The+Vikings

VIKINGS  When did the Vikings live and, where did they come from?  There is no exact date of the birth of the Viking civilization. But according to most experts and historians who have studied the Viking Age for a long time, the most agreeable estimate among them is ca 790-1100 C.E.

But the historians and experts agree on at least one thing. That is that the Vikings came from Scandinavia - Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Many people also claim that the Vikings are from Iceland too, but the Icelandic Vikings are actually Norwegians and Swedes who conquered and immigrated to Iceland.  Where did the Vikings live? The Vikings lived in Sweden, Norway and Denmark in the beginning, but then their hunger for conquering made them to travel outside Scandinavia. In time their expeditions led them to Iceland. They found and conquered Iceland ca 860 C.E.

Another place that they conquered but didn’t discover was what is nowadays known as parts of England, Scotland and Ireland. The Vikings were very fierce and cruel to the people in Great Britain. At one time they even attacked and abbey full of monks for no reason. In ca 1010 CE there lived a 20 year old redhead young man who had immigrated to Iceland from Norway.

His name is known in the books as Erik the Red or originally //Eiríkr rauði Þorvaldsson.//

One night his neighbor murdered his mother. Erik and his father killed their neighbor and were banished from Iceland. After some time his old father Torvald Åsvaldsson became weaker. One day his father died, and Erik set off to explore the world along with his ship and his crew.

After a couple of years he found a //Gronlandia// which is now known as Greenland. This became the place where he lived until his banishment was over. Some still call it the land of //Eiríkr rauði Þorvaldsson.//

The Vikings also set out and found Newfoundland, the northeastern part of Canada and part of Victoria Island, all in North America.

How did they live?  Viking houses were built of wood, stone or blocks of turf - depending on local materials. The houses were long box-shapes with sloping thatched or turf roofs. The walls were made of wattle (woven sticks, covered with mud to keep out the wind and rain). The floor of a Viking house was often dug below ground-level; perhaps this helped keep out draughts. Most houses had just one room for a family to share. Rich people's farmhouses might have a small entrance hall, a large main room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a store room. In a Viking town, houses were crowded close together along narrow streets Ships and boats  Vikings were of course not the people who invented the boats and ships, but they made the best up until that time. The boats and ships were the greatest achievements of all made of the Vikings. The most popular type of Vikings ships was the long ship.  The Vikings Gods The Vikings believed that there were many different gods that lived in a place called Asgard. Each god was responsible for a different thing such as war, travel or home. Below a list of the most known Viking Gods:

: Odin was the chief god. : Thor was the son of Odin and Fjorgyn. He was the god of thunder, the sky, fertility and the law Loki : Loki can be called the 'wizard of lies' and is in many ways the most interesting god in Asgard. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">: Frey was a fertility god of the the Vanir race. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">: Freya was the goddess of love and later also war and death. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">: The goddess of spring and immortal youth was called Idun.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin; text-align: center;"> Fall of the Viking civilization <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Viking civilization fell about 1100. The Viking civilization fell because of all the Viking raids. Many people say “Why did they fall because of their own raids?” Well, the people the Vikings raided watched carefully and learned their weaknesses. So, their enemies destroyed their weak spots and so the Viking civilization fell.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin; text-align: center;">Explorers

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msobidithemefont: minor-latin; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin; msolist: Ignore;">I. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Leif Ericson (//Leifr Eiríksson)//: Most people say that Christopher Columbus was the first to discover the New World*, but the first was actually the Norwegian explorer Leif Ericson.
 * North America

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msobidithemefont: minor-latin; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin; msolist: Ignore;">II. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Erik the Red (//Eiríkr rauði Þorvaldsson//): If Erik the Red hadn’t been banished from Iceland we probably hadn’t found Greenland until the 18th Century. Erik the Red was banished because of the murder of his neighbor.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: SV; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; msoansilanguage: SV; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msobidithemefont: minor-latin; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin; msolist: Ignore;">III. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: SV; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nadd-Odd and Gardar Svarvarson: <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Little is known about these two men but it is known that Nadd-Odd and Gardar Svarvarson were the first people outside that discovered Iceland. They told the other Vikings that this is where they could stay if they were able to conquer the people there. Nadd-Odd was Norwegian and Gardar Svarvarson was Swedish.

//<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: SV; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By: Eric Bergman Svensk, 6T, 2010-03-24 //