Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
buried along with their worldly possessions—weapons, jewels, dogs, horses,
and even slaves. This distinct, pre-Christian Scandinavian culture thrived in
the first centuries
A.D.
and continued even as the rest of Europe fell under the
sway of Rome's Latin culture and, later, Christianity.
Though isolated, the Scandinavians made fleeting contact with Roman
Europe, trading furs and amber (a petrified tree sap, used in jewelry) for cru-
cial tool-making metals from the Continent. Eventually, the Scandinavians
learned to extract their own bronze and iron. With better tools, they became
productive farmers and shipbuilders. The population boomed due to a warmer
climate and better nutrition. The Scandinavians were soon eyeing Europe and
the North Atlantic as a source for new resources and for potential expansion
of their clans.
Scandinavia's entrance onto the European stage was swift, dramatic, and un-
forgettable. On January 8, 793, a fleet of Scandinavian pirates came ashore
on the northeast coast of England and sacked the Lindisfarne monastery,
slaughtering monks, burning buildings, and plundering sacred objects. Word
spread like wildfire of brutal pirates who seemed to come from nowhere,
looted and pillaged with extreme prejudice, then moved on. Their victims
called them
Normanni, Dani, Rus,
or worse, but the name they gave them-
selves came from the inlets and bays
(vik)
where they lived: the Vikings.
For the next 200 years, hardy Viking sailors plundered and explored the
coasts of northern Europe. Vikings from Norway primarily went west to the
BritishIslesandsettledIceland,Greenland,andbeyond;Swedesventuredeast
to the Baltic states, navigated the Russian rivers, and reached Constantinople;
and Danes headed south (to England, France, Spain, and Italy).
The Vikings attacked in fleets of sleek, narrow, open-topped ships a hun-
dred feet long, called
drakkars
. (See them for yourself at the Viking Ship Mu-
by dozens of men at the oars, they could attack at 15 miles an hour and land
right on the beach, where they would pour out, brandishing their weapons.
Each Viking was decked out with a coat of mail, a small shield, and a hel-
met (though not one with horns, which by Viking times were merely ceremo-
