Vikings history

They ethnically belong to the family of the Germanic peoples and their language and culture were Germanic derived from animistic religions, such as all the Scandinavian peoples. Early Germanic Christian monks associated to this town with the grandson of Noah and son of Japheth called Gomer (and his people, the Cimmerians). This linguistic and cultural community of the whole Scandinavian area must be taken into account when it comes to deepen the knowledge of the spirit that these peoples were.

Map of Scandinavia and Northern Europe

These peoples, like the Greeks, lived a very segmented geography which - together with the climate and the carnivorous animals - made it very difficult to communication by land, forcing them to navigate. The sea would become their main means of communication.

Danes to invade England
Miscellany on the life of St. Edmund, twelfth century.

Contacts between the Nordic countries and the rest of Europe came from long ago. The heruli, for example, were a few clear predecessors of future Vikings, since they also came from Scandinavia and made some expeditions of looting along the Atlantic coast of Europe aboard boats. Archaeological findings show that trade and influence date back several millennia BC. However, the Scandinavian countries constituted a remote corner of little political and economic importance to the rest of Europe.

Map showing the Viking settlement zones: VIII century IX century X century century XI Area of influence of Viking raids

Source: Vikingos sus Antecedentes