Vikings

Vikings, or Norsemen, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish seafarers who raided Europe from the 9th to the 11th centuries. Expert shipbuilders and navigators, they were capable of long sea voyages, and their ferocity made them the terror of Europe. The Norwegians raided Scotland, Ireland, and France and colonized the Hebrides, Orkneys, the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland. They may also have discovered America. The Danes raided England, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy. The Swedes went down the eastern shores of the Baltic, through what is now western Russia, and reached the Bosporus and Byzantium. In addition to being raiders, the Vikings traded and created permanent settlements. They united the Hebrides and the Isle of Man into a kingdom. The Shetlands, the Orkneys, and Caithness became an earldom. Kingdoms were also set up in Ireland and Russia.