The Viking Age, with which historic times begin in
northern Europe, extends from about 800 A.D. to the introduction of
Christianity in the tenth and eleventh centuries. This was the period when the
Northmen, or Vikings, realizing that the sea offered the quickest road to
wealth and conquest, began to make long voyages to foreign lands. In part they
went as traders and exchanged the furs, wool, and fish of Scandinavia for the
clothing, ornaments, and other articles of luxury found in neighboring
countries. But it was no far cry from merchant to freebooter, and, in fact,
expeditions for the sake of plunder seem to have been even more popular with
the Northmen than peaceful commerce.
THE NORTHMEN AS SAILORS
Whether the Northmen engaged in trade or in warfare, good
ships and good seamanship were indispensable to them. They became the boldest
sailors of the early Middle Ages. No longer hugging the coast, as timid
mariners had always done before them, the Northmen pushed out into the
uncharted main and steered their course only by observation of the sun and
stars. In this way the Northmen were led to make those remarkable explorations
in the Atlantic Ocean and the polar seas which added so greatly to geographical
knowledge.
