The Viking Age

From the late 8th to the 11th century, seafarers from Scandinavia - the Vikings - raided, traded and settled across an astonishing range, from the coasts of North America to the rivers of Russia and the markets of the Caspian and Baghdad. Their shallow-draft longships let them strike deep inland up Europe's rivers.

By around 900 AD Norse settlers had founded towns in the British Isles, Normandy, Iceland and along the Volga trade routes. Drag the ChronoAtlas timeline to place the Viking world among the kingdoms of early medieval Europe.

Key facts

• Leif Erikson reached North America around 1000 AD, five centuries before Columbus.
• Norse traders, the Rus, gave their name to Russia and helped found Kievan Rus.
• The settlement of Iceland from around 874 AD created one of Europe's oldest parliaments, the Althing.
• By 1016 the Danish king Cnut ruled a North Sea empire of England, Denmark and Norway.