Trading was made more accessible through the expanding trade routes, providing the Vikings with reasons to voyage. The Vikings were eager to obtain items from exotic places in Europe and Central Asia because they did not have them in Scandinavia. They would travel along the trade routes and trade with other merchants who were selling the items they were searching for. The Vikings obtained items such as “silver, silk, spices, wine, jewelry, glass and pottery” (“Vikings: Trade and Exploration”). In return for these items, the Vikings would sell “honey, tin, wheat, wool, wood, iron, fur, leather, fish and walrus ivory” (“Vikings: Vikings at Home”). Exotic luxuries were scarce in Viking Scandinavia and as a result, when opportunities arose, they …show more content…
These new trade routes inspired the Vikings to expand their territory and travel. Raiding along these trade routes gained the Vikings control and power as well. As they began traveling, the “Viking merchants were soon chasing these exotic products in trading emporia across northwestern Europe” (Hubbard 94). The Viking merchants were eager to obtain items that they did not have back home in Scandinavia. In order to do this, they would raid along the trade routes. As the Vikings had remarkably powerful warriors, they were easily able to plunder the goods they desired. The developing trade routes crossing through Scandinavia and Europe gave Viking warriors easy access to large amounts of goods; encouraging the Vikings to leave Scandinavia and raid. Trade led to voyaging because the Vikings were able to gain power and success through the plentiful commodities they were able to …show more content…
Viking raids and expansion enabled them to gain power over others. The Vikings were skilled warriors and knew exactly what places to target for maximum effect. Places such as “abbeys, monasteries, and churches were regular Viking targets because they were defended lightly, if at all, and contained large amounts of wealth” (Davis). Vikings wanted to acquire the items that could be found in places of worship in order to become wealthier. This would advance their nation over all the others, enabling them to achieve complete control. The Viking’s lust for power and wealth pulled them out of Scandinavia. As the Vikings became stronger and more powerful, they were also able to colonize different areas and expand. The Vikings were able to successfully colonize parts of England, Europe, and Greenland (“Viking Age”). Conquering nearby lands enabled the Vikings to gain rule over other nations. The Vikings wanted to gain more land and power than other civilizations, so that they could prosper. This led to them setting off on long journeys across the sea in search of new land. Their determination to secure power led them to expand into territories all over Europe and Asia. The Vikings soon became highly successful, due to their skilled warriors, allowing them to conquer and gain the most wealth possible. Their lust for power inspired them to travel in search of new
An African rhino horn for some Chinese silk, 6 iron bars for 12 Ferghana horses, or Chinese orange trees for India’s spices. Trade was encouraged by the Silk Road because it was the earliest type of compromise when wars were fought, and supplies were demanded. To begin, around 4000 B.C.E., China’s biggest seller was silk. In fact, that’s mostly why the Silk Road was built. Everyone wants some of China’s beautiful silk.
Upon first encountering one another, the vikings and the natives of Scotland often experienced violent confrontation. However, through the passage of time they contributed in shaping each other in equal and sometimes opposite measure. There are several hypotheses that describe the details of the first viking-indigenous interactions.1 Out of the many propositions, two theories appear most often. The first asserts that the vikings set up an earldom and thenceforth ruled over the native Scottish population. Sometimes this earldom is portrayed as peaceful, at other times more violent. The second proposition asserts that a genocide took place in which the vikings eliminated and replaced the native people.2 The evidence for either model is contradictory and variably justifiable. The best explanation therefore is a syntheses of both hypotheses. Namely, that both earldom and genocide took place in different circumstances. Bands of viking ships were often federations, and as such individual rulers within the federation must have had some measure of latitude. In some areas viking captains completely exterminated the indigenous people they found. In other instances, the leaders simply subjugated the people they encountered. In areas where the local population were left alive they influenced the Scandinavian settlers in terms of religion and material culture to different degrees. Conversely, the viking presence in Scotland forced the native inhabitants to become more militant and politically united.3 Furthermore, the natives eventually adopted parts of Scandinavian language, material culture, and custom as well.
Vikings’ settling down in Iceland and Greenland were important reflection of Viking expansion and they caused Viking civilization to extend on these two islands. Vikings were people from Scandinavia. For many reasons, such as the authoritarian policies of Harald Fairhair (Paine, 2013), the geographical features that lacking of lands for agriculture but having abundant trees for shipbuilding, Vikings were forced to expand into the sea. The two locations’ providing Vikings with lands undoubtedly provided them more chances for surviving.
In times of the golden age the VOC (United East Indian Company) the Dutch were well known by their trade. They had ships and trading posts all over Asia and Africa. Still they were looking for shortcuts to sail much faster to their home harbours. The shorter they have to sail with their load the more profit they could make. To find new and faster ways to sail to the east would be great so they started to explore the see’s to find these shortcuts and make new routes to sail for trade.
When we hears the term Viking an immediate image of bloodthirsty men with long beards and horned helmets is conjured up in our minds. This is the image the historical sources have given us, and it is partly true. Vikings were merciless when raiding, but they were peaceful when they traded. Their navigational technology was exceptional, and the ones who settled in foreign lands contributed greatly to the lands’ culture.
