Who were the vikings

Who were the vikings

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  Video transcript Who werethe Vikings? Excuse me. Yes, you… would you like to learn about the Vikings? Great! Well let’s start at the beginning… The Vikings lived over 1000 years ago, but they don’t look that old to me, what’s your secret? The Vikings were Norse people who came from an area called Scandinavia. You might know it better as Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The word Viking means ‘a pirate raid’, which is a fitting name as they were fearsome warriors and often raided monasteries for treasure. But they weren’t all bad, bloodthirsty and violent - they also settled with their families and farmed the land peacefully for many years. I’m sorry about this… they never wore horned helmets. Let’s move on. Did you know they were great explorers too and travelled all over the world? Vikings explored as far away as North America. Can you believe they even travelled through Russia to trade in the Middle East. Amazing! Ah, ‘The Thing’, an early version of today’s parliament. The Norse people met to discuss new laws and solve arguments. They’re arguing over who owns your shoes. Plus, we still use some of their Old Norse language today. Words like ‘egg’, ‘muck’ and ‘dirt’. Even some modern town names are based on Viking words! York and places that end in ‘thorpe’, ‘by’ or ‘kirk’. So for example, the Viking word for deer is “djúr” and village is ‘bȳ’ - together making “Derby”. There we go - the history of the Norse people in a matter of minutes. How enjoyable was that? Fantastic! Isn’t history great? Oh, you look like you need a bath.