Download Chapt06NorseVikings

Chapter 6
The Viking Prelude & Fugues
Sunny & Talena
The Vikings are from Northern
Europe (Scandinavian). Before the
Scandinavians became Vikings they
did not have sail technology. After
they discovered sail technology they
started to raid places nearby. They
settled in towns or colonies to stay
through winter. As they sailed
further to northern Atlantic they
found Greenland and started to
settle there, portions of Vikings
alsosettled in Iceland.
Picture is from Wikipedia
Blue lines represent the Viking expansion
Picture is from Wikipedia
Picture is from Wikipedia
The area Vikings settled had a short, cool growing season. In the mean time they
started trading with mainland Europe. Such as animal furs, seal skins , beeswax,
raised sheep, goats, cattle, hunted seal and caribou. Vikings’ homes were built of
turf, each house used ten acres of grassland (see pictures above).
Vikings owned their animals. They kept pets and domesticated animals.
Cats
Cattle
Pigs
Dogs
Bees
Hawks
Sheep
Bears
Goats
Pictures are from
www.wikipedia.org,
www.vikinganswerlady.com
Iron was a main source for Vikings. They used plows, shovels, axes and sickles for
heavy agricultural tools. For military tools such as swords, spear, battle-axes, and
armor. Knives, scissors, and sewing needles as small household tools. They used
other construction hardware as well.
In the A.D. 800s, during Vikings
overseas expansion they were still
pagans of Germanic religion. They
worshipped traditional gods, such as the
war god Odin, the fertility god Frey, and
the sky god Thor. But as they expanded
they became Christian.
Diagram on the left is a hammer of
the sky god Thor. Pagans worn it.
Picture is from Wikipedia
Norse Vikings
The Collapse
&
The Peak
The Pinnacle of the Greenland Norse
• Five thousand people.
• Very active agriculturallyraised livestock
• Christian society, focused on
building churches
• Had kings and laws
Cracks in the Foundation
• What were some of their weaknesses?
– Short, cool growing season meant that the
pastureland recovered slowly.
– Overgrazing the livestock was commonplace.
– For every house they constructed out of turf, they
destroyed 10 acres of pastureland.
Viking turf house >
From hurstwic.org
Cracks in the Foundation
– Lots of time and resources
spent importing nonessential goods, such as
decorations for churches and
luxury items for homes.
From Nordic Carts
–Refused to eat fish or
adopt any of the
practices of the Inuit,
whom the Vikings
found repulsive.
The End is Nigh!
• The environment cooled further (ie the
“Little” Ice Age.) The Vikings were not
prepared for this as they hadn’t been
stocking up.
• The Vikings and the Inuit were having
armed conflicts.
The Five Points Revisited
What contributed to the Vikings’ Collapse?
•
•
•
•
•
Environmental Damage?
Climate Change?
Hostile Neighbors?
Friendly Trade Partners?
Society’s Response to Environmental Problems?
The Five Points Revisited
Did this contribute?
• Environmental Damage:
– Absolutely. The
overgrazing of their
pastures and thoughtless
destruction of the
pastureland for homes
resulted in less food for
their agricultural base:
raising livestock.
Goat skull from iStock photos
The Five Points Revisited
Did this contribute?
• Climate Change:
– Absolutely. Around the 13th
Century, the ice packs began
to grow and there were
higher amounts of rain than
in previous year. This
shortened the already brief
growing season available to
the Greenlanders.
Barren Northern Tundra
The Five Points Revisited
Did this contribute?
• Hostile Neighbors:
– Absolutely. The Vikings
despised the non-Christian
Inuit. They called them
“skraelings” or wretches.
The Vikings had many
armed conflicts with their
neighbors.
Viking battle reenactment
The Five Points Revisited
Did this contribute?
• Friendly Trade Partners:
– Not really. The Vikings did trade with Europe
regularly when they first settled, only later on
did trade slow due to their own inefficiency.
Europe was still willing and able to trade. The
Vikings simply were running out of things to
trade with.
The Five Points Revisited
Did this contribute?
• Society’s response to its own environmental
problems:
– Yes, to an extent. Had they been willing to import
less luxury items and/or learn from the Inuit, who
survived this period, they may not have abandoned
Greenland.
The End
Questions?
Thank you.