Vikings is a name used to refer to explorers, merchants, warriors, pirates from the Scandinavian peninsula (the territory of the countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland in the Nordic region today. present) in the Late Stone Age.
A Viking boat at the Oslo museum
Norway People often refer to the skull ornament Vikings as itinerant warriors on boats or pirates, but they were also good farmers and merchants. Viking pirates sailed across Europe and the North Atlantic in longboats, raiding and plundering most of Europe's rich lands, and settling in the conquered lands. . The Viking Age began around the end of the 8th century and lasted until the middle of the 11th century.[1]
The Danish Sailor, mid-twelfth century painting
One of the first Viking military expeditions, recorded in Anglo-Saxon histories, was the capture of Portland Island, near the British county of Dorset, in 787. June 793, the Saxons recorded the attack on the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne (also known as Holy Island) in the east of England. For the next 200 years, European history was filled with records of Viking pirates and their raids.
The Vikings invaded and established colonies in many lands. They invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdom and occupied much of the west and north of England and all of Ireland, leaving much of an influence on the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. They also invaded the kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, France, the Baltic region, and Russia. At the same time, the Vikings explored uninhabited islands in the North Sea such as Greenland, Iceland or the Faroe Islands.
Archaeological studies also show that the Vikings arrived in the Americas about 500 years before the explorer Christopher Columbus and established many small autonomous villages along the North Atlantic coast (a monument of them is still preserved. exists L'Anse aux Meadows, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador)
Source
The word viking first appeared in the tenth century Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith. In addition, this word is also found on a stele carved with runes, on which are engraved a person's name and behavior during life. The origin of the word is somewhat obscure, coming from the Old Norse word vikingr (Old English wicing, Old Frisk wiking). It is possible that this word is from the same ethnograph as vik or vig, meaning "people with a boat to a small lagoon" or "people from Viken" (Oslo Bay area, Norway (according to modern Danish dictionary, India). 9th edition, 1977).
The word viking also refers to an action, for example viking is a warrior who goes on an expedition by ship In the Egil Skallagrimssons saga (story of Egil Skallagrimsson 910-94) by an unknown author written around 1230, contains the passage: "...og Harald, som lå i viking og sjælden var hjem" (...and Harald, going on expeditions by ship and rarely at home). Norwegian-born Ludvig Holberg, the word Viking is synonymous with pirate, and according to the Danish professor and historian Else Roesdahl, the word Viking in the Western Old Norse language, means something like "warrior on the ground" sea, pirates, seafarers, etc."
The word viking does not refer to every Nordic people, but only to a part of merchants, looters or mercenaries at sea. Therefore, the word viking at that time did not have the same meaning as we use it today.
The Franks called them the Normands (northerns), the Slavs called them Rus or Varyag (referring to the Varagryan tribe from Finland), the Arabs called them Madjus, the Irish called them pagans. Catholics or simply foreigners (gaills).
Social origin
The Vikings were just a part of the population of the Nordic countries at that time. According to custom, only the eldest son was allowed to inherit property or title, and most of the younger children had to move elsewhere. Moreover, the increase in population makes women skull hoodie land and jobs more and more inadequate for everyone, so it also contributes to motivating others to go abroad. The success of the initial raids made the chiefs greedy and they organized larger raids. Then came the enslavement and colonization.
Political reasons
In some periods, the raids and invasions of the Danish Vikings came from political reasons. Some historians assert that these early raids coincided with civil wars. The plundering voyages in Europe were to obtain wealth to fund the civil wars between the tribes. It also shows that the Norwegian and Swedish Vikings were generally more inclined to trade and colonize than to pillage like the Danish Vikings.
Religion and customs
At that time, the Vikings did not know Christianity. Belief in the gods in Norse mythology makes Viking warriors always eager to fight one-on-one. Norse mythology emphasizes that a war