The peace of the Pact and the Age of Heroes lasted some 4,000 years, and was only broken by the arrival of the Andals. They arrived in the Vale from across the sea, wresting control of the region from the First Men. The Andals brought with them steel and the religion of the Seven. They warred with the First Men for centuries, destroying both the weirwoods and the children of the forest whenever they were encountered. Within 2,000 years, they had spread as far as the Iron Islands. In the end, six southron kingdoms fell to the Andals; only the North remained under the First Men, ruled by the Kings of Winter.