The World in the Viking Age, 7.5 credits

About the course

The course aims to place the Viking Age diaspora in a wider global context and explore connections between different regions. The Viking diaspora has traditionally been studied from a Scandinavian perspective with a focus on mobility and activities in the form of trade and violence. Geographically, the Vikings' activities can be linked to Sami areas in the north, the Christian kingdoms of the continent and the British Isles, and to the sparsely populated North Atlantic region.

People groups from the southern and eastern Baltic Sea area, Byzantium, the Mediterranean area and the Caliphate moved in the Scandinavian area, which brought cultural influences. The Viking Age world also had connections with the well-established trade routes along the Silk Road, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. During the latter part of the Viking Age, people also had direct access to goods and natural resources from Greenland and North America. The interactions that took place in this vast network affected both the regions that were included and the Viking Age society in Scandinavia.