The Viking Expansion
The reach of Norse raiders, traders, and settlers from Scandinavia across Europe and the North Atlantic, 8th–11th centuries.
The Viking Age is conventionally dated from the raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne in 793, but within a couple of centuries Norse longships and river boats had carried Scandinavians far beyond quick coastal raids. Swedish Vikings, the Rus, paddled down Russian rivers to trade — and occasionally fight — as far as Constantinople and Baghdad; Norwegians settled Iceland and Greenland and briefly reached North America at L'Anse aux Meadows; and Danes carved out the Danelaw in England and eventually the Duchy of Normandy in France. Far from simple raiders, many Vikings became farmers, merchants, and even kings within the societies they entered, reshaping the political map of medieval Europe. See the origin of the "Rus".
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