Vikings (Fidem Pacis)

The Vikings were seafaring North Germanic peoples who originated in Scandinavia. From the 8th century onwards, perhaps driven by population pressure, they began to explore, raid, trade and settle overseas, eventually coming to dominate much of northern Europe. Viking longships travelled as far as Turkestan in the east and Vinland in the west.

Exploration of the North Atlantic
Iceland was discovered by Norse sailors in the early 9th century, though it may possibly have been settled by Irish monks before then. The first permanent migrants arrived in 874, and the Norse community rapidly grew until by 930 almost all of the arable land had been claimed.

The first settlements in southern Greenland were begun in the 980s by migrants from Iceland and Norway, including Erik the Red. At the time the island was uninhabited, but the Norsemen soon established trade relations with the Inuit peoples of nearby islands. Greenland accepted Norwegian overlordship in 1261, but the settlements were abandoned in 1377 when Álfur Þórsson relocated the Greenlanders to Vinland.

Vinland had been discovered in c.1000 by Bjarni Herjólfsson and Leif Eriksson, with the latter establishing a settlement at Leifsbudir. However, it was soon abandoned under Skraeling pressure, and a permanent Norse presence was not reestablished until 1377. For more information see Vinland and Colonization of Leifria and Vanaheim.

Rus
Scandinavia and the Balto-Slavic lands had already been trading for centuries. In 862 it is said that several warring tribes of the Ladoga region invited the Rus' Varangians under their chieftain Rurik to restore order. Rurik subsequently founded the city of Holmgard, later known as Novgorod, and soon had control over a vast swathe of eastern Europe.

His son Helgi moved the capital to Kiev. The Varangians gradually mingled with their Slavic subjects, and their state eventually evolved into Kievan Rus.