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The Viking Age -

The Viking Age was the period during the Middle Ages when a vast number of Scandinavians left their homelands in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden to seek their fortunes elsewhere. From around 793–1066 CE, these Norsemen, or Vikings, undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe. They began with incursions on coastal sites in the British Isles. Pictured is an illuminated illustration from the 12th century 'Miscellany on the Life of St. Edmund' depicting a raid on northern England.

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Expansion -

The Norse people settled first in the British Isles and Ireland. The Viking expansion was driven by the growth of wealthy towns and monasteries overseas, and weak kingdoms.

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Sailing innovations -

These seafaring warriors were assisted by sailing innovations that allowed them to sail further and longer. The Viking longship was graceful, long, wide, and light, with a shallow-draft hull designed for speed. The Oseberg ship (pictured) on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway, is the finest example of its kind anywhere in the world.

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Scotland -

The Vikings are thought to have led their first raids on Scotland in 794. Undefended monasteries were a favorite target.

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Iona, Inner Hebrides -

Iona Abbey on the holy island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides was first attacked by Viking raiders in 795, one of several assaults that took place on the building over the next 30 years or so.

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The Northern Isles -

As well as the Hebrides in the west, the isles north of Scotland were heavily colonized by Norwegian Vikings. Shetland and Orkney came under Norse control. They were known as the Norðreyjar or Northern Isles.

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Orkneyinga saga -

The historical record from Scottish sources regarding Viking presence in the country is recorded in the 'Orkneyinga saga.' Essentially a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands between the 9th and 13th centuries, the saga combines folk legends with genuine history. Pictured is an example of a page from the 'Orkneyinga saga,' as it appears in a printed copy of the 14th-century 'Flateyjarbók.'

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Broch of Mousa -

The Broch of Mousa is a preserved Iron Age round tower located on the island of Mousa in Shetland. It's mentioned in the 'Orkneyinga saga' and the 'Egil's saga,' the latter of which tells of a couple eloping from Norway to Iceland who were shipwrecked and used the broch as a temporary refuge. The prehistoric building would have served as an important landmark for Viking sailors as they approached the treacherous waters off Mousa.

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Exploring the North Atlantic -

From Scotland the Vikings ventured further west. The intrepid Norseman settled the Faroe Islands in the 9th or 10th century. The islands were officially converted to Christianity around the year 1000 CE, and became a part of the Kingdom of Norway in 1035.

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Settlement of the Faroe Islands -

The Vikings brought with them Old West Norse, which evolved into the modern Faroese language. Pictured is beautiful Kalsoy Island at sunset.

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Færeyinga saga -

Norse settlement of the Faroe Islands is recorded in the 'Færeyinga saga,' written in 1200. Pictured is Gasadalur village and its iconic waterfall.

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First settlers -

The 'Færeyinga saga' narrative suggests that Grímur Kamban (pictured) was the first Norse settler in the islands. The islands' first chieftain, however, was a man called Tróndur í Gøtu.

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Settlement of Iceland -

According to the 'Landnámabók,' a medieval Icelandic manuscript, Naddod, one of the earliest settlers on the Faroe Islands, discovered Iceland in the 9th century. The first permanent settler in Iceland is usually considered to have been a Norwegian chieftain named Ingólfur Arnarson, pictured here newly arrived in Reykjavík. He appears to be commanding his men, perhaps his slaves, to erect his high seat pillars. According to tradition, Arnarson and his relatives founded Reykjavík in 874.

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Settlement Exhibition -

Anyone interested in learning more about Iceland's Viking heritage should visit the fascinating and engaging Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavík. The main hall covers the oldest human-made structures so far found in Iceland, which date back to the 9th century.

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Erik the Red -

Norse explorer Erik the Red, real name  Erik Thorvaldsson, is described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first settlement in Greenland.

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Saga of Erik the Red -

Erik the Red, so named due to the ginger color of his hair and beard, was banished from Iceland after committing murder, an event detailed in the 'Saga of Erik the Red' (pictured), written in the 13th century.

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Gunnbjörn Ulfsson -

Effectively exiled, Erik the Red set sail for Greenland in 982 (it's believed a Norwegian settler in Iceland called Gunnbjörn Ulfsson had earlier sighted the land-mass later known as Greenland).

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Settlement of Greenland -

Erik the Red led a contingent of 14 Viking longships and eventually made landfall in the uninhabited southern part of Greenland. From 986, Greenland's west coast was settled by Icelanders and Norwegians. They formed three settlements—known as the Eastern Settlement, the Western Settlement, and the Middle Settlement—on fjords near the southwesternmost tip of the island.

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Hvalsey -

The Norse settlements thrived for centuries, but disappeared in the 15th century. One of the last contemporary written mentions of the Norse Greenlanders records a marriage which took place in 1408 in the church of Hvalsey—today the best-preserved Nordic ruins in Greenland.

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Leif Erikson -

One of Erik the Red's sons was the well-known Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson. Like his father, Erikson was an itinerant individual, and achieved fame by becoming the first European to set foot on continental North America.

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Vinland -

According to the 'Sagas of Icelanders,' Erikson apparently saw what he called Vinland for the first time after being blown off course on his way to introduce Christianity to Greenland.

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L'Anse aux Meadows -

'Vinland' in fact is what is known today as the Canadian province of Newfoundland. The only known Norse site in North America (outside Greenland) was discovered in 1960 at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. Pictured is a recreated Norse building complex at the location, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Vinland Map -

Leif Erikson discovered continental North America approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. The Vinland map is claimed to be a 15th-century mappa mundi with unique information about Norse exploration of North America. In addition to showing Africa, Asia, and Europe, the map depicts a landmass south-west of Greenland in the Atlantic labeled as Vinland. The map describes this last region as having been visited by Europeans in the 11th century. Historians are sceptical as to the map's authenticity, and it remains a controversial artifact.

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Erikson and Columbus -

A postage stamp from the Faroe Islands which commemorates both Leif Erikson and Christopher Columbus as co-discoverers of America.

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France -

While Viking expansion is mostly associated with northern Europe and the North Atlantic, the Norse people colonized much of the rest of Europe too. For example, the name of Normandy in France itself denotes its Viking origin, from "Northmannia" or "Land of the Norsemen." The Duchy of Normandy was created for the Viking leader Rollo after he had besieged Paris. Statues of Rollo can be seen throughout the region.

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Viking raids in the Rhineland -

Viking longships used the wide deep rivers of Francia to facilitate the plundering of the ancient Roman cities of Cologne, Bonn, Xanten, Trier, and also the imperial city of Aachen.

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From the Baltic to the Mediterranean -

Vikings based in Francia conquered parts of modern-day Russia via the Baltic Sea before proceeding to Iberia and onward to Italy. Vikings here were known as Varangians.

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Italy runestones -

Tangible evidence of Varangian presence in Italy are the so-called Italy runestones, three or four Varangian runestones from 11th-century Sweden that tell of warriors who died in Langbarðaland ("Land of the Lombards"), the Old Norse name for Italy. 

Sources: (History) (Live Science) (Skjalden)

See also: 30 jaw-dropping pictures of Nordic landscapes

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