They came from what are now Denmark, Norway and Sweden nations that only took shape later during the medieval period. They are located in the northern European region known as Scandinavian which occupies two peninsulas and hundreds of islands.
Men and women from west Scandinavia emigrated to settle, not only in the parts of the British Isles that were then under Scandinavian control, but also in the Faeroes and Iceland, Atlantic islands that previously been uninhabited.
During that time, they were one of the most dynamic and feared peoples in Europe. They sailed from their own countries in search of new lands to conquer and to settle.
Their raids across Europe gave them a reputation as violent warriors.
The people these Scandinavians encountered gave them a variety of names. To the Anglo-Saxon; the Vikings were ‘pagans’, ‘Danes’ or ‘Northmen’. Frankish sources too refer to them as Northmen or Normans; while German chronicles describe them as Ashmen.
Spanish Muslim sources refer to them as al-Madjus; Slavic sources as Rus and Byzantine sources as Rhos.
In the ninth century it was only English who occasionally, called the invaders Vikings, a Scandinavian word that now has a wider meaning and is used to describe many aspects of Scandinavia society in what is commonly called the Age of the Vikings.
The fighting skill of the Vikings was legendary across Europe. During the Age of Vikings, the nations of Denmark, Norway and Sweden were molded out of small chieftains and principalities and became Christian realms.
Iceland, Greenland and a section of North America were colonized by Norsemen who also raid and settled in parts of the British Isles and northwestern mainland Europe. Viking traders and dynasts loomed large on Russian soil.
They arrived on the British coasts in 793 and looted the places they attacked and took the booty home. Eventually the raids turned into an invasion and in 865 a large Viking army swept through England.
The Viking people
