How did the Vikings live?

Scandinavia is a icy land to the north of Germany, it consist of Norway, Finland and Sweden. It is where the Vikings originated. because most of Scandinavia is rock, ice and snow, living conditions were hard and most of them lived along the coast with fish being their main food source. Their descendants were nomadic tribes from north Germany who preached the religious of Norse which made them know as Norsemen. They lived in long huts which are built to fit entire families in from grandma to your fifth cousin. The land they lived in was filled with iron which made them excellent metal smiths and one of the most advanced cultures for their time. from 800-1050AD was the age of the Vikings which was when they were at their prime, they started exploring into new territories for land and power and came across places like France, Briton, Russia, Spain and many more places across Europe. Soon they started to raid the people who lived there for food, money and woman. During this time they were the most feared people in all of Europe.


The Vikings inhabited many places. They settled in Iceland, Greenland and some say that they were the first people to cross the Atlantic ocean into America. The Vikings most preferred place to live was the British islands because the soil and agriculture in Scotland and England was must more suited for farming than Scandinavia. Most Vikings settled and ruled in the north of Scotland and in the eastern parts of England. The Vikings also established the city of Dublin in Ireland, ruled the Shetland and Orkney Isles, The Isle of Man, Wales, and the Hebrides Islands. In France the Vikings made a settlement which was called Normandy which stands for "Land of the Northman". When the Vikings were around, love and emotions did not have any particular role within the Viking culture. Instead, marriage was nothing but a commercial contract between two people with a similar social status. The arrangement of the marriage had two steps: the betrothal and the wedding. The arrangement was initiated by either a man or his father. On the other hand, women's fathers could not initiate the arrangement, but had to wait for a suitor to appear instead.

In conclusion the Vikings lived in harsh climate with the woman living in harsher life's. but this came to their advantage because the soon became the most feared culture in all of Europe throughout the early middle age.   

http://www.topicpod.com/vikings/where_vikings_from_menu.html
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/87529-where-did-the-vikings-come-from/
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/93123-how-vikings-lived/?cid=parsely_rec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia