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122-591: The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from Western Europe , particularly in modern-day Norway and the British Isles , in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest of Western Europe had been settled. Recorded settlement has conventionally been dated back to 874, although archaeological evidence indicates Gaelic monks from Ireland, known as papar according to sagas , may have settled Iceland earlier. The land

244-678: A hotspot , the Iceland hotspot , which in turn lies over a mantle plume (the Iceland Plume ), a column of anomalously hot rock in the Earth's mantle which is likely to be partly responsible for the island's creation and continued existence. For comparison, it is estimated that other volcanic islands, such as the Faroe Islands have existed for about 55 million years, the Azores (on

366-478: A civil war between the religious groups seemed likely, the Alþingi appointed one of the chieftains, Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi , to decide the issue of religion by arbitration. He decided that the country should convert to Christianity as a whole, but that pagans would be allowed to worship privately. The first Icelandic bishop, Ísleifur Gissurarson , was consecrated by bishop Adalbert of Hamburg in 1056. During

488-536: A climate shift occurred—a phenomenon now called the Little Ice Age . Areas near the Arctic Circle such as Iceland and Greenland began to have shorter growing seasons and colder winters. Since Iceland had marginal farmland in good times, the climate change resulted in hardship for the population. A serfdom-like institution called the vistarband developed, in which peasants were bound to landowners for

610-623: A fierce and powerful people and were often in conflict with the Vikings. To counter the Saxon aggression and solidify their own presence, the Danes constructed the huge defence fortification of Danevirke in and around Hedeby . The Vikings witnessed the violent subduing of the Saxons by Charlemagne , in the thirty-year Saxon Wars of 772–804. The Saxon defeat resulted in their forced christening and

732-586: A group of Rus Vikings went so far south that, after briefly being bodyguards for the Byzantine emperor, they attacked the Byzantine city of Constantinople . Vikings also voyaged to Iran and Arabia . They were the first Europeans to reach North America, briefly settling in Newfoundland (Vinland). While spreading Norse culture to foreign lands, they simultaneously brought home slaves, concubines, and foreign cultural influences to Scandinavia, influencing

854-547: A judicial body and had been abolished in 1800. In 1874, a thousand years after the first acknowledged settlement, Denmark granted Iceland a constitution and limited home rule over domestic matters, which was expanded in 1904. The constitution was revised in 1903, and a minister for Icelandic affairs, residing in Reykjavík , was made responsible to the Althing, the first of whom was Hannes Hafstein . Iceland and Denmark signed

976-556: A land inhabited almost entirely by farmers who could ill-afford to travel far from their farms, across the island to fight for their leaders. In 1220, Snorri Sturluson became a vassal of Haakon IV of Norway ; his nephew Sturla Sighvatsson also became a vassal in 1235. Sturla used the power and influence of the Sturlungar family clan to wage war against the other clans in Iceland. The Norwegian king's power of Iceland increased over

1098-493: A long time, one of the world's last uninhabited larger islands (alongside New Zealand and Madagascar ). It has been suggested that the land called Thule by the Greek geographer Pytheas (fourth century BCE) was actually Iceland, although it seems highly unlikely considering Pytheas' description of it as an agricultural country with plenty of milk, honey, and fruit; the name is more likely to have referred to Norway , or possibly

1220-552: A medieval Swedish law, the Västgötalagen , from Västergötland declared no-one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration, especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians: Kievan Rus' c.  980–1060 and London 1018–1066 (the Þingalið ). There is archaeological evidence that Vikings reached Baghdad ,

1342-426: A need for peaceful settlement in other lands. It is also believed that the western fjords of Norway were simply overcrowded in this period. The settlement of Iceland is thoroughly recorded in the aforementioned Landnámabók , although the book was compiled in the early 12th century when at least 200 years had passed from the age of settlement. Ari Þorgilsson 's Íslendingabók is generally considered more reliable as

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1464-538: A period known as the Old Commonwealth, and Icelandic historians began to document the nation's history in books referred to as sagas of Icelanders . In the early thirteenth century, the internal conflict known as the age of the Sturlungs weakened Iceland, which eventually became subjugated to Norway over the 13th century. The Old Covenant (1262–1264), and the adoption of Jónsbók (1281) effectively ended

1586-481: A place he named Reykjavík "Smoke Cove", probably from the geothermal steam rising from the earth. This place eventually became the capital and the largest city of modern Iceland. It is recognized, however, that Ingólfur Arnarson may not have been the first one to settle permanently in Iceland—that may have been Náttfari , one of Garðar Svavarsson 's men who stayed behind when Garðar returned to Scandinavia. Much of

1708-502: A pool of unmarried men who are willing to engage in risky status-elevating and sex-seeking behaviors. The Annals of Ulster states that in 821 the Vikings plundered an Irish village and "carried off a great number of women into captivity". One common theory posits that Charlemagne "used force and terror to Christianise all pagans", leading to baptism, conversion or execution, and as a result, Vikings and other pagans resisted and wanted revenge. Professor Rudolf Simek states that "it

1830-617: A shortage of women available to the Viking male. Consequently, the average Viking man may have felt compelled to seek wealth and power to have the means to acquire suitable women. Several centuries after Dudo's observations, scholars revived this idea, and over time it became a cliché among scholars of the Viking Age. Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines; such polygynous marriages increase male-male competition in society because they create

1952-514: A source and is probably somewhat older, but it is far less thorough. It does say that Iceland was fully settled within 60 years, which likely means that all arable land had been claimed by various settlers. In 2016, archaeologists uncovered a longhouse in Stöðvarfjörður that has been dated to as early as 800. Other, similar finds in Iceland have been dated to a similar time, preceding the traditional settlement date significantly. In 930,

2074-416: A year at a time. It became more difficult to raise barley , the primary cereal crop, and livestock required additional fodder to survive longer and colder winters. Icelanders began to trade for grain from continental Europe, which was an expensive proposition. Church fast days increased demand for dried codfish , which was easily caught and prepared for export, and the cod trade became an important part of

2196-431: Is "clear evidence" that it was used as a synonym, while Eric Christiansen avers that it is a mistranslation made at the insistence of the publisher. The word wicing does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The word Viking was introduced into Modern English during the 18th-century Viking revival, at which point it acquired romanticised heroic overtones of "barbarian warrior" or noble savage . During

2318-575: Is a group of about 30 runestones in Sweden which refer to Viking Age voyages to England. They constitute one of the largest groups of runestones that mention voyages to other countries, and they are comparable in number only to the approximately 30 Greece Runestones and the 26 Ingvar Runestones , the latter referring to a Viking expedition to the Middle East. They were engraved in Old Norse with

2440-662: Is a young island. It started to form in the Miocene era about 20 million years ago from a series of volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , where it lies between the North American Plate and Eurasian Plate . These plates spread at a rate of approximately 2.5 centimeters per year. This elevated portion of the ridge is known as the Reykjanes Ridge . The volcanic activity is attributed to

2562-659: Is better attested linguistically, and the term most likely predates the use of the sail by the Germanic peoples of northwestern Europe. In the Middle Ages, viking came to refer to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. The earliest reference to wicing in English sources is from the Épinal-Erfurt glossary ( c.  700 ), about 93 years before the first known attack by Viking raiders in England. The glossary lists

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2684-525: Is not a coincidence if the early Viking activity occurred during the reign of Charlemagne". The ascendance of Christianity in Scandinavia led to serious conflict, dividing Norway for almost a century. However, this time period did not commence until the 10th century. Norway was never subject to aggression by Charlemagne and the period of strife was due to successive Norwegian kings embracing Christianity after encountering it overseas. Another explanation

2806-582: Is taken to have been the period from the earliest recorded raids by Norsemen in 793 until the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descendants of those Vikings who had been given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France, namely the Duchy of Normandy , in the 10th century. In that respect, descendants of

2928-407: Is that the Vikings exploited a moment of weakness in the surrounding regions. Contrary to Simek's assertion, Viking raids occurred sporadically long before the reign of Charlemagne; but exploded in frequency and size after his death, when his empire fragmented into multiple much weaker entities. England suffered from internal divisions and was a relatively easy prey given the proximity of many towns to

3050-537: Is unknown whether they were brought there at that time or came later with Vikings after circulating for centuries. There is some literary evidence that monks from a Hiberno-Scottish mission may have settled in Iceland before the arrival of the Norsemen . The Landnámabók ("Book of Settlements"), written in the 1100s, mentions the presence of Irish monks, called the Papar , prior to Norse settlement and states that

3172-496: Is usually considered to have been a Norwegian chieftain named Ingólfur Arnarson and his wife, Hallveig Fróðadóttir . According to the Landnámabók , he threw two carved pillars ( Öndvegissúlur ) overboard as he neared land, vowing to settle wherever they landed. He then sailed along the coast until the pillars were found in the southwestern peninsula, now known as Reykjanesskagi . There he settled with his family around 874, in

3294-464: The staðamál , two major disputes over whether secular aristocrats should benefit from the tithes of proprietary churches they had founded. The latter, concluded in 1297, saw a significant shift of wealth and power from the aristocracy to the Church, which was increasingly independent of secular influence. Little changed in the decades following the treaty. Norway's consolidation of power in Iceland

3416-623: The Black Death and the Protestant Reformation imposed by Denmark. Iceland's history has also been marked by a number of natural disasters. Iceland is a relatively young island in the geological sense, being formed about 20 million years ago by a series of volcanic eruptions in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , but it is still growing from fresh volcanic eruptions. The oldest stone specimens found in Iceland date back to c.  16 million years ago. In geological terms, Iceland

3538-691: The Danelaw , including Scandinavian York, the administrative centre of the remains of the Kingdom of Northumbria , parts of Mercia , and East Anglia . Viking navigators opened the road to new lands to the north, west and east, resulting in the foundation of independent settlements in the Shetland , Orkney , and Faroe Islands; Iceland; Greenland ; and L'Anse aux Meadows , a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland , circa 1000. The Greenland settlement

3660-672: The Danish–Icelandic Act of Union on 1 December 1918, recognizing the Kingdom of Iceland as a fully sovereign state joined with Denmark in a personal union with the Danish king. Iceland established its own flag. Denmark was to represent its foreign affairs and defense interests. Iceland had no military or naval forces, and Denmark was to give notice to other countries that it was permanently neutral. The act would be up for revision in 1940 and could be revoked three years later if agreement

3782-429: The Faroe Islands or Shetland . Many of the early settlers were Thelir , fleeing the recent union of Norway under Harald Fairhair and came from Telemark . A similar argument explains the name of Greenland from Grenland , neighbouring Telemark and also populated by Thelir . The exact date that humans first reached the island is uncertain. Roman currency dating to the third century has been found in Iceland, but it

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3904-777: The Kingdom of Iceland on 1 December 1918. However, Iceland shared the Danish Monarchy until World War II . Although Iceland was neutral in the Second World War, the United Kingdom invaded and peacefully occupied it in 1940 to forestall a Nazi occupation, after Denmark was overrun by the German Wehrmacht . Due to the island's strategic position in the North Atlantic, the Allies occupied

4026-709: The Mediterranean , North Africa , the Middle East , Greenland , and Vinland (present-day Newfoundland in Canada , North America ). In their countries of origin, and some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age , and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on

4148-566: The Slavic languages in the Viking settlements of Eastern Europe. It has been speculated that the reason for this was the great differences between the two languages, combined with the Rus Vikings' more peaceful businesses in these areas, and the fact that they were outnumbered. The Norse named some of the rapids on the Dnieper , but this can hardly be seen from modern names. The Norse of

4270-709: The Tjörnes fracture zone connects Iceland to the Kolbeinsey Ridge . The ridge sits atop a geologic feature known as the Mid-Atlantic Rise , which is a progressive bulge that runs the length of the Atlantic Ocean, with the ridge resting on the highest point of this linear bulge. This bulge is thought to be caused by upward convective forces in the asthenosphere pushing the oceanic crust and lithosphere . This divergent boundary first formed in

4392-589: The Triassic period, when a series of three-armed grabens coalesced on the supercontinent Pangaea to form the ridge. Usually, only two arms of any given three-armed graben become part of a divergent plate boundary. The failed arms are called aulacogens , and the aulacogens of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge eventually became many of the large river valleys seen along the Americas and Africa (including

4514-536: The Turkish Abductions . After the end of the Kalmar Union, the royal government asserted greater control of Iceland. In particular, it took stronger actions to stop the involvement of English traders with Iceland. English and German merchants became more prominent in Iceland at the start of the 15th century. Some historians refer to the 15th century as the "English Age" in Iceland's history, due to

4636-602: The USS Dolphin . The existence of the ridge and its extension into the South Atlantic was confirmed during the expedition of HMS Challenger in 1872. A team of scientists on board, led by Charles Wyville Thomson , discovered a large rise in the middle of the Atlantic while investigating the future location for a transatlantic telegraph cable . The existence of such a ridge was confirmed by sonar in 1925 and

4758-598: The Younger Futhark . The Jelling stones date from between 960 and 985. The older, smaller stone was raised by King Gorm the Old , the last pagan king of Denmark, as a memorial honouring Queen Thyre . The larger stone was raised by his son, Harald Bluetooth , to celebrate the conquest of Denmark and Norway and the conversion of the Danes to Christianity. It has three sides: one with an animal image; one with an image of

4880-664: The early medieval history of Scandinavia , the British Isles , France , Estonia , and Kievan Rus' . Expert sailors and navigators of their characteristic longships , Vikings established Norse settlements and governments in the British Isles , the Faroe Islands , Iceland , Greenland , Normandy , and the Baltic coast , as well as along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes across modern-day Russia, Belarus , and Ukraine , where they were also known as Varangians . The Normans , Norse-Gaels , Rus' people , Faroese , and Icelanders emerged from these Norse colonies. At one point,

5002-745: The equator , the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is divided into the North Atlantic Ridge and the South Atlantic Ridge by the Romanche Trench , a narrow submarine trench with a maximum depth of 7,758 m (25,453 ft), one of the deepest locations of the Atlantic Ocean. This trench, however, is not regarded as the boundary between the North and South American plates, nor the Eurasian and African plates. The islands on or near

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5124-489: The "German Age" by Icelandic historians due to the prominence of German traders. The Germans did not engage in much fishing themselves, but they owned fishing boats, rented them to Icelanders and then bought the fish from Icelandic fishermen to export to the European Continent. An illicit trade continued with foreigners after the Danes implemented a trade monopoly. Dutch and French traders became more prominent in

5246-642: The 10th and 11th centuries, the exposed family trees, the self-images, and the ethical values that are contained in these literary writings. Indirectly, the Vikings have also left a window open onto their language, culture and activities, through many Old Norse place names and words found in their former sphere of influence. Some of these place names and words are still in direct use today, almost unchanged, and shed light on where they settled and what specific places meant to them. Examples include place names like Egilsay (from Eigils ey meaning Eigil's Island), Ormskirk (from Ormr kirkja meaning Orms Church or Church of

5368-557: The 11th and 12th centuries, the centralization of power had worn down the institutions of the commonwealth, as the former, notable independence of local farmers and chieftains gave way to the growing power of a handful of families and their leaders. The period from around 1200 to 1262 is generally known as the Age of the Sturlungs . This refers to Sturla Þórðarson and his sons, Sighvatr Sturluson , and Snorri Sturluson , who were one of two main clans fighting for power over Iceland, causing havoc in

5490-455: The 12th through 14th centuries, and many traditions connected with the Viking Age were written down for the first time in the Icelandic sagas . A literal interpretation of these medieval prose narratives about the Vikings and the Scandinavian past is doubtful, but many specific elements remain worthy of consideration, such as the great quantity of skaldic poetry attributed to court poets of

5612-653: The 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to seaborne raiders from Scandinavia and other places settled by them (like Iceland and the Faroe Islands ), but also any member of the culture that produced the raiders during the period from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries, or more loosely from about 700 to as late as about 1100. As an adjective, the word is used to refer to ideas, phenomena, or artefacts connected with those people and their cultural life, producing expressions like Viking age , Viking culture , Viking art , Viking religion , Viking ship and so on. The Viking Age in Scandinavian history

