Nordic Background: History, Geography, and Culture
The Nordic People (Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians) originate from the cold and inhospitable landscapes of Iceland. During a period of Scandinavian expansion in the years 800-1100 A.D., the Nordic people, known most commonly as the Vikings, traveled long distances in their uniquely built long ships. These recognizable ships were built for long journeys and were able to navigate through shallow rivers and steams. This ability gave them great advantage over their neighboring countries who did not expect attack from the sea.
With their abilities to explore and move about the Northern Oceans of Europe, they traded and raided along the northern seas, founded Dublin in Ireland, conquered much of England, invaded France, and descended the rivers of eastern Europe as far as Kiev and Constantinople. Norse Vikings led by Leif Eriksson sailed west to Greenland, Iceland, and Vinland (probably present-day Newfoundland and Labrador).
Icelandic landscape is described as harsh, barren, cold and inhospitable. The island is situated in such a northerly position that the seasons of winter and summer are delineated by the amounts of ambient light in the sky. During the summer months the sun never fully sets, making nighttime a perpetual dusk. But during the long winter the darkness is nearly complete. This unrelenting darkness adds to the already harsh wintry climate, including windstorms of considerable violence.
Sadly, little is known about the people themselves prior to them converting to Christianity in the 1100s. Many of the records and history that remain of the early Vikings are contributed by archaeological and physical evidence, on their literary reconstructions of their myths, and on those who were frequently their enemies and victims (which leads to obvious bias). There are but two main texts that we draw these myths from, the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, both written by Snori Sturluson in the 1200s CE. From what we do know, the Nordic peoples were a warrior civilization heavily reliant on the sea. Their settlement was thinly scattered and they lived by farming, fishing and trade. Social structure was small, free farmers who owed loyalty (along with taxes) to the headmen or patriarch of the family, or to the head regional noble or warrior chief. The society also functioned on the use of slavery. When the chiefs went to battle, the farmers immediately took the role of both sailors and soldiers for their conquests. Because of the harsh climate and the many enterprises that took men away from home for extended periods, free-born women possibly enjoyed a base of power and responsibility for family and economic affairs not matched by women elsewhere in Western Europe.