The Vikings, Facts and Fictions

The Vikings originated from the three Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. These ferocious sea-fares traveled far in their open longboats. They visited Iceland, North America, and Greenland. They were also in England, Ireland and at Normandy France. We have three of our weekdays named after them, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are named after the famous Vikings Odin, Thor, and Odin's wife Freya. The Vikings were traders, but also skilled craftsmen as blacksmiths, and metalworkers. They were also farmers, fishermen and trappers. Many of them settled in Russia, Iceland, Greenland and North America, even as far as part of Asia. You can even find that many of the sea-fares, Vikings, settled in Ireland, and they established towns along the Irish west coast, like Dublin, which the Vikings started building 841 AD. Then also Wexford, Cork, and Limerick. These new towns meant that trade between Ireland and England, and even to Europe as well, developed faster partly because of the Vikings. The Vikings living in Denmark and Norway, traveled south and west, to England, Scotland, Ireland and France, even across the Atlantic, to Iceland, Greenland and North America. From Sweden the Viking went east, to Finland, Russia, the Baltic States, Poland, Germany and even as far as part of Asia. The word Viking comes from an old English word, 'wicing' at the time it stood for 'Pirate". The name was changed to Viking to make the name sound better to the public, it unfortunately didn't help much to give the Vikings a better reputation. Mostly because they were a bunch of fighting savages. If they couldn't find any trouble, they were good at starting some themselves.