The Vikings lived in Scandinavia, the northern part of Europe. They conquered and raided parts of England, France and Germany, and even got as far south as Spain and Italy. 

Viking ships explored Iceland and Greenland and at about 1000 the Vikings founded a town in North  America, but it didn't last very long.

The Viking Age began at a time when the population of Scandinavia started to grow. Historians believe that, because there was not enough farmland to live on, many Vikings looked for places to settle outside Scandinavia. They also made faster ships with which they could travel to farther places. 



Voyages of Vikings

Voyages of the Vikings
Image: en:User:Bogdangiusca, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons


reconstruction of a Viking village in New Foundland

Reconstruction of a Viking village in New Foundland
Image: Dylan Kereluk from White Rock, Canada, CC BY 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons



Words

  • conquer = to get control of a country by fighting
  • explore = to travel around a place and find out something about it 
  • found - founded = here: to start a new town or city 
  • historian = a person who studies the past and the things that happened a long time ago
  • population = all the people in a country
  • raid = a short attack on a place that causes damage but does not take control
  • settle = to start living in a place