Viking | History, Exploration, Facts, & Maps (article) Also called: Norseman or Northman Recent News Top Questions What is the origin of the word Viking? The etymology of the word Viking is uncertain. There are many theories about its origins. The Old Norse word víkingr usually meant “pirate” or “raider.” Who were the Vikings? The Vikings were raiders, pirates, traders, explorers, and colonizers during the 9th to 11th century. What was the Vikings’ religion? The Vikings' original religion was the pagan and polytheistic Old Norse religion, which can be traced back to about 500 BCE in what is now Denmark. Why did Viking raids stop? The defeat of the king of Norway, Harald III Sigurdsson, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 is considered the end of the age of Viking raids.
Why do Viking helmets have horns? The stereotype of Viking helmets having horns goes back to costuming in 19th-century opera. How did Viking warriors dress? How was Viking society organized? Did Viking women fight? Where did the Vikings live? How did Viking raids affect Europe? Vikings: Viking Exploration (video) Vikings as Traders (article) Vikings - Trade and exploration (article) Viking-age Exploration in North America (article) Viking-Age Exploration in North America Norse History. The Norse voyages to North America are described in two Icelandic sagas, Eiríks saga rauða, and Grænlendinga saga. The sagas say that in the year 985, the Icelander Bjarni Herjólfsson was blown off course on his way to Greenland and spotted a new land. Surprisingly, he didn't go ashore, but he did eventually return to Greenland to tell his story.
Some scholars have suggested that references in the sagas to vines and "vine berries" (grapes) and the cutting of vines may be a copyist's error in the manuscript. The skrælingjar mounted increasing numbers of attacks on the Norse settlers, who realized they would be under constant threat of attack. The small Greenland settlements were stretched beyond the limits of their ability to support a Vínland settlement that was several weeks' sail away.
Recent History. The Site. Taken together, the evidence points to a site used by the Norse on a regular basis for ship repair. Today. Viking Explorations and Settlements: Iceland, Greenland and Vinland (article) Vikings - Exploration (article and video) The mid-10th-century reign of Harald Bluetooth as king of a newly unified, powerful and Christianized Denmark marked the beginning of a second Viking age.
Large-scale raids, often organized by royal leaders, hit the coasts of Europe and especially England, where the line of kings descended from Alfred the Great was faltering. Harald’s rebellious son, Sven Forkbeard, led Viking raids on England beginning in 991 and conquered the entire kingdom in 1013, sending King Ethelred into exile. Sven died the following year, leaving his son Knut (or Canute) to rule a Scandinavian empire (comprising England, Denmark, and Norway) on the North Sea.
After Knut’s death, his two sons succeeded him, but both were dead by 1042 and Edward the Confessor, son of the previous (non-Danish) king, returned from exile and regained the English throne from the Danes. Upon his death (without heirs) in 1066, Harold Godwinesson, the son of Edward’s most powerful noble, laid claim to the throne. Why Did the Vikings Pillage? (article) Scandinavians were certainly not the only people of their era to raid and pillage their neighbors, but they did it with greater frequency and a brutal efficiency not seen in other cultures.
What drove them go i viking? There are several competing theories, and no single reason probably fully explains it. A combination of several factors likely caused the Vikings' bloodthirsty behavior. Terrain - Scandinavians lived on islands or peninsulas with no room to expand. The land was usually poor for farming or too mountainous to live on, and the climate was very cold. Population pressures - Scandinavian cultures existed for several hundred years before they developed their reputation as plunderers. Tradition - Coastal raiding may have started out as a simple job. Exile - Viking law frequently relied on exile as a penalty for convicted criminals. Greed - The Vikings wanted things: coins, livestock, thralls, treasures, spices, works of art, raw materials. Why Did the Viking Age Happen? (article) Viking Raids (article- note American spelling e.g. traveler instead of Australian spelling traveller. Viking Raids In the mind of the Norse people, raiding was very distinct from theft.
Theft was abhorrent. According to the Norse mythology as told in Snorra Edda, theft was one of the few acts that would condemn a man to a place of torment after his death. On the other hand, raiding was an honorable challenge to a fight, with the victor retaining all of the spoils. A story from chapter 46 of Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar illustrates this distinction.
While raiding a coastal farm, Egill and his men were captured by the farmer and his family, who bound all of the raiders. So, Egill returned to his captors' house, set it ablaze, and killed the occupants as they tried to escape the fire. Raiding was a desirable occupation for a young man, although a more mature man was expected to settle down and raise a family. Raiding increased a man's stature in Viking society. Raiding was often a part-time occupation. A Viking raid on a farmhouse is Norway is described in the chapter 1 of Hallfreðar saga. Vikings - Exploration (article) The Vikings and the Viking Era (article) The Vikings and the Viking Era The era known as the Viking age lasted for more than 300 years, from the late 8th century to the late 11th century. The history of the Vikings is closely linked to their role as masters of the sea. They were feared as fierce and ruthless pirates.
