The Vikings

After the Roman conquest, Europe was home to many peoples and village cultures that had developed farming, trading, and manufacturing skills. In this seminar we will explore the peoples and cultures on the northern edge of Europe – Denmark, Norway, and Sweden – which, although separated from each other geographically, had similar lifestyles and ethnicity. However, because of climate and terrain, there were limitations on their ability to grow and prosper locally. Instead, by developing superb sailing skills, they were able to impact much of the known and unknown world at that time. The intent of this seminar is to understand where they came from, what they accomplished, and how this affected the Western world.