Essay On Viking Expansion

When you think of Vikings you think of the blood thirsty pillages who plundered villages and killed many innocents.But the info presented shows that the Vikings were like every other colony back then trying to adapt to the changing world and survive in it.For example document seven says that the Vikings could not keep up with the growing population. This caused food shortages to be common problem which led into Viking raids. This would allow them to keep up with the demand for food.And since the Vikings had expert exploring skills along with their amazingly crafted boats it was very easy to sneak up unsuspecting villages.that not all the Vikings did they had very humble lifestyles back then.

Ravagers, Pirates, pagans: These words sums up the Vikings for the people who lived in europe during medieval times. Although the Vikings are seen as barbaric fighters, they brought many important technological inventions and had many achievements that made a great impact on european culture.

This meant that the use of ships was the the most efficient, and was sometimes the only way for settlements to interact with each other. The use of ships for fishing, transport, and warfare was so deeply ingrained into Norse culture that the Vikings became unparalleled by all European people in the art of shipbuilding. Their natural comfort on the seas was what allowed the Vikings to strike fear into the hearts of European settlements. (Stock

As we have seen, the introduction of Christianity to the Vikings had significantly contributed to the end of the Viking Age in mid 11th Century, not only due to the persuasive Christian missionaries, and the realization of the benefits of Christianity, but also the forcible nature of Scandinavia king’s conversion of their subjects (which will be looked into in more detailed in due course). One must bear in mind that most of the evidence we have on the conversion of the Vikings is through archaeological excavations, as Gareth Williams explains that “we can see it in the archaeological evidences [that] Pagans buried their dead with grave goods, but Christians normally didn't, and this makes it relatively easy to spot the change in religion.”

Violent ‘problem solving’ was a prominent aspect of ancient Nordic culture. According to Dori Starnes, the Viking Era was marked by warfare. Viking thanes would rule from mead halls which doubled as defensive fortresses. Certain other cultural aspects inform us that these people lived in a warrior based society. For instance, success in

There was none. They see pillaging not as actually tearing down an entire civilization of innocent people, but as a fun activity they do to show how strong they are. And it need to be stopped for good. Vikings have always

Trade played a major role in the Viking expansion as many trades ended up as raids. However, the Vikings established many trade routes throughout Europe. They also set up many trade centers.   As well as this, craftsmen and merchants went to England, Germany and other countries to barter their goods. These trades were usually only performed once or twice every year.

They penetrate countless river systems of Western Europe and attack settlements. They keep on discovering new islands in the North Atlantic and reached Iceland in 770 AD (Love, 2006, p. 4). It was then largely an inhabitant land with a small population of Irish monks. However, they Vikings moved further and reached Greenland and North America in the 10th century. They, later on, make efforts to establish settlements in the modern day L'Anse aux Meadows, which is now a historic site of archaeological importance in Canada.

It helped solve conflicts and problems with the people or the city. The Vikings had many superior skills, but they had an influence and contributed to archaeology. They found who would fit what class and would stereotype them in that class. Remains of Viking houses would be put for sale and bought for more than it should have. Explain evidence:The Vikings had a powerful government used for many things such as solving crimes, or selling objects from abandoned houses.

The Vikings were a group of Germanic sea dwellers who traded with and raided towns all across Europe out of their Scandinavian homeland. During the late 8th to 11th centuries they ruled all of Europe through their barbaric ways. Even other cultures outside of Europe saw the barbaric ways in which the Vikings acted towards the villages that they encountered. One such case of this was a Muslim Chronicler, Ibn Fadlan, recounting of the Vikings as “[T]he filthiest of God’s creatures.” While they were very savage in their actions, this very trait gave them the ability to be able to roam through and ravage an entire town fully unopposed and within a very miniscule timeframe.

Viking activity in Ireland is synonymous with two of the Vikings most prominent activities, consistent raiding and slavery, often interlinked with each other. However despite being quite heavily associated with the Vikings, slavery was still evident in pre-Viking Ireland, though often deemed rare and unusual when it happened. However during the Viking dominance in 9th century Ireland, slave trading became systematic and very common. This systematic slave trade was established over time as raiding and slavery became more prevalent in Ireland, by reviewing the course and establishment of Viking slave trade we can assess the impact The Viking Slave Trade had on the early medieval Ireland.

William R. Short supports the view that only extremely wealthy, those at the highest point of the social hierarchy could afford to own the full panoply of weapons and defence. Weapons impacted the Vikings because they used them to show where they stand

Viking long-ships were lean, speedy, lightweight ships that could easily cut through the most vicious waves that the ocean could throw at them. At the time, no other civilization had been able to achieve such an amazing naval feat, so this gave the Vikings a great advantage over medieval combat, political affairs, and even the trading industry. Since the ships were so fast, the ships were great for transportation of soldiers, or merchandise. “The Viking longboat was the key to the Vikings success in traveling.” (Legends and Chronicles, Paragraph 14).

When Vikings fought on land they would usually be on foot. They would form a close formation they called a shield wall. The Vikings would then throw arrows or spears from behind at their enemy’s. However there were only seven Viking kings slain by the famous fire arrow.

The Old Norse Religion or Norse Paganism were practised traditions by the Norsemen prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, dating as far back to roughly 793-1066 CE. This religion was separated, and categorized into three different families; the Æsir, Vanir and Jotnar; these were all polytheistic groups. The Æsir tribe contained some of the best-known Norse Gods and goddesses such as Odin, Thor, Frigg, Tyr, Loki, Baldur, Heimdall, Idun, and Bragi1. These Gods represented kingship, order, craft, etc. The Vanir were Gods and Goddesses such as Freya, Freyr, Njord and the Germanic Goddess Nerthus. They represented fertility of the earth and forces of nature. Lastly, there was another group in which Norse Gods differentiated in, the Jotnar. These were the ' giant-Gods' those whom were in