Proceeding south, they found a country of fertile pastures that they named Vinland. Around 1002, he ventured further west and probably reached Labrador. After a few hundred years, a mini Ice Age made life untenable and by 1408 all settlers were gone.Įrik’s son, Leif, outdid his father. Greenland was also able to export furs, wool, sheep, whale blubber and walrus ivory. Weather then was warmer than today, and settlers were able to raise livestock and grain to feed them. He went back to Iceland, gathered 25 ship-loads of settlers and returned to establish a new colony. Having heard rumours of land to the west, he sailed west and found Greenland. In 982 a fiery chieftain, Erik the Red, was exiled from Iceland for involvement in a murder. Many other families from Norway, Scotland and Ireland followed. In 861, a ship blown off course stumbled on Iceland. In the North, the Vikings retained the scottish islands - Shetland, Orkney and the Hebrides - and used them as a base to sail further west. Only Wessex, ruled by Alfred, withstood the onslaught and England would remain split between Vikings and Saxons until 954 when the Norsemen were expelled. First Northumbria, then East Anglia, followed by the central kingdom of Mercia. Led by a pair of warrior brothers, Halfdan and Ivar the Boneless, the Norsemen picked off the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms one by one along the North Sea coast. In England an enormous Viking host arrived in 865. In Scotland they established an earldom in the Orkneys and overran the Shetlands and the Hebrides. In 885 a Viking army besieged and almost captured Paris. But in the 850s they began to overwinter in southern England, in Ireland and along the Seine in France, establishing bases from which they began to dominate inland areas. Within a few years, other Viking bands struck Scotland (794), Ireland (795) and France (799).Īt first the raids were small-scale affairs, by a few boatloads of men who would return home after each attack. The invaders made off with a haul of treasure and a clutch of captives. The Age of Vikings starts in 793 CE when raiders from Scandinavia attacked an isolated monastery on Lindisfarne, an island off the coast of Northumberland. Features of a Viking Ship, World Tree Project.The sail was made of densely woven wool or flax and treated with horse mane fat. The largest ships of the era could travel five to six knots using oar power and up to ten knots under sail. Large vessels could be constructed this way and Dragon-ships carrying 100 warriors were not uncommon.Įarly on, oar ports replaced rowlocks, allowing oars to be stored while the ship was at sail and providing better angles for rowing. Each tier of planks overlapped the one below, and waterproof caulking was used between planks to create a strong but supple hull. Ribs maintained the shape of the hull sides. Working up from a stout oaken keel, the shipwrights would rivet the planks together using wrought iron rivets and roves. A ship's hull could be as thin as one inch (2.5 cm), as a split plank is stronger than the sawed planks found in later craft. The planks from which Viking vessels were constructed were rived (split) from large, old-growth trees-especially oaks. This was achieved through use of clinker (lapstrake) construction. Viking ships varied from other contemporary ships, being generally more seaworthy and lighter. They were built with a length of about 16 m (54 ft), a beam of 5 m (15 ft), and a hull capable of carrying up to 24 tons.ĬLICK the links below for extra information The hull was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship, and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews. Longships, used for raids and exploration, ranged from the small Karvi, with 13 rowing benches to the huge Drakkar carrying up to 100 men and sporting dragon heads carved on the prows.įor cargo, the Knarr was built for long sea voyages and used during the Viking expansion. Vikings built many different sizes and shapes of boats depending on their intended purpose. Twenty meters long, its planks were fastened with cord, not nailed and paddled on inland waters, not rowed across oceans. The Danish Hjortspring canoe was dated to about 400-300 BCE. Sails were introduced around the 7th century.īoats assembled from planks were built even earlier. Later, Norse Longships would be much lighter and faster. Twenty three meters long, it weighed over three tonnes and was rowed by thirty men. For example, the Nydam boat, dated 500 years before the Vikings, was clinker-built of oak planks. Clinker construction was refined over many centuries before it was used by the Vikings.
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