This article is about the Viking people. There is also an article about NASA's Viking program.

The Vikings were Germanic people, like the Goths, Vandals, and the Saxons; the countries that now make up Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland and Germany. Their ruthlessness and courage in battle is well-documented; however, it should be noted that they also made settlements and traded with their neighbors.

The Viking Age is the name of the latter part of the Iron Age in Scandinavia.

In Russia and the Byzantine Empire, the Vikings were known as Varangians (Væringjar, meaning "sworn men"), and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard.

Other names include Danes, Northmen, Norsemen Germanians and Normans.

Etymology

The Viking propensity for trade is easily seen in market ports such as Hedeby; close to the border with the Franks, it was effectively a crossroads between the cultures until its eventual destruction by the Norwegians in an internecine dispute in c. 1050.

The word viking comes from old Norse vikingr, meaning 'pirate', or originally 'bay', 'creek', 'inlet'. The word is used by e.g. Snorri Sturluson in this sense. The word also appears on several rune stones found in Scandinavia.

According to the Swedish writer Jan Guillou, the word in its positive sense was coined by Erik Gustaf Geijer in the poem The Viking, written at the beginning of the 19th century. Now, the word was taken to signify brave sea warriors who had very little in common with the actual vikings. This change of meaning was probably political: a myth about a glorious and brave past was needed to give the Swedes the courage to retake Finland, which had been lost during the war of 1809 between Sweden and Russia. Finland had belonged to the kingdom of Sweden for about 600 years. The Geatish Society, of which Geijer was a member, popularized this myth to a great extent.

Another author who had great influence on the perception of the Vikings was Esaias Tegnér, another member of the Geatish Society, who wrote a modern version of Frithiofs Saga, which became widely popular in the nordic countries, Great Britain and Germany.

Historical records

Technology

The achievements of the Norsemens were quite exceptional. For instance they made distance tables for sea voyages that were so exact that they only differ 2-4% from modern satellite measurements, even on long distances such as across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Norsemens had a, for that time, superior technology of ship construction.

Trading Cities

Important trading ports during the period include both existing and ancient cities such as Birca (Sweden), Hedeby (Denmark), Kaupang (Norway), Staraja Ladoga (Russia) and York (England).

Sweden

An important settlement was on the island Birca (Birka or Bierkø, today named Björkö, "Birch island"), an important trading center in the Baltic sea region since the 8th century, which handled goods from Eastern Europe and the Arab world, possibly as far as China. Birch island is located in the lake Mälaren, not far from Stockholm.

Sources are mainly archeological remains. No texts survive from this area, though the written text ?Vita Ansgarii, "The life of Ansgar"? by Rimbert (c. 865) describes the missionary work of Ansgar around 830 at Birca, and another written source by Adam of Bremen describes the archbishop Unni, who died at Birca in 936.

The archeological remains are located in the north part of Birch island and span an area of about 7 hectares (14 acres). The remains are both graveyards and buildings, and in the south part of this area, there is also a castle-like building called "Borgen" ("the Castle"). The construction technique of the buildings is still unknown, but the main material was wood. An adjacent island holds the remains of Hovgården, an estate which housed the King's retinue during visits.

The function or significance as a trading center of the Baltic sea was moved to Sigtuna in the 10th century.

The island has been a focus of investigation since the 17th century, with the greatest intensity between 1871-95. A large excavation was performed between 1990-95 in a certain region, the "Black Land", believed to be the site of the main settlement. Birch island is today mainly agricultural, and shipping lines carry tourists to the island, where a museum showcases a view of life during the Viking era.

Birka and Hovgården were added to the World Heritage List in 1993.

Denmark

Norway

Russia

The Viking World

The Vikings founded cities such as Jorvik (York), Kiev and Dublin.

The Danes sailed south, to Friesland, France and the southern parts of England. In the years 1013-1016, Canute the Great succeeded to the English throne.

The Swedes sailed to east into Russia, where Rurik founded the first Russian state, and on the rivers south to the Black Sea, Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.

The Norwegians travelled to the north-west and west, to the Faroes, Shetland, Orkney, Ireland and the northern parts of England. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegians mostly found largely uninhabited land and established settlements.

In about the year 1000 A.D, North America was discovered by Bjarni Herjólfsson and settlement attempted by Leif Ericsson and Thorfinnur Karlsefni from Greenland who called it Vinland. A small settlement was placed on the northern peninsula of Newfoundland, near L'Anse aux Meadows, but previous inhabitants and a cold climate brought it to an end within a few years (see Freydis). The archaeological remains are now a UN World Heritage Site. It has now been scientifically established that at the height of the Viking expansion, the northern hemisphere entered into a period of unusual and long-lasting cold which continued for several hundred years. This miniature ice age decimated the Greenland colonies, stopped the Viking westward expansion and hampered the Viking homelands.

Some also think the Vikings made it as far south as the Canary Islands and Mexico, although this is doubtful.

Besides allowing the Vikings to travel far distances, their longships gave them tactical advantages in battles. They could perform very efficient hit-and-run attacks, in which they attacked quickly and unexpectedly and left before a counter-offensive could be launched. Longships could also sail in shallow waters, allowing the Vikings to travel far inland along the rivers. A reason for the raids is believed by some to be overpopulation caused by technological advances such as the use of iron, although another cause could well be pressure caused by the Frankish expansion to the south of Scandinavia. For people living along the coast it seems natural to seek new land by sea. Another reason is that in that period several European countries (particularly England, Wales and Ireland) were in internal disarray and easy prey; the Franks, however, had well-defended coasts and heavily fortified ports and harbours. Pure thirst for adventure may also have been a factor. The reliance on Longships was also detrimental to the Vikings later on. As other cultures developed larger, faster and more powerful ships, the Viking failed to maintain the technological ship building race.

Sagas