(Bianchini, Lecture). There became extensive amounts of landless sons because of this demographic takeoff, and they eventually turn to piracy in order to make a profit. However, while Scandinavian men turned outwards for financial gain, also in the 8th century Western Europe’s economy began to improve. This positive economic turn was due to the influx of Arabic silver into the European economy. (Bianchini, Lecture). The influx of silver was mainly cause of the European slave trade that was happening across the Mediterranean and North Africa. The decrease of people and increase of silver became a major stimulant for the Western European economy (Bianchini, Lecture). Eventually, Western Europe’s progressing economy caught the Vikings’ attention. By realizing the wealth growing in Western Europe and that is was readily accessible, this was enticing for the Vikings to see and wanted it for
Many simply sailed to foreign lands for the summer, raiding villages and killing those within them and them returning home for the rest of the year. However, some chose to settle in the lands that they raided. The Vikings travelled extensively across the Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Seas. The Vikings of Denmark and Norway sailed England, Ireland, France, Greenland, Iceland and North America (Vinland) and some settled there. The Vikings of Sweden resettled in Russia.
Reaching towards the peak of trade, Europe faced difficulties in trading with Asia due to sections of multiple trade routes being dominated by Muslims. This meant that men were lost and it took a great amount of time to be able to give and receive the products being traded. This was when Christopher Columbus proposed a solution, believing that a route which sailed west through the Atlantic Ocean, would be a much safer and faster way of trading with Asia.
Each different frontier had a different affect on people and the way they lived life. The trading frontier created and established good and bad relationships with the natives. The Norsemen, Vespuccius, Verraconi, Hudson, and John Smith all trafficked furs and other goods to Native Americans. They trafficked goods all the way from Maine to Georgia, which then led to the opening of river courses to trade farther in the continent. After getting involved in the trading, native power was being undermined by making them dependent on the whites "Turner p.25".
The Age of maritime exploration in Europe represented a new era of global inter-connectivity and interaction. Due to technological development, Europeans were capable to forging into new and formerly undiscovered territories. The Europeans growing desire to satisfy their demand for luxurious good as well as the desire to discover precious materials like silver and gold served as a particularly crucial motivation for maritime exploration. Maritime exploration also introduced Europeans to new culture, foods, and peoples.
When the Vikings reached the New World, they called the native inhabitants (American Indians or Native Americans), “Skræling.” There has been much debate as to what exactly this word or label meant. Some translate it as “skin wearers,” which may be true as to how they described them, being the Norse generally wore woolen or linen clothing and North American Natives generally wore animal skins. But there was one additional thing puzzling about the Norse and the Skræling. The Viking explorers weren't curious or baffled by these new people. As if, they'd come into contact with people like this before and their way of life. 500 years later, when other Europeans had come to the New World (The Americas), they were ultimately curious of these strange new people and their ways that they had never seen before. But not the Norse, the Norse hint that they have come into regular contact with people like this on a fairly regular basis.
Trading was a critical part to the culture life of a Viking. This task brought in many important goods that the Vikings needed to live an ordinary life. The Vikings were the international tradesmen of their time. In Constantinople (Istanbul) they traded silk and spices for slaves that they had brought from Russia. They Amber they found in the Baltic area and they brought furs, skins, and walrus tusk ivory to the trading towns in Western Europe from the northern parts of the world such as Greenland. The Vikings founded trading cities in Scandinavia such as Birka, Ribe, Hedeby and Skiringsal. In Ireland they founded terrific trade in Dublin and, in England, they made the city of York flourish to become the most important trading town outside of London (La Fay 149-150). At a time when old trade routes between east and west thro...
Meanwhile, the Crusades had expanded trade routes to the East and given Europeans a taste for imported goods… and luxurious textiles,” (History).
In the earliest years of the Vikings, there was little history recorded due to the polytheistic views that they followed. After the Vikings converted to Christianity, there were eventually written documents created pertaining to their existence. In Viking Warfare, I.P. Stephenson states that the Vikings “first described attack took place in AD 789”(11). The Vikings were also known as Norsemen. They were great storytellers, and that is perhaps how society knows so much about them today. The stories that the Norsemen told were called Sagas. Today, Vikings are often depicted as murderous savages, but while they were not pillaging villages they were actually quite a peaceful civilization. There were three countries that Vikings evolved from; Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Although it may seem that all Vikings were on the same side, they quarreled with each other as well. Despite the fact that Viking battles were bloody and gruesome they were also known to be the most hygienic out of many of the earlier civilizations. There was not a huge percentage of Vikings that went out and raided but when they did they made a huge impact on what Vikings are now known for. The success of Viking warfare and raids relied primarily on the uses of armor, weapons, long ships, and battle tactics.
The most accepted official start of the Viking Age is recorded to have begun on June 8th, 793 AD when Norse raiders landed on the island of Lindisfarne and attacked the Christian Monastery located there, killing the monks and seizing the valuables. Viking raids by op...