History Of The Viking Age

At the end of the Eighth Century, the Norsemen embarked on raids, explorations, and conquests farther and farther from their homelands in Scandinavia. This took them as far east as the Volga River in Russia and Byzantium, and as far west as America, even though they did not stay there for long. They founded colonies such as Iceland or Vineland in Newfoundland, Canada, created new states such as the Kievan Rus', and settled in regions like Yorkshire or Normandy. In this story, we explore the reasons why they suddenly became outward-looking, what their societies were like, and how things unfolded until Christianisation and the formation of larger kingdoms in Scandinavia (in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark), that put an end to the Viking Age.