5734-623: The 7th century had also affected trade with Western Europe. Raids in Europe, including raids and settlements from Scandinavia, were not unprecedented and had occurred long before the Vikings arrived. The Jutes invaded the British Isles three centuries earlier, from Jutland during the Age of Migrations , before the Danes settled there. The Saxons and the Angles did the same, embarking from mainland Europe. The Viking raids were, however,

5856-457: The 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as Jomsvikings . Jomsborg's exact location, or its existence, has not yet been established, though it is often maintained that Jomsborg was somewhere on the islands of the Oder estuary. While the Vikings were active beyond their Scandinavian homelands, Scandinavia was itself experiencing new influences and undergoing a variety of cultural changes. By

5978-413: The Danish government, which at this time pursued mercantilist policies. The Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly remained in effect until 1786. In the 18th century, climatic conditions in Iceland reached an all-time low since the original settlement. On top of this, Laki erupted in 1783, spitting out 12.5 cubic kilometres (3.0 cu mi) of lava. Floods, ash, and fumes killed 9,000 people and 80% of

6100-602: The Icelandic Commonwealth. Norway, in turn, was united with Sweden (1319) and then Denmark (1376). Eventually all of the Nordic states were united in one alliance, the Kalmar Union (1397–1523), but on its dissolution, Iceland fell under Danish rule. The subsequent strict Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was detrimental to the economy. Iceland's resultant poverty

6222-416: The Latin alphabet. The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia: Denmark has 250 runestones, Norway has 50 while Iceland has none. Sweden has as many as between 1,700 and 2,500 depending on the definition. The Swedish district of Uppland has the highest concentration with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone, whereas Södermanland is second with 391. The majority of runic inscriptions from

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6344-552: The Latin translation for wicing as piraticum 'pirate'. In Old English , the word wicing appears in the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith , probably from the 9th century. The word was not regarded as a reference to nationality, with other terms such as Northmen and Dene 'Danes' being used for that. In Asser 's Latin work The Life of King Alfred , the Danes are referred to as pagani 'pagans'; historian Janet Nelson states that pagani became "the Vikings" in standard translations of this work, even though there

6466-428: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, from north to south, with their respective highest peaks and location, are: Northern Hemisphere (North Atlantic Ridge) : Southern Hemisphere (South Atlantic Ridge) : The submarine section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge close to southwest Iceland is known as the Reykjanes Ridge . The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs through Iceland where the ridge is also known as the Neovolcanic Zone . In northern Iceland

6588-416: The Middle Ages. They may also have been hermits. An archaeological excavation has revealed the ruins of a cabin in Hafnir on the Reykjanes peninsula (close to Keflavík International Airport ). Carbon dating reveals that the cabin was abandoned somewhere between 770 and 880, suggesting that Iceland was populated well before 874. This archaeological find may also indicate that the monks left Iceland before

6710-404: The Norse arrived. According to the Landnámabók , Iceland was discovered by Naddodd , one of the first settlers in the Faroe Islands, who was sailing from Norway to the Faroes but lost his way and drifted to the east coast of Iceland. Naddodd called the country Snæland "Snowland". Swedish sailor Garðar Svavarsson also accidentally drifted to the coast of Iceland. He discovered that the country

6832-407: The Norsemen settled in the present-day Faroe Islands , Iceland , Norse Greenland , Newfoundland , the Netherlands , Germany, Normandy , Italy, Scotland , England, Wales , Ireland, the Isle of Man , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Ukraine , Russia and Turkey, as well as initiating the consolidation that resulted in the formation of the present-day Scandinavian countries. In the Viking Age,

6954-415: The North and Irish Seas diminished markedly. The kings of Norway continued to assert power in parts of northern Britain and Ireland, and raids continued into the 12th century, but the military ambitions of Scandinavian rulers were now directed toward new paths. In 1107, Sigurd I of Norway sailed for the eastern Mediterranean with Norwegian crusaders to fight for the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem ;

7076-411: The Obotrite city of Reric on the southern Baltic coast in 808 AD and transferred the merchants and traders to Hedeby. This secured Viking supremacy in the Baltic Sea, which continued throughout the Viking Age. Because of the expansion of the Vikings across Europe, a comparison of DNA and archeology undertaken by scientists at the University of Cambridge and University of Copenhagen suggested that

7198-522: The Old Norse of the Vikings and give an opportunity to understand their interactions with the people and cultures of the British Isles. In the Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney, Old Norse completely replaced the local languages and over time evolved into the now extinct Norn language . Some modern words and names only emerge and contribute to our understanding after a more intense research of linguistic sources from medieval or later records, such as York (Horse Bay), Swansea ( Sveinn 's Isle) or some of

7320-413: The Red , reached North America and set up short-lived settlements in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows , Newfoundland, Canada. This expansion occurred during the Medieval Warm Period . Viking expansion into continental Europe was limited. Their realm was bordered by powerful tribes to the south. Early on, it was the Saxons who occupied Old Saxony , located in what is now Northern Germany. The Saxons were

7442-406: The Swedes, Eric , was married to Gunhild , of the Polish House of Piast . Likewise, his son, Olof , fell in love with Edla , a Slavic woman, and took her as his frilla (concubine). They had a son and a daughter: Emund the Old , King of Sweden, and Astrid , Queen of Norway. Cnut the Great , King of Denmark, England and Norway, was the son of a daughter of Mieszko I of Poland , possibly

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7564-446: The University of Bonn, posits that the presence of Slavs in Scandinavia is "more significant than previously thought", while Mats Roslund states that "the Slavs and their interaction with Scandinavia have not been adequately investigated". A 10th-century grave of a warrior-woman in Denmark was long thought to belong to a Viking. However, new analyses suggest that the woman may have been a Slav from present-day Poland. The first king of

7686-424: The Viking Age could read and write and used a non-standardised alphabet, called runor , built upon sound values. While there are few remains of runic writing on paper from the Viking era, thousands of stones with runic inscriptions have been found where Vikings lived. They are usually in memory of the dead, though not necessarily placed at graves. The use of runor survived into the 15th century, used in parallel with

7808-420: The Viking period are found in Sweden. Many runestones in Scandinavia record the names of participants in Viking expeditions, such as the Kjula runestone that tells of extensive warfare in Western Europe and the Turinge Runestone , which tells of a war band in Eastern Europe. Other runestones mention men who died on Viking expeditions. Among them are the England runestones (Swedish: Englandsstenarna ), which

7930-452: The Vikings and the Viking Age can also be important for understanding them and their culture, although they need to be treated cautiously. After the consolidation of the church and the assimilation of Scandinavia and its colonies into mainstream medieval Christian culture in the 11th and 12th centuries, native written sources began to appear in Latin and Old Norse. In the Viking colony of Iceland, extraordinary vernacular literature blossomed in

8052-593: The Vikings are contemporary texts from Scandinavia and regions where the Vikings were active. Writing in Latin letters was introduced to Scandinavia with Christianity, so there are few native documentary sources from Scandinavia before the late 11th and early 12th centuries. The Scandinavians did write inscriptions in runes , but these were usually very short and formulaic. Most contemporary documentary sources consist of texts written in Christian and Islamic communities outside Scandinavia, often by authors who had been negatively affected by Viking activity. Later writings on

8174-499: The Vikings come from other cultures that were in contact with them. Since the mid-20th century, archaeological findings have built a more complete and balanced picture of the lives of the Vikings. The archaeological record is particularly rich and varied, providing knowledge of their rural and urban settlement, crafts and production, ships and military equipment, trading networks, as well as their pagan and Christian religious artefacts and practices. The most important primary sources on

8296-523: The Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe. Likewise, King Harold Godwinson , the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors. Two Vikings even ascended to the throne of England, with Sweyn Forkbeard claiming the English throne in 1013 until 1014 and his son Cnut the Great being king of England between 1016 and 1035. Geographically, the Viking Age covered Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark , Norway and Sweden), as well as territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly

8418-451: The Vikings often strongly differ from the complex, advanced civilisation of the Norsemen that emerges from archaeology and historical sources. A romanticised picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century; this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival . Perceived views of the Vikings as violent, piratical heathens or as intrepid adventurers owe much to conflicting varieties of

8540-474: The Worm), Meols (from merl meaning Sand Dunes), Snaefell (Snow Fell), Ravenscar (Ravens Rock), Vinland (Land of Wine or Land of Winberry ), Kaupanger (Market Harbour), Tórshavn (Thor's Harbour), and the religious centre of Odense , meaning a place where Odin was worshipped. Viking influence is also evident in concepts like the present-day parliamentary body of the Tynwald on the Isle of Man. Many common words in everyday English language stem from

8662-425: The absorption of Old Saxony into the Carolingian Empire . Fear of the Franks led the Vikings to further expand Danevirke, and the defence constructions remained in use throughout the Viking Age and even up until 1864. The southern coast of the Baltic Sea was ruled by the Obotrites , a federation of Slavic tribes loyal to the Carolingians and later the Frankish empire . The Vikings—led by King Gudfred —destroyed

8784-636: The centre of the Islamic Empire . The Norse regularly plied the Volga with their trade goods: furs, tusks, seal fat for boat sealant, and slaves . Important trading ports during the period include Birka , Hedeby , Kaupang , Jorvik , Staraya Ladoga , Novgorod , and Kiev. Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation, and conquest. In this period, voyaging from their homelands in Denmark, Norway and Sweden

8906-482: The coastal and island areas of Ireland and/or Scotland and to Norway. The traditional explanation for the exodus from Norway is that people were fleeing the harsh rule of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair , whom medieval literary sources credit with the unification of some parts of modern Norway during this period. Viking incursions into Britain were also expelled thoroughly during this time, potentially leading to

9028-578: The course of the 13th century. After decades of internal conflict, the Icelandic chieftains agreed to accept the sovereignty of Norway and signed the Old Covenant ( Gamli sáttmáli ) establishing a union with the Norwegian monarchy. The end of the Icelandic Commonwealth is typically dated to the signing of the Old Covenant (1262–1264) or to the adoption of Jónsbók in 1281. The period also saw

9150-489: The crucified Jesus Christ; and a third bearing the following inscription: King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian. Mid-Atlantic Ridge A ridge under the northern Atlantic Ocean was first inferred by Matthew Fontaine Maury in 1853, based on soundings by

9272-487: The early 21st century derives Viking from the same root as Old Norse vika 'sea mile', originally referring to the distance between two shifts of rowers, ultimately from the Proto-Germanic  * wîkan  'to recede'. This is found in the early Nordic verb *wikan 'to turn', similar to Old Icelandic víkja 'to move, to turn', with "well-attested nautical usages", according to Bernard Mees. This theory

9394-453: The economy. Iceland remained under Norwegian kingship until 1380, when the death of Olaf II of Denmark extinguished the Norwegian male royal line. Norway (and thus Iceland) then became part of the Kalmar Union , along with Sweden and Denmark , with Denmark as the dominant power. Unlike Norway, Denmark did not need Iceland's fish and homespun wool. This created a dramatic deficit in Iceland's trade. The small Greenland colony , established in

9516-571: The end of the Viking Age for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages. Slavic and Viking tribes were "closely linked, fighting one another, intermixing and trading". In the Middle Ages, goods were transferred from Slavic areas to Scandinavia, and Denmark could be considered "a melting pot of Slavic and Scandinavian elements". Leszek Gardeła, of the Department of Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at

9638-493: The first to be documented by eyewitnesses, and they were much larger in scale and frequency than in previous times. Vikings themselves were expanding; although their motives are unclear, historians believe that scarce resources or a lack of mating opportunities were a factor. The slave trade was an important part of the Viking economy, with most slaves destined to Scandinavia although many others were shipped east where they could be sold for large profits. The "Highway of Slaves"

9760-453: The former Polish queen of Sweden, wife of Eric. Colonisation of Iceland by Norwegian Vikings began in the 9th century. The first source mentioning Iceland and Greenland is a papal letter from 1053. Twenty years later, they appear in the Gesta of Adam of Bremen . It was not until after 1130, when the islands had become Christianised, that accounts of the history of the islands were written from

9882-560: The genetic and historical development of both. During the Viking Age, the Norse homelands were gradually consolidated from smaller kingdoms into three larger kingdoms: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Vikings spoke Old Norse and made inscriptions in runes . For most of the period, they followed the Old Norse religion , but later became Christians . The Vikings had their own laws , art , and architecture. Most Vikings were also farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, and traders. Popular conceptions of

10004-411: The hypothetical supercontinent of Pangaea that began some 180 million years ago. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge includes a deep rift valley that runs along the axis of the ridge for nearly its entire length. This rift marks the actual boundary between adjacent tectonic plates, where magma from the mantle reaches the seafloor, erupting as lava and producing new crustal material for the plates. Near

10126-478: The influx of Islamic silver from the East had been absent for more than a century, and the flow of English silver had come to an end in the mid-11th century. Christianity had taken root in Denmark and Norway with the establishment of dioceses in the 11th century, and the new religion was beginning to organise and assert itself more effectively in Sweden. Foreign churchmen and native elites were energetic in furthering

10248-575: The information on Ingólfur comes from the Landnámabók , written some three centuries after the settlement. Archeological findings in Reykjavík are consistent with the date given there: there was a settlement in Reykjavík around 870. According to Landnámabók, Ingólfur was followed by many more Norse chieftains, their families and slaves who settled all the habitable areas of the island in the next decades. Archeological evidence strongly suggests that

10370-513: The interests of Christianity, which was now no longer operating only on a missionary footing, and old ideologies and lifestyles were transforming. By 1103, the first archbishopric was founded in Scandinavia, at Lund , Scania, then part of Denmark. The assimilation of the nascent Scandinavian kingdoms into the cultural mainstream of European Christendom altered the aspirations of Scandinavian rulers and of Scandinavians able to travel overseas, and changed their relations with their neighbours. One of

10492-747: The island until the end of the war, with the United States taking over occupation duties from the British in 1941. In 1944, Iceland severed its remaining ties with Denmark (then still under Nazi occupation) and declared itself a republic. Following the Second World War, Iceland was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and joined the United Nations one year after its establishment. Its economy grew rapidly largely through fishing, although this

10614-477: The kings of Denmark and Sweden participated actively in the Baltic Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries. A variety of sources illuminate the culture, activities, and beliefs of the Vikings. Although they were generally a non-literate culture that produced no literary legacy, they had an alphabet and described themselves and their world on runestones . Most contemporary literary and written sources on

10736-587: The late 10th century, died out completely before 1500. With the introduction of absolute monarchy in Denmark–Norway in 1660 under Frederick III of Denmark , the Icelanders relinquished their autonomy to the crown, including the right to initiate and consent to legislation. Denmark, however, did not provide much protection to Iceland, which was raided in 1627 by a Barbary pirate fleet that abducted almost 300 Icelanders into slavery , in an episode known as

10858-543: The late 11th century, royal dynasties were legitimised by the Catholic Church (which had had little influence in Scandinavia 300 years earlier) which were asserting their power with increasing authority and ambition, with the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden taking shape. Towns appeared that functioned as secular and ecclesiastical administrative centres and market sites, and monetary economies began to emerge based on English and German models. By this time

10980-476: The livestock. The ensuing starvation killed a quarter of Iceland's population. This period is known as the Móðuharðindin or " Mist Hardships ". In 1809 Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen arrived in Iceland, declared the country independent from Denmark–Norway and pronounced himself its ruler. However, with the arrival of HMS Talbot two months later, Danish rule in Iceland was restored and Jørgensen

11102-462: The mid-17th century. By the middle of the 16th century, Christian III of Denmark began to impose Lutheranism on his subjects. Jón Arason and Ögmundur Pálsson , the Catholic bishops of Skálholt and Hólar respectively, opposed Christian's efforts at promoting the Protestant Reformation in Iceland. Ögmundur was deported by Danish officials in 1541, but Jón Arason put up a fight. Opposition to

11224-416: The modern Viking myth that had taken shape by the early 20th century. Current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. These representations are rarely accurate—for example, there is no evidence that they wore horned helmets , a costume element that first appeared in the 19th century. The etymology of

11346-603: The monks left behind Irish books, bells, and crosiers, among other things. According to the same account, the Irish monks abandoned the country when the Norse arrived or had left prior to their arrival. The twelfth-century scholar Ari Þorgilsson 's Íslendingabók reasserts that items including bells corresponding to those used by Irish monks were found by the settlers. No such artifacts have been discovered by archaeologists, however. Some Icelanders claimed descent from Cerball mac Dúnlainge , King of Osraige in southeastern Ireland, at

11468-568: The place names in Normandy like Tocqueville (Toki's farm). Linguistic and etymological studies continue to provide a vital source of information on the Viking culture, their social structure and history and how they interacted with the people and cultures they met, traded, attacked or lived with in overseas settlements. A lot of Old Norse connections are evident in the modern-day languages of Swedish , Norwegian , Danish , Faroese and Icelandic . Old Norse did not exert any great influence on

11590-514: The point of view of the inhabitants in sagas and chronicles. The Vikings explored the northern islands and coasts of the North Atlantic, ventured south to North Africa, east to Kievan Rus (now – Ukraine, Belarus), Constantinople , and the Middle East. They raided and pillaged, traded, acted as mercenaries and settled colonies over a wide area. Early Vikings probably returned home after their raids. Later in their history, they began to settle in other lands. Vikings under Leif Erikson , heir to Erik

11712-491: The present day nations of Norway, Sweden and Denmark did not exist, but the peoples who lived in what is now those countries were largely homogeneous and similar in culture and language, although somewhat distinct geographically. The names of Scandinavian kings are reliably known for only the later part of the Viking Age. After the end of the Viking Age, the separate kingdoms gradually acquired distinct identities as nations, which went hand-in-hand with their Christianisation . Thus,

11834-484: The primary sources of profit for the Vikings had been slave-taking from other European peoples. The medieval Church held that Christians should not own fellow Christians as slaves, so chattel slavery diminished as a practice throughout northern Europe. This took much of the economic incentive out of raiding, though sporadic slaving activity continued into the 11th century. Scandinavian predation in Christian lands around

11956-477: The prominence of English traders and fishing fleets. What drew foreigners to Iceland was primarily fishing in the fruitful waters off the coast of Iceland. The Icelandic trade was important to some British ports; for example, in Hull, the Icelandic trade accounted for more than ten percent of Hull's total trade. The trade has been credited with raising Icelandic living standards. The 16th century has been referred to as

12078-519: The reformation ended in 1550 when Jón Arason was captured after being defeated in the Battle of Sauðafell by loyalist forces under the leadership of Daði Guðmundsson . Jón Arason and his two sons were subsequently beheaded in Skálholt. Following this, the Icelanders became Lutherans and remain largely so to this day. In 1602, Iceland was forbidden to trade with countries other than Denmark, by order of

12200-455: The ridge is part of a 40,000-km (25,000 mile) long essentially continuous system of mid-ocean ridges on the floors of all the Earth's oceans. The discovery of this worldwide ridge system led to the theory of seafloor spreading and general acceptance of Alfred Wegener 's theory of continental drift and expansion in the modified form of plate tectonics . The ridge is central to the breakup of

12322-488: The ruling chiefs established an assembly called the Alþingi ( Althing ). The parliament convened each summer at Þingvellir , where chieftains ( Goðorðsmenn or Goðar) amended laws, settled disputes and appointed juries to judge lawsuits. Laws were not written down but were instead memorized by an elected Lawspeaker ( lǫgsǫgumaðr ). The Alþingi is sometimes said to be the world's oldest existing parliament. Importantly, there

12444-540: The same ridge) about 8 million years, and Hawaii less than a million years. The younger rock strata in the southwest of Iceland and the central highlands are only about 700,000 years old. The Geological history of the Earth is divided into ice ages , based on temperature and climate. The last glacial period , commonly referred to as The Ice Age is thought to have begun about 110,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago. While covered in ice, Iceland's icefalls , fjords and valleys were formed. Iceland remained, for

12566-493: The sea or to navigable rivers. Lack of organised naval opposition throughout Western Europe allowed Viking ships to travel freely, raiding or trading as opportunity permitted. The decline in the profitability of old trade routes could also have played a role. Trade between Western Europe and the rest of Eurasia suffered a severe blow when the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th century. The expansion of Islam in

12688-753: The service of the Byzantine Empire . In the late 10th century, a new unit of the imperial bodyguard formed. Traditionally containing large numbers of Scandinavians, it was known as the Varangian Guard. The word Varangian may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks. In these years, Swedish men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that

12810-751: The settlers' exploits. The settlers of Iceland were predominantly pagans and worshiped the Norse gods , among them Odin , Thor , Freyr , and Freyja . By the tenth century, political pressure from Europe to convert to Christianity mounted. As the end of the first millennium grew near, many prominent Icelanders had accepted the new faith. Around 961, Eldgjá , a volcano in Southern Iceland, erupted 7.7 square miles of lava and lifted up huge clouds of sulfuric gas that affected all of Northern Europe and spanned out as far as Northern China. It also created rare hazes and multiple food crises in different parts of

12932-597: The term "Viking" may have evolved to become "a job description, not a matter of heredity", at least in some Viking bands. The motives driving the Viking expansion are a topic of much debate. The concept that Vikings may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands was expressed in the 11th century by historian Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his semi-imaginary History of The Normans . As observed by Adam of Bremen, rich and powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines; and these polygynous relationships may have led to

13054-491: The time of the Landnámabók ' s creation. Another source mentioning the Papar is Íslendingabók , dating from between 1122 and 1133. According to this account, the previous inhabitants, a few Irish monks known as the Papar, left the island since they did not want to live with pagan Norsemen. One theory suggests that those monks were members of a Hiberno-Scottish mission , Irish and Scottish monks who spread Christianity during

