pseudointellectonpublictransport:
Seafaring and Ships
The ship brought the Vikings to the forefront of European history in the ninth Century.
West European chronicles record the arrival of the Scandinavians, in fleets of speedy warships, in England, France, Spain and the western Mediterranean. The Norwegian Ottar (Ohthere) visited the court of King Alfred c. 890 and described his journeys with trading goods collected äs far north äs the White Sea. Other sources teil of voyages of discovery in the Atlantic, the settlement of Iceland and Greenland, and expeditions to Vinland. In the East, the Nordic Vikings and merchants travelled along the Russian rivers to the Caspian Sea, and by way of the Black Sea, to Byzantium where the emperors surrounded themselves with a Bodyguard of Scandinavian warriors…
In “From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800-1200” (Roesdahl, E., & Wilson, D. M. eds), Nordic Council of Ministers, 1992.