Transcript Chapter 20 The Vikings

SECTION 1
The Land
SECTION 2
Daily Life
SECTION 3
Raiders and Adventurers
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Terms to Learn
• jarls
People to Know (cont.)
• Leif Eriksson
• berserkers
• Canute
• Eddas
• Rollo
• runes
People to Know
• Rurik
Places to Locate
• Scandinavia
• Erik the Red
• Vinland
• Jutland
• Norselaw
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The Land
• Scandinavia, the Viking homeland, was
mostly forests and long, rugged coastlines.
• The southern part, known as Jutland, or
Denmark, had many natural harbors and
was well suited for farming grains and
pasturing cattle, sheep, and pigs.
• As the rest of Scandinavia had rocky soil,
a short growing season, and many fjords,
or narrow bays, the people turned to the
sea to make a living.
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Ships and Trade
• The Vikings built large, long, and narrow
ships with timber from the dense forests.
• The Vikings plotted their search of good
fishing areas and trade by the positions of
the sun and the stars.
• They carried furs, hides, fish, and
enslaved people to western Europe and
the Mediterranean; they returned with silk,
wine, wheat, and silver.
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Towns, Villages, and Jarls
• Trade led to the growth of market towns in
Scandinavia.
• Most Vikings lived in log or board houses in
villages scattered all through the country.
• There was no central government as
distance and cold winters isolated the
villages.
• The people were divided into groups ruled
by elected or inherited military chiefs called
jarls.
• When a jarl had enough land under his rule,
he was looked upon as a king.
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Daily Life
• Vikings valued family life, and most
households had 20 to 30 members,
including parents, grandparents, married
children, and grandchildren.
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The People
• Viking warriors were called berserkers.
• They fought to gain wealth, honor, and
fame, believing that a liking for war
brought special honors from the gods.
• To call their warriors to battle, the
Vikings lit bonfires on mountaintops.
• The women encouraged their men to
fight, took complete charge of the home,
and could own property and get a
divorce.
• The Vikings had no schools.
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Religion
• The Vikings worshiped many gods at first
that were similar to the Germanic gods, and
then they changed their gods to suit the
hard life of Scandinavia.
• The Vikings offered sacrifices and prayed
to their gods to get what they wanted.
• The Vikings told proud stories of the gods'
great deeds that later became written
poems called Eddas.
• Over time, the Vikings’ language developed
into four–Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and
Icelandic.
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Religion (cont.)
• These languages were written with letters
called runes, which few people except
priests could understand or use.
• When the Vikings accepted Christianity,
they began to write their languages with
Roman letters.
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Raiders and Adventurers
• By the end of the 800s, many Viking
villages were overcrowded, food was in
short supply, there was no central
government, and the kings constantly
fought one another.
• Viking warriors began to set sail to seek
their fortunes in other lands.
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From East Europe to North America
• Viking adventurers traveled to and raided
areas from east Europe to North America.
• Swedish Vikings crossed the Baltic Sea
and traveled down the rivers toward what
is now Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.
• In 862, a Swedish chief named Rurik
founded a Viking settlement that became
the Kievan Rus state.
• Norwegian Vikings set up trading towns in
Ireland, explored the North Atlantic, and
founded a colony on Iceland.
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From East Europe to North
America (cont.)
• Led by Erik the Red, they founded a colony
on the island of Greenland in 986.
• Erik’s son, Leif Eriksson, landed on the
northeast coast of North America and
named the spot Vinland because of the
wild grapes growing there.
• Viking adventurers went to western and
southern Europe in search of food and
valuables.
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From East Europe to North
America (cont.)
• Because they stole, destroyed homes,
burned churches, and killed or enslaved
people, all of Europe feared the Vikings.
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The Danes
• The Danes were among those Vikings who
raided western and southern Europe.
• In 1016, a powerful Danish king called
Knut, or Canute, conquered England and
made it part of his North Sea Empire.
• Led by a warrior named Rollo, the Danes
began settling along the French coast
opposite England.
• In 911, the French king signed a treaty with
Rollo to give the Danes this land.
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The Danes (cont.)
• The region in which the Danes settled
became known first as the Norselaw and
then as Normandy; the people became
known as Normans.
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