VK

Vikings (Old Norse: víkingr) are a group of Norwegians (meaning "Northerners", now known as Scandinavians) in Northern Europe. They are mainly composed of explorers, berserkers, merchants, sailors, pirates, wizards and craftsmen. [1][2] They originated in central and southern Norway, all of Denmark, and central and southern Sweden. Before the concept of "nation" in Northern Europe was formed, they existed in the form of a loose tribal alliance rather than a unified country or nation.

From the 8th to the 11th century AD, they invaded and colonized most coastal areas of Europe, such as Normandy in France, Sicily and southern Italy, all of Latvia, southern and western Finland, and many other regions. The most representative of them were the Danish dynasty in England and Kievan Rus in Ukraine, which even influenced the later historical process of Britain and Russia. The Vikings' footprints also extended to the Arctic and even eastern North America, forming a vast inland sea territory.

In European history, this period is called the "Viking Age", which had a profound impact on all European countries. The Vikings' shipbuilding technology, Nordic mythology system, weaving patterns and rune divination technology were in the leading position in Europe, and led to the development of these technologies in other European countries; however, their defensive weapons, hunting, clothing system, social culture, drinking customs, literature and luxury crafts were primitive and barbaric compared with Europe at the same time, and were assimilated by the European Christian-Germanic civilization, becoming a group with serious cultural prejudice. After the Vikings accepted Christianity, most of their culture was gradually assimilated by Europeans, but their religion, architecture, festivals and food culture did not completely disappear, but were integrated into the mainstream form of European daily life. Although they have lost some of their original appearance, their descendants - the three Viking countries in Northern Europe (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) still retain a large number of unique cultural heritages that are different from other European Christian countries.

Because of the special cultural heritage of the Vikings, their images are often seen in clothing, modern film art and video games.