Ilustração de André Brito. Viking

The Legend of the Vikings
Vikings are portrayed as ambitious and corageous warriors. And indeed they were.They came from what is now Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In the period from 800 to 1050 A.D. the Nordic peoples made their entrance in the European Arena. The Vikings sailed up the rivers of France and Spain, conquered most of Ireland and large sections of areas skirting rivers in Russia and The Baltic Coast.
Shipbuilding also contributed to the tactical superiority of the Vikings.They used to sail in drakkars, which were extremely seaworthy vessels. Besides that, a well equiped Viking warrior had to have a sword, a wooden shield with an iron boss at its centre to protect the hand, a spear, an axe, and a bow with up to 24 arrows.
Ilustração de André Brito. Barco viking
In many areas along the Oslofjord, we could find treasures in the Vikings graves, weapons and handcraft, which can be seen at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. We do not know who the dead where, but they obviously belonged to a royal family which, a few generations later, unified Norway as one nation. Ilustração de André Brito. Bacaviki
Escultura em madeira da época viking

At the end of the Viking age, Christianity was generally accepted in the Nordic countries. It replaced a heathen religion, with a pantheon of gods and goddesses who each had power over their own domains.
Odin, old and wise, was the chieftain of them all. Thor was the god of the warriors, while the goddess Froy was responsible for the fertility of the soil and livestock. Loki was a trickster and a sorcerer, unreliable and distrusted by the other gods.
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