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Who were the Vikings?

The Vikings were Danes and Normans, that is, peoples who came from Scandinavia (present-day Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway). Known also as Norsemen (North Men), they were accomplished shipbuilders and sailors. Beginning in the 700s, they raided towns in England, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Russia, and Spain. The Norsemen came to be called Vikings (viking means "pirate") because they launched attacks by disembarking from their ships and carrying away treasures from ransacked towns. The Vikings are thought to have reached Greenland and North America in the tenth and eleventh centuries, prior to the arrival of other Europeans. Ruins of a Viking settlement were discovered on the northeastern coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and records of the Viking presence in North America can be found in the Saga of Eric the Red, a collection of Norse stories.

The Danes originated around 100,000...

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1. Early Ages
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   5. What was the Stone Age?
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   8. What was the Pax Romana?
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   10. Who were the Celts and what happened to them?
3. Middle Ages And Renaissance
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   2. Who were the Huns?
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   6. Who were the Vandals?
   7. Who were the Franks?
   8. Who were the Gauls, and what happened to them?
   9. Who were the Lombards, Saxons, and Angles?
   10. Who were the Vikings?
   11. What is feudalism?
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1. Industrial Revolution