The term *Viking* refers to seaborne raiders, traders, and settlers active across Europe between roughly 793 and 1066 AD. Where did they come from, and what does the word actually mean?
The Viking Age homelands were the three modern Scandinavian countries, though the boundaries between them were not yet politically defined in the late 8th century. The Old Norse word *víkingr* derives from *vík* (bay/inlet) — a Viking was someone who set out *í víking*, 'on a bay-going expedition'. The term was a job description (raider/seafarer), not an ethnic or national label; most Scandinavians of the period were farmers who never went a-viking. The conventional Viking-Age boundary dates are 793 (the sack of the monastery at Lindisfarne) and 1066 (the failed Norwegian invasion of England at Stamford Bridge).
Read the full facts →The Vikings were the seafaring Norse people of Scandinavia who raided, traded, and settled across northern Europe, the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and parts of North America between approximately 793 and 1066 AD.
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