yourselves: LotR and the Modern World

First of all, The Encyclopedia of Arda downright kicks ass. It's a must-bookmark page that any Tolkien fan would love. Check it out at length if you have some time to kill.
 
Anyway, I was thinking (which I do too much of to begin with) about how Tolkien holds the tales of Ea in conjunction with our modern Earth, looking at one as the history of the other rather than just a totally fictional world.
 
Well, if this is true, then some pretty serious happenings would have had to go down as far as landmass is concerned, and in a relatively short time. Tolkien stops his chronicles in the Fourth Age, and assumes that, as history has progressed to the present, roughly 6000 years have passed since the events of the War of the Ring and the subsequent reign of Aragorn II Elessar.
 
If Middle-earth were to evolve into the modern world, then some serious geographical changes would have to happen in just six millennia. This is assuming that the length of our standard year is roughly the same as one Year of the Sun in Tolkien's world.
 
Arda itself has undergone some serious geography changes on its own, and strangely enough, all before the end of its very short First Age. And they're by no means slow and steady, they happened suddenly and violently. War with Morgoth scarred the land on a few occasions, including the utter destruction of Beleriand. The Undying Lands were seperated from the mortal realm in the Bending of the World, and the creation and destruction of Neumenor.
 
Anyone care to offer up any thoughts? Where in our modern world is Middle-earth? What changes have happened since then that make it fit where you put it?
 
Hey, at least I'm trying to stimulate interesting conversation. Can't fault me for that...
 
/total fanboy geek mode

What I've Read

[cyranoVR]

That Middle Earth is roughly where Europe is today. Therefore, you can extrapolate that The Shire is approximately where England is, the Misty Mountains = Scandinavia, the Mordor is about where those evil Ottoman Turks were, etc. etc. However, keep in mind that Middle Earth is taking place during an "imaginary time" so pretty much anything goes.