However this does not complete the story of the Vikings. Even if the Vikings were known abroad as ruthless pirates, at home they lived in an well-ordered society, based on laws and democracy. The women held a strong position in Viking society and were responsible for the farm when their men were abroad. The Viking age produced rich, diversified art forms and crafts.
It is well-known that the Vikings were great explorers and voyagers. Explorers often traveled to the Middle East trading silk, spices and jewelry with travelers from the Orient. The Oseberg longship, from a Norwegian burial mound, dates from the 9th century. The Viking explorers covered most of the known world during the Viking age. Viking Religion (article) Viking Explorers (interactive map) The Vikings came from lands around the coast of Scandinavia, areas we now know as Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Viking settlers built homes and farms in the lands they discovered. Viking settlements sprang up along seashores and river banks from central Europe all the way to North America. Vikings settled in Iceland around 870. Two settlements were made in Greenland around 986. They lasted for 500 years before eventually disappearing. Vikings were the first Europeans to ever set eyes on North America, in 985, by accident while sailing to Greenland.
The Vikings called this region “Markland”, which meant land of forests. Newfoundland was only briefly settled, in 1001, due to violent conflicts with the local people. The first foreign country the Vikings attacked was Britain, in 787. The Vikings attacked European coastlines, raiding around Spain and the Mediterranean. The region of Normandy was given to the Viking leader Rollo in 911, in exchange for stopping his raids. Erik the Red › Erik the Red › The Vikings: A Memorable Visit to America (article) Roughly 1,000 years ago, the story goes, a Viking trader and adventurer named Thorfinn Karlsefni set off from the west coast of Greenland with three ships and a band of Norse to explore a newly discovered land that promised fabulous riches.
Following the route that had been pioneered some seven years before by Leif Eriksson, Thorfinn sailed up Greenland’s coast, traversed the Davis Strait and turned south past Baffin Island to Newfoundland—and perhaps beyond. Snorri, the son of Thorfinn and his wife, Gudrid, is thought to be the first European baby born in North America.
Thorfinn and his band found their promised riches—game, fish, timber and pasture—and also encountered Native Americans, whom they denigrated as skraelings, or “wretched people.” Little wonder, then, that relations with the Natives steadily deteriorated. About three years after starting out, Thorfinn—along with his family and surviving crew—abandoned the North American settlement, perhaps in a hail of arrows. Norse History Includes Violence, Democracy (article) Ravagers, despoilers, pagans, heathens — such epithets pretty well summed up the Vikings for those who lived in the British Isles during medieval times. For hundreds of years after their bloody appearance at the end of the 8th century A.D., these ruthless raiders would periodically sweep in from the sea to kill, plunder and destroy, essentially at will.
"From the fury of the Northmen, deliver us, O Lord" was a prayer uttered frequently and fervently at the close of the first millennium. Small wonder that the ancient Anglo-Saxons — and their cultural descendants in England, the U.S. and Canada — think of these seafaring Scandinavians as little more than violent brutes. But that view is wildly skewed. The Vikings were indeed raiders, but they were also traders whose economic network stretched from today's Iraq all the way to the Canadian Arctic. They were democrats who founded the world's oldest surviving parliament while Britain was still mired in feudalism. Vikings as Traders (article) When the Vikings left their homelands in the beginning of the Viking Age in the 790s, they didn’t just go to raid and loot. Many of them set out to discover or open new trade routes, to establish a more secure foundation of future income.
In general, the men of Sweden went east to Russia while Norwegians and the Danes went to the west to Ireland and Scotland, England and France. All along the way they traded the goods of the north such as fur, amber, iron and walrus tusks for goods they needed from other places. They also traded in slaves. Western Trade Vikings raided, traded and settled all along Europe’s coasts. Vikings established home bases and trade centers in both Dublin, Ireland and York, England. During the Viking Age, Norsemen traded all up and down the coasts of Europe, establishing new homes in many locations. Eastern Trade Vikings had always traded around the Baltic Sea, but in the 8th century, they began to venture into Russia, looking to establish profitable trade routes. Vikings were pioneers of craft and international trade, not just pillaging (article) The connections between technology, urban trading, and international economics which have come to define modern living are nothing new.
Back in the first millennium AD, the Vikings were expert at exploring these very issues. While the Vikings are gone their legacy is remembered, such as at the annual Jorvik Viking Festival in York. The Norsemen’s military prowess and exploration are more often the focus of study, but of course the vikings were more than just bloodthirsty pirates: they were also settlers, landholders, farmers, politicians, and merchants. Between the 8th and 11th century (the Viking Age), Europe saw significant technological advances, not all of them Scandinavian – the Anglo-Saxons, Frisians and Franks were equal players. To understand these changes, we have to see them in the context of increasing contact between Scandinavia, the British Isles, and continental Europe – in which the Vikings were key players. Brooches Glass bead jewellery Combmaking.