Vikings

The Vikings came from the Scandinavian region and spread throughout Europe. They raided coastal regions and villages. The name Viking is from old Norse word, meaning expeditions. The most famous thing that comes to mind is the boats. Their people made longships and knarrs. The longship was the same thing on the front and back. They were wind powered or human powered. The Knarr was their merchant ship. They were also wind powered and human powered. They made their own alphabet. They put this alphabet on runestones. These runestones said who wrote the purpose and so on. The Vikings started the Norse religion. The three more famous Norse gods are Odin, Thor, and Freya. Any and every Viking was forced to own a weapon. This often revealed their status. The most common weapon was the ax. Two misconceptions are that Vikings wore horn on their helmet and that they were barbarians. None of these are true. They are just myths. Viking were red or blond haired and were farmer or raiders.