Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia present-day Denmark , Norway , and Sweden , [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe. In their countries of origin, and some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age , and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a whole.
The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of northern and Eastern Europe , including the political and social development of England and the English language [ 10 ] and parts of France , and established the embryo of Russia in Kievan Rus'. Expert sailors and navigators of their characteristic longships , Vikings established Norse settlements and governments in the British Isles , the Faroe Islands , Iceland , Greenland , Normandy , and the Baltic coast , as well as along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes across Eastern Europe where they were also known as Varangians.
At one point, a group of Rus Vikings went so far south that, after briefly being bodyguards for the Byzantine emperor, they attacked the Byzantine city of Constantinople. While spreading Norse culture to foreign lands, they simultaneously brought home slaves, concubines, and foreign cultural influences to Scandinavia, influencing the genetic [ 15 ] and historical development of both. During the Viking Age, the Norse homelands were gradually consolidated from smaller kingdoms into three larger kingdoms: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
The Vikings spoke Old Norse and made inscriptions in runes. For most of the period, they followed the Old Norse religion , but later became Christians.
The Vikings had their own laws , art , and architecture. Most Vikings were also farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, and traders. Popular conceptions of the Vikings often strongly differ from the complex, advanced civilisation of the Norsemen that emerges from archaeology and historical sources.
