Scandinavian traders and pirates of the 8th to 12th centuries. In the 8th century the Vikings began one of the most remarkable periods of expansion in history. Setting sail from Denmark and Norway, they voyaged westward in longships through the Shetlands, Iceland, and Greenland, as far as Vinland (modern Newfoundland), which was reached by Leif Ericsson in the 11th century. They attacked Britain and Ireland, ravaged the coast of continental Europe as far as Gibraltar, and entered the Mediterranean, where they fought Arabs as well as Europeans. From the Baltic they sailed down the rivers of western Russia to a point from which they threatened Constantinople. In Europe they were able to strike far inland, sailing up the Rhine, Loire, and other rivers. Local rulers often preferred to buy them off, rather than resist.

The Vikings were also traders and farmers in the areas they settled, including Normandy, the north of England, and the area around Dublin in Ireland. They were skilled wood- and metalworkers and manufactured superb jewellery. They had a powerful oral poetic tradition, manifest in their sagas. They were an extremely adaptable people, able to absorb the cultures which they encountered while retaining their own vital qualities. This adaptability was perhaps forced upon them because they were greatly outnumbered by the native populations; it was easier to modify existing forms than to impose their own. They adopted languages and quickly modified fighting styles to suit land-based operations. The Normans were descendants of the Viking Rollo’s settlement in Normandy, they became a powerful element in Europe, the Crusades, and throughout the Mediterranean.