Viking Age Scandinavia

Norse raiders, traders and settlers of the North Atlantic.

Capital: Uppsala, Hedeby, Jorvik · Western Europe

Overview

From Ireland to Constantinople, the Norse raided, traded and settled with unmatched ships and navigational skill, founding Dublin, Kyiv, Novgorod, Iceland and the first European colonies in North America.

Timeline

793Lindisfarne raid
874Settlement of Iceland
c. 980Erik the Red colonizes Greenland
c. 1000Leif Eriksson reaches L'Anse aux Meadows
1066Battle of Stamford Bridge ends the Viking Age

Rulers

Harald Fairhair

c. 872 – 930

First king of a united Norway

Cnut the Great

1016 – 1035

King of England, Denmark, Norway

Wars & conflicts

Danelaw wars in England
Norman conquest (descendants)

Architecture

Longhouses, stave churches (later), fortified ring-forts (trelleborgs).

Religion

Norse polytheism (Odin, Thor, Freyja); Christianization in the 10th–11th c.

Economy

Fur, slave, silver and amber trade linking Baghdad and Dublin.

Technology

Longships, sunstones (bearing dials), skilled ironwork.

Art

Ornate animal-style metalwork, runestones, Oseberg ship carvings.

Influence

Founded Russia's Rurikid dynasty, Normandy, and much of the British political map.

Decline

Christianization, feudal state consolidation, defeat in 1066.

Key sites

Uppsala
Hedeby
Jelling stones
L'Anse aux Meadows

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