why did Frodo stay in the shire for 17 years?

Why should he leave Shire at all? Hobbits were not adventurers or thrill-seekers - even Bilbo were more or less forced by Gandalf into joining Thorin Oakshield. Frodo were interested in history, elvish and foreign countries, but showed no real tendency to go abroad. The Ring was to Frodo a strange tool, found in very perculiar circumstances and had a connection to the disgusting Gollum, but the Ring itself had no obviously evil/dangerous aspects. But the strongest reason was probably that Gandalf, a Wise with knowledge light-years above Frodos, were satisfied with keeping the Ring in the Shire. Also - where would Frodo go? He didn't know about the Ring, Sauron, Doomsday Mountain or anything

 

This sums it up perfectly. Frodo had no knowledge of the events and struggles of the world outside of the shire, and had no desire to go exploring as blackstone pointed out; hobbits weren't meant for that.

 

Although he never admitted it, Tolkien designed Hobbits to represent the British people; basically easy going. farmer types who are more at home in their own surroundings with a jug of ale. If they go abroad, it's not far (see in the book that Hobbits rarely went further than Bree when travelling)

 

I never knew they were meant to resemble British farmers?

But yeah, hobbits didn't like travelling and were the lazy type of people within Middle Earth.

 

Frodo were interested in history, elvish and foreign countries, but showed no real tendency to go abroad. Tolkien designed Hobbits to represent the British people; basically easy going

 

I think he enjoyed hearing all the stories of the outside world, but never actually wanted to experience it first hand. He was content staying in the shire, and was reluctant to travel beyond it because of the perils and threats to Hobbits.

 

True, as others said, Frodo was unaware of the dangers of the ring all those years. Also, from a story-telling point of view, Tolkien had Frodo leave the Shire at the same age Bilbo had many years before. This was just of the many parallels he drew between their adventures.

 

The Shire suited Hobbits just fine. Most of them (if not all) didn't really desire to leave it. It was their own little perfect world and they wanted to simply stay there and enjoy it.

 

I never thought about it, but when thinking about it was like their own paradise so why would Hobbits leave, but like others have stated Frodo only left to seek further knowledge of the world.

 

Frodo didn't know what to do. He also didn't receive the ring until Bilbo gave it to him. Bilbo kept the ring because he was attached to it.

 

If I were lucky enough to live in the Shire, I'd never want to leave it either.

 

Frodo had friends in the shire and knew about it and was used to staying there and learning and eating food and drinking with mates and knew about outside world. He would not have known to fight with weapons against anyone unless he trained but, as they were peaceful may not view any danger from anyone soon. He may not have seen any need to go and, had everything he needed there bilbo and friends so had a good time until he found out about the danger of the ring and than left to destroy it.

 

Why didn't Gandalf tell Frodo about his suspicions earlier?

 

I think that Frodo might have been too young and reckless to handle such a big task back then. It's a stupid theory but it may be the reason Gandalf didn't send him right away.

 

There was much talk of fate in the LotR series, and I think it applied to this moment. The quest would have utterly failed if the Fellowship wasn't established. Who's to say that if Frodo left the Shire years before, it would have come to be?

I understand Boromir happened to be crossing through on an errand of his father's. If it were any earlier, he wouldn't have been a part of the quest to begin with. I believe a similar story goes for Gimli. It was happenstance that he was in the right place at the right time to join the quest. He and Legolas were a power duo that aided the quest immensely.

Even though it took years, Frodo and Sam wouldn't have stood a chance unless they waited, in my opinion.