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Who were the Vikings?

Who were the Vikings?. The Vikings were a group of people from a region of Northern Europe called Scandinavia . Today, Scandinavia includes the nations of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, & Iceland.

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Who were the Vikings?

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  1. Who were the Vikings? • The Vikings were a group of people from a region of Northern Europe called Scandinavia. • Today, Scandinavia includes the nations of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, & Iceland. • During the Middle Ages, people who came from Northern Europe, like the Vikings, were known as Norsemen. • They were most active during the years 793 AD to 1066 AD

  2. How did Vikings make a living? • Sailing • Fishing • Raising livestock • Craftwork • Beekeeping • Trade: silver, gold, furs • Raiding

  3. Why did Vikings go on raids? • Increased wealth and trading within Europe • Fine treasures in monasteries & churches • Political instability in Scandinavia • Time of political unrest with frequent warfare among kings, nobles, & would-be kings • Over-population (only 3% of Norway’s land is good for farming & grazing)

  4. How did Vikings travel? • Longboats: • Long & narrow • Carved prows • Carried 50 men • Bank of oars & a sail • Shallow keel allowed boats to travel up rivers easily & make inland raids • Made for quick getaway

  5. Where did the Vikings travel and settle outside of Scandinavia? • Perhaps the most well-traveled of all Medieval Europeans • North Sea, Baltic Sea, North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea • Visited & settled lands that would become Russia, Germany, France (Normandy), England, Scotland, Iceland, & Canada

  6. How do we know about the Vikings? 1. runestones: large stones w/inscriptions written in runes (Northern European alphabet created before the period of Christian conversion) 2. annals or chronicles: histories written by monks whose monasteries were attacked 3. sagas: Vikings’ stories based on oral history (retold from memory). Ex. Vinland Saga 4. archaeology: bone artifacts from Viking settlements (Ex. Viking ship burials)

  7. Did Vikings travel to America before Christopher Columbus? • The Vikings were the first Europeans to travel to North America. • A Viking named Eirik the Red discovered Greenland in 985 after he was exiled from Iceland • Eirik’s son, Leif Eiriksson, was the first European to reach North America in 1000 AD. • He made several landings, including an area that he called “Vinland”. • It is thought to be modern-day Newfoundland, Canada. • The story of this discovery is retold in the Vinland Sagas. • Evidence has been found of a short-term Viking settlement in Newfoundland at a site called L’anse aux Meadows.

  8. VygovoritepoRossii The Swedes went beyond the Baltic away from Christian Europe into Russia, Constantinople, an Baghdad. • The Swedish Vikings influenced the growth of the early Russian state around Kiev. • The Slavic people called them “Rus”. They were ruled by Vikings for a long time that the land was named Russia.

  9. What are the modern impacts of the Vikings? • Days of the week: • Tyr’s day = the god of war • Woden’s day = the chief god • Thor’s day = god of thunder • Frigga’s day = Woden’s wife

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