RAIDERS, TRADERS AND EXPLORERS
Masters of the waters, fearless and ambitious, and driven by a need to raid, trade and explore, the Vikings travelled huge distances in their voyages of exploration. They were pioneers, building advanced ships capable of traversing massive oceans. They were adventurers, heading off into the unknown and facing violent resistance to settle in harsh and unforgiving lands. They were savvy merchants, taking control of major trade routes and becoming rich by transporting goods from across their domains. And they were ambassadors of their culture, with Scandinavian influence spreading to civilisations far and wide.
From their first bloody appearances in the late-eighth century, the Vikings came to dominate in Europe. Their explorers came to call the British Isles and Ireland home and they manoeuvred along the coasts of Europe, from Francia to the Iberian Peninsula to the Mediterranean. They did deals with Byzantine emperors; sailed the longest river in Europe, the Volga; and established a ruling dynasty in what is now Russia – a country that is named after them.
To the west, the Vikings set sail across the Atlantic Ocean, building settlements on Iceland and Greenland, before becoming the first Europeans to set foot on North America. They were the greatest explorers of their age.
ENGLAND
The Vikings stormed into the historical record in AD 793 with their shock raid on Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumbria. It wasn’t the first time they had appeared in England, but the attack certainly made.
