The Vikings

For more than 400 years, the Vikings launched a continuous succession of violent raids against the cities and coastal towns of Europe, earning a terrible reputation that they have preserved to this day .
The Vikings were descendants of the Germanic peoples who began to move into the European region 4,000 years ago. They settled in Scandinavia, a region that includes Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. At the end of the 8th century AD. their population was growing rapidly and there may not have been enough quality land in their territories to support them. Perhaps for that reason they took to plundering, but it is also likely that many young Vikings saw it as a quick and easy way to gain wealth and honor.

Viking invasions

Norwegian Vikings began their raids in the 790s, raiding the coasts of England, Ireland, and Scotland . Warriors used to appear suddenly, in small groups from ships, leaping ashore with their spears, swords, and axes. They sacked villages, churches, and monasteries, and then, as fast as they had come, set out to sea again. They were soon joined by the Danish Vikings, who invaded England in 865. They conquered much of the country, but were forced by King Alfred the Great to settle the eastern region, which became known as the Danelaw.
By this time, the Norwegians and Danes had sacked and burned cities in France, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Spain, although they did not settle permanently in these countries in large numbers, as they had in Great Britain .
However, Swedish Vikings traveled along the rivers of eastern Europe to establish trade centers, and by the late 800s, the Slavic cities of Novgorod and kyiv were Viking strongholds . The main Viking group involved in this exploration were the Rus, and modern Russia gets its name from them.

The Drakkars

In order to carry out their raids, the Vikings developed robust and fast warships. In ancient times, the Scandinavians used flimsy canoes and boats, made of animal skin stretched over a wooden frame. Now, however, the Vikings built the powerful ships for which they became famous, the longships . These narrow ships made of planks of oak, instead of animal skin, had a continuous keel and a large central sail. To build each ship specialized equipment was needed.
Viking longships had up to 30 oars, each manned by an oarsman, on each ship's rail. Oars were used close to shore, when a rush of speed was needed or when there was little wind. Each drakkar had a single sail, made of coarse woolen cloth reinforced with leather strips, generally used on the open sea. Viking ships could navigate in shallow water, which made them very practical for going up rivers or sailing close to shore. They were light enough to be carried or dragged overland when necessary. Modern archaeologists know a lot about longships because the Vikings sometimes buried them with famous warriors.

Society of vikings

Most Vikings were free men and many of them were peasants, who grew grain, fruit and vegetables, as well as cattle, pigs, sheep and goats . Merchants created settlements near the coast, both in Scandinavia and when they traveled. The wooden houses had roofs covered with peat. The earliest cities had markets, where people traded furs, iron, and cloth. Free men also traded slaves, who were usually prisoners who had been captured in raids. Slaves often worked as laborers or servants on farms and in workshops. They had few rights and their children were born into slavery. Above free men and downtrodden slaves stood the noble Vikings . Among them were those who had great wealth or who were descended from renowned warriors. The most powerful were chiefs who controlled large areas of the region. Around 890, Harold Shorthair became king of Norway after defeating many local kings and chiefs .
By the 9th century, Norwegian Vikings had begun to settle in Iceland, where they led a more independent life and could escape the growing power of the king . Viking Iceland was a kind of republic, where laws were passed by an assembly, called an althing, which met on a rocky plain every summer solstice. Elsewhere in the Viking world, communities had a governing council called a thing. It was composed solely of free men; neither women nor slaves had the right to speak in it. The thing had so much power that it could even decide who should be king. He made the laws, organized trials to judge criminals, and decided whether the community should go to war.

Viking houses

The Vikings built different types of houses, depending on the materials available in the region . Most of them were single-story, single-room structures. The walls were generally made of wood, with a single door and no windows, to keep the heat in the home. The double sloped roof could have wooden or straw tiles. Houses in Iceland and elsewhere had roofs made of a thick layer of peat.
In agricultural settlements there was often a large house in the center, where the family and their workers lived together. Inside the dark, smoky house there were wooden benches along the walls, where people sat during the day and slept at night. . The women were the ones in charge of the house and also of the farm, if their husbands were participating in a raid or trading.
For more than 300 years, the Vikings had a great influence throughout Europe, especially in England and France . His last invasion of England took place in 1066, just a few weeks before it was conquered by the Normans, who were descendants of Viking settlers based in northern France. William the Conqueror, who became King of England after defeating King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, was a descendant of the Viking chieftain Rollo, who had raided France and founded the Duchy of Normandy in 911.
Viking settlements also had a lasting influence on Iceland and today this northern island still retains some elements of Viking culture. In Scandinavia, the three Viking kingdoms eventually became the modern nations of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.