SECTION 1 The Land SECTION 2 Daily Life SECTION 3 Raiders and Adventurers

2. SECTION 1The Land SECTION 2 Daily Life SECTION 3Raiders and Adventurers

3. Terms to Learn People to Know (cont.) • Leif Eriksson • jarls • berserkers • Eddas • runes • Canute • Rollo Places to Locate People to Know • Scandinavia • Rurik • Jutland • Vinland • Norselaw • Erik the Red

4. The Land • Scandinavia, the Viking homeland, was mostly forests and long, rugged coastlines. • The southern part, known as Jutland, or Denmark, had many natural harbors and was well suited for farming grains and pasturing cattle, sheep, and pigs. • As the rest of Scandinavia had rocky soil, a short growing season, and many fjords, or narrow bays, the people turned to the sea to make a living.

5. Ships and Trade • The Vikings built large, long, and narrow ships with timber from the dense forests. • The Vikings plotted their search of good fishing areas and trade by the positions of the sun and the stars. • They carried furs, hides, fish, and enslaved people to western Europe and the Mediterranean; they returned with silk, wine, wheat, and silver.

6. Towns, Villages, and Jarls • Trade led to the growth of market towns in Scandinavia. • Most Vikings lived in log or board houses in villages scattered all through the country. • There was no central government as distance and cold winters isolated the villages. • The people were divided into groups ruled by elected or inherited military chiefs calledjarls. • When a jarl had enough land under his rule, he was looked upon as a king.

7. Daily Life • Vikings valued family life, and most households had 20 to 30 members, including parents, grandparents, married children, and grandchildren.

8. The People • Viking warriors were called berserkers. • They fought to gain wealth, honor, and fame, believing that a liking for war brought special honors from the gods. • To call their warriors to battle, the Vikings lit bonfires on mountaintops. • The women encouraged their men to fight, took complete charge of the home, and could own property and get a divorce. • The Vikings had no schools.

9. Religion • The Vikings worshiped many gods at first that were similar to the Germanic gods, and then they changed their gods to suit the hard life of Scandinavia. • The Vikings offered sacrifices and prayed to their gods to get what they wanted. • The Vikings told proud stories of the gods' great deeds that later became written poems called Eddas. • Over time, the Vikings’ language developed into four–Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic.

10. Religion (cont.) • These languages were written with letters called runes, which few people except priests could understand or use. • When the Vikings accepted Christianity, they began to write their languages with Roman letters.

11. Raiders and Adventurers • By the end of the 800s, many Viking villages were overcrowded, food was in short supply, there was no central government, and the kings constantly fought one another. • Viking warriors began to set sail to seek their fortunes in other lands.

12. From East Europe to North America • Viking adventurers traveled to and raided areas from east Europe to North America. • Swedish Vikings crossed the Baltic Sea and traveled down the rivers toward what is now Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. • In 862, a Swedish chief named Rurik founded a Viking settlement that became the Kievan Rus state. • Norwegian Vikings set up trading towns in Ireland, explored the North Atlantic, and founded a colony on Iceland.

13. From East Europe to North America (cont.) • Led by Erik the Red, they founded a colony on the island of Greenland in 986. • Erik’s son, Leif Eriksson, landed on the northeast coast of North America and named the spot Vinland because of the wild grapes growing there. • Viking adventurers went to western and southern Europe in search of food and valuables.

14. From East Europe to North America (cont.) • Because they stole, destroyed homes, burned churches, and killed or enslaved people, all of Europe feared the Vikings.

15. The Danes • The Danes were among those Vikings who raided western and southern Europe. • In 1016, a powerful Danish king called Knut, or Canute, conquered England and made it part of his North Sea Empire. • Led by a warrior named Rollo, the Danes began settling along the French coast opposite England. • In 911, the French king signed a treaty with Rollo to give the Danes this land.

16. The Danes (cont.) • The region in which the Danes settled became known first as the Norselaw and then as Normandy; the people became known as Normans.