13176-469: The timing is roughly accurate; "that the whole country was occupied within a couple of decades towards the end of the 9th century." These people were primarily of Norwegian, Irish, and Scottish origin. Some of the Irish and Scots were slaves and servants of the Norse chiefs, according to the sagas of Icelanders , the Landnámabók , and other documents. Some settlers coming from the British Isles were " Hiberno-Norse ," with cultural and family connections both to

13298-532: The word Viking has been much debated by academics, with many origin theories being proposed. One theory suggests that the word's origin is from the Old English wicing 'settlement' and the Old Frisian wizing , attested almost 300 years prior. Another less popular theory is that víking came from the feminine vík 'creek', 'inlet', 'small bay'. Another etymology that gained support in

13420-465: The world, including that year and many years that followed. Early Norse settlers in Iceland followed Paganism, however, after the Eldgjá volcano eruption, many thought of it as an act from God and started to convert to Christianity instead with the help of Alþingi. It is also believed they converted to Christianity to maintain peace with their European neighbors and the Catholic church. In the year 1000, as

13542-568: Was a term for a route that the Vikings found to have a direct pathway from Scandinavia to Constantinople and Baghdad while traveling on the Baltic Sea. With the advancements of their ships during the 9th century, the Vikings were able to sail to Kievan Rus and some northern parts of Europe. Jomsborg was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (medieval Wendland , modern Pomerania ), that existed between

13664-418: Was aggravated by severe natural disasters like the Móðuharðindin or "Mist Hardships". During this time, the population declined. Iceland remained part of Denmark, but in keeping with the rise of nationalism around Europe in the nineteenth century, an independence movement emerged. The Althing, which had been suspended in 1799, was restored in 1844, and Iceland gained sovereignty after World War I , becoming

13786-580: Was an island and called it Garðarshólmi "Garðar's Islet" and stayed for the winter at Húsavík . The first Norseman who deliberately sailed to Iceland was Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson . Flóki settled for one winter at Barðaströnd . After the cold winter passed, the summer came and the whole island became green, which stunned Flóki. Realizing that this place was in fact habitable, despite the horribly cold winter, and full of useful resources, Flóki restocked his boat. He then returned east to Norway with resources and knowledge. The first permanent settler in Iceland

13908-639: Was arrested. When the two kingdoms of Denmark and Norway were separated by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814 following the Napoleonic Wars , Denmark kept Iceland, as well as Faroe and Greenland , as dependencies. Throughout the 19th century, the country's climate continued to grow worse, resulting in mass emigration to the New World , particularly Manitoba in Canada. However, a new national consciousness

14030-593: Was established around 980, during the Medieval Warm Period , and its demise by the mid-15th century may have been partly due to climate change . The Viking Rurik dynasty took control of territories in Slavic and Finnic -dominated areas of Eastern Europe; they annexed Kiev in 882 to serve as the capital of the Kievan Rus' . As early as 839, when Swedish emissaries are first known to have visited Byzantium , Scandinavians served as mercenaries in

14152-567: Was found to extend around Cape Agulhas into the Indian Ocean by the German Meteor expedition . In the 1950s, mapping of the Earth's ocean floors by Marie Tharp , Bruce Heezen , Maurice Ewing , and others revealed that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge had a strange bathymetry of valleys and ridges, with its central valley being seismologically active and the epicenter of many earthquakes . Ewing, Heezen and Tharp discovered that

14274-513: Was marred by disputes with other nations. Vigdis Finnbogadottir assumed Iceland's presidency on August 1, 1980, the first elected female head of state in the world. Following rapid financial growth, the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis occurred. Iceland continues to remain outside the European Union . Iceland is very remote, and so has been spared the ravages of European wars but has been affected by other external events, such as

14396-472: Was no central executive power, and therefore laws were enforced by the chieftains. This gave rise to feuds , which provided the writers of the sagas with plenty of material. Iceland enjoyed a mostly uninterrupted period of growth in its commonwealth years. Settlements from that era have been found in southwest Greenland and eastern Canada, and sagas such as Saga of Erik the Red and Greenland saga speak of

14518-421: Was not reached. By the 1930s the consensus in Iceland was to seek complete independence by 1944 at the latest. Vikings Chronological history Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark , Norway , and Sweden ), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe. They also voyaged as far as

14640-518: Was revived in Iceland, inspired by romantic nationalist ideas from continental Europe . This revival was spearheaded by the Fjölnismenn , a group of Danish-educated Icelandic intellectuals. An independence movement developed under the leadership of a lawyer named Jón Sigurðsson . In 1843, a new Althing was founded as a consultative assembly. It claimed continuity with the Althing of the Icelandic Commonwealth, which had remained for centuries as

14762-461: Was settled quickly, mainly by Norsemen who may have been fleeing conflict or seeking new land to farm. By 930, the chieftains had established a form of governance, the Althing , making it one of the world's oldest parliaments. Towards the end of the tenth century, Christianity came to Iceland through the influence of the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason . During this time, Iceland remained independent,

14884-455: Was slow, and the Althing intended to hold onto its legislative and judicial power. Nonetheless, the Christian clergy had unique opportunities to accumulate wealth via the tithe , and power gradually shifted to ecclesiastical authorities as Iceland's two bishops in Skálholt and Hólar acquired land at the expense of the old chieftains. Around the time Iceland became a vassal state of Norway,

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