In 860, Viking ships sailing westward found a relatively pleasant and fertile land far beyond England. Fearing the overpopulation that had driven them from Scandinavia, they gave it the discouraging-sounding name of Iceland. Beyond Iceland in 982, the Vikings found another land, one not nearly as hospitable. Because they were not worried about people overpopulating this area, they gave it an inviting name: Greenland.
Sailing still farther west, in about 1000 Leif Eriksson landed on what the Vikings called Vinland, probably Newfoundland. There they did battle with what they called "skraelings"—almost certainly the same people Columbus later mistakenly identified as Indians. Columbus's men had guns, whereas the Vikings' weapons were no more advanced than the war clubs and arrows of the "skraelings." Therefore the Viking colonization of the New World was shortlived, and soon forgotten except in legends of Vinland.
While some Vikings went west, others went south. From their homeland in Sweden, a group called Varangians in 862 sailed along rivers from the Baltic Sea deep into Eastern Europe. Drawn by myths of a rich, golden city—perhaps Constantinople—they founded a great city of their own, Novgorod, and also established their power in Kiev. The Slavs of the area called the Varangians "Rus," and eventually Russia became the name of the region.
Then there were the Vikings who came to be known as Normans, a corruption of "Norsemen." They began moving down the west coast of Europe in the mid-800s, and for the next two centuries battled throughout the western half of the Mediterranean. In 820, another group of Normans settled in an area of northwestern France that came to be known as Normandy. They adopted the French language and culture, and in 1066 would launch one of the most significant invasions in history when they conquered England.
World History
