The Vikings

The Vikings

Introduction

Viking (the English viking, and east of Old Norse víkingr) is the parent of the names given to members of the peoples Germanic originating in Scandinavia , famous for his raids and lootings in Europe. Depending on the context and interpretations of the author, the name can be used to refer to raiders from these sources or their countries of origin. The metonymy has led to the continued use of the name even today of slang for mistakenly referring to the Scandinavian countries. While there are vague references to Germanic peoples of the Baltic and Scandinavia in Latin, attacks and his appearance in the European political scene become relevant with the sacking of the monastery of Lindisfarne ( 793 ) in northern Britain , the soon followed by attacks on other monasteries. The annals and chronicles of the next two centuries are filled with frightening stories. His violent act terrified the ancient communities that, although accustomed to war , had no way to predict when there would be a raid and suffered a lack of strong powers in the early Middle Ages . These attacks together with those of the Hungarians and Avar , the pressure of Slavs in Eastern Europe and the Arabs in the South were both cause and consequence of a period of instability that favored the political decentralization of feudalism.

During the following centuries, the Vikings and their descendants had great influence on European history. In the British Isles ruled for many years until finally being defeated by the Normans , descendants of Vikings who had received land in Normandy ( France ). In Italy founded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily and even came to influence their forays into the Caliphate of Córdoba and the Byzantine Empire . Through the northern rivers intervened repeatedly in the Baltic Sea and Russia , whose first states ( Kievan Rus ) are linked to adventurous Vikings. They usually date the end of the Viking period with the fall of King Harald the Ruthless , who died in the Battle of Stamford Bridge in the year 1066 when he tried to take possession of the territory of England. While the Nordic influence remained relevant the acculturation of the Normans in France, England and Italy, military victories in several states such as France who managed to secure their own costs and Scandinavian incursions decreased with the Christianization of Scandinavia gradually assumed the end of his activity as known.

The Viking Project was the culmination of an initial series of American missions to explore Mars in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 11th century, 500 years before the voyage of Christopher Columbus, Viking explorers landed on the North American continent. They are generally believed to be the first Europeans to set foot in theNew World. The Scandinavian peoples known as the Norse, or Vikings, began to push outward from their homelands around A.D. 800, raiding and colonizing surrounding areas. Skilled sailors, they explored and settledIceland around 870, and Greenland in ...