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Vikings

Vikings

The name Viking is a borrowed word from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. Vikings traveled to the west and Varangians, who were best known as the Varangian Guards of the Byzantine emperors, to the east. This period of European history (generally dated to 793 - 1066 AD) is often referred to as the Viking Age. The word “Viking” was introduced to the English language with romantic connotations in the 18th century. Today, somewhat controversially, the word is also used as a generic adjective, referring to the Viking Age Scandinavians. The medieval Scandinavian population, in general, is more properly referred to as Norse.

Etymology

The etymology of "Viking" is somewhat unclear. One path might be from the Old Norse word vík, meaning "bay," "creek," or "inlet," and the suffix -ing, meaning "coming from" or "belonging to." Thus, a Viking would be a 'person of the bay', or "bayling" for lack of a better word. In Old Norse, this would be spelled vikingr. The term Viking later became synonymous with "naval expedition" or "naval raid", and a vikingr was a member of such expeditions. A second etymology suggested that the term is derived from the Old English wíc, or "trading city" (cognate to Latin vicus, "village"). The word Viking appears on several rune stones found in Scandinavia. In the Icelandic sagas, víking refers to an overseas expedition (Old Norse vikingr "to go on an expedition"), and víkingr, to a seaman or warrior taking part in such an expedition. In Old English, the word appears first in the 6th or 7th century in the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith. In medieval use (eg, Widsith, and the writings of Adam von Bremen), a Viking is a pirate, and not a name for the people or culture in general. Indeed, when Scandinavian raiders left their boats, stole horses and rode across country, they were never referred to as "vikings" in English sources. The word disappeared in Middle English, and was reintroduced as Viking during 18th century Romanticism. During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to the raiders, but also to the entire period; that is now, somewhat confusingly, used as a noun both in the original meaning of raiders, warriors or navigators, and sometimes to refer to the Scandinavian population in general. As an adjective, the word may be used in expressions like "Viking age," "Viking culture," "Viking colony," etc., generally referring to medieval Scandinavia. During the last century, speculations began about whether the foreign traders known as varyags, who had trade posts along the Russian rivers down to the Byzantine Empire, were of Scandinavian origin, and since then the term has been interpreted also to refer to tradesmen from Scandinavia who established colonies in Russia. Early Scandinavian colonies in North America are also labeled as "Viking" by modern English speakers. It should be noted, however, that no written sources, in the cases of Vinland, Rus', or Varyags, use the term "Viking." Scandinavians, in general, were not Vikings. They were farmers, fishers and hunters, as were most others in Europe at the time. As the Scandinavian shores were attacked by enemy forces, they established the defence fleet called the leidang, which was also used as protection against Vikings. Though it is a common practice today, calling all Northmen (Scandinavians) Vikings, rather than reserving the word solely for those involved in piracy, can lead to misunderstanding and confusion. As members of the leidang fleet, as well as farmers and fishers now and then, were attacked by Vikings, most Scandinavians probably saw Vikings as their enemies and fought against them with all their might.

Historical records

leidang in the Byzantine Empire and a Byzantine ship]] The earliest date given for a Viking raid is 787 AD when, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a group of men from Norway sailed to Portland, in Dorset. There, they were mistaken for merchants by a royal official, and they murdered him when he tried to get them to accompany him to the king's manor to pay a trading tax on their goods. The next recorded attack, dated June 8, 793 AD, was on the monastery at Lindisfarne – the "Holy Island" – on the east coast of England. For the next 200 years, European history is filled with tales of Vikings and their plundering. However, the vast majority of the Viking attacks were naturally attacks on France – as we know from the official histories – because the Emperor Charlemagne was seen as the main enemy, but other parts of the Holy Roman Empire also fell victim to such attacks as well as other Christian countries in Europe. Vikings exerted influence throughout the coastal areas of Ireland and Scotland, and conquered and colonised large parts of England (see Danelaw). They travelled up the rivers of France and Spain, and gained control of areas in Russia and along the Baltic coast. Stories tell of raids in the Mediterranean and as far east as the Caspian Sea.

Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen records in his book Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, (volume four): - :Aurum ibi plurimum, quod raptu congeritur piratico. Ipsi enim piratae, 'quos illi Wichingos as appellant, nostri Ascomannos regi Danico tributum solvunt. - :"There is much gold here (in Zealand), accumulated by piracy. These pirates, which are called wichingi by their own people, and Ascomanni by our own people, pay tribute to the Danish king."

Rune stones

Rune stones bear the letters or characters of old Teutonic and Scandinavian alphabets, that are supposed to be magical and mysterious at the same time. The runes are an ancient oracle, dating back to before the New Testament. The runes are the equivalent of the tarot, and the Chinese book of changes. According to Norse mythology, the creation of the runes came about at the beginning of the creation of the world when the first man emerged out of the ice. He was given the name Ymir. Another man was freed from the ice two days later, called Buri. He had a son named Bor who married Bestla, who was the daughter of the giant Bolthum. Bor and Bestla had three sons, Odin, Vili, and Ve. There was great strife between the offspring of Ymir and the children of Bor and Bestla. Odin led his brothers against Ymir and they killed him. Ever since that time, there has been hatred and enmity between the gods and the giants. Odin and his brothers dragged Ymir's body into the void (Ginnungagap). His flesh became the earth; his blood, the sea; his bones, the mountains; his hair, the trees; and his teeth became the rune stones. Viking magic was prevalent in Norse culture as it was practiced by diviners, also known as rune masters, magicians, and berserkers (magical warriors). When divining using the runes, a number of stones are drawn at random from a bag, and laid out in a pattern representing the past, present, and future. The pattern of symbols is then interpreted to provide insight and help with decision making. The Vikings had great respect for accomplished runemasters, considering them to be blood relatives to Odin. The traditional costume of a runemaster was a blue cloak and a brass-tipped wooden staff, mirrored in the same image of Odin’s cloak and blackthorn wood staff. However, most of the knowledge and wisdom died with the rune masters. Norse mythology and tradition is filled with magical elements such as earth, air, fire, water, and the spirit of the gods, giants, dwarves and ancestors. Odin is characterized as the god of magic, the god of the runes, and when the rune stones are raised, they are in memory of fallen warriors, making Odin the god of the dead as well. Yggdrasil is the world ash tree that connects all of the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology, namely, Asgard, Alfheim, Vanheim, Niflheim, Midgard, Muspelheim, Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, and Hel. The tree survives the torment of Nithog nibbling at its roots, while the stags and goats tear the leaves and bark from the tree. The Norse sprinkle water from Urd's Well upon the roots, which helps the tree stay fresh and green. Od has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, which he believes is power. He wants to bestow this gift to his followers. In order to discover the meaning of the runes, Odin sacrifices himself with his spear, named Gungnir, on the Yggdrasil, and remains hanging on the tree for nine days to discover the meanings of the runes. On the last day, an eagle drops words out of his mouth, including "egg, sword, and fire." Odin tells the bird that he knows about the existence of these objects already, but his plea is rendered helpless as the eagle flies away. Odin, by being the father of the gods and possessing so much power that he was feared all over Scandinavia, is able to act as the major link between the gods and mankind, passing on knowledge to the Norse people through the runes. Many rune stones in Scandinavia record the names of participants in Viking expeditions. Other rune stones mention men who died on Viking expeditions. "Today the runes are strange symbols scratched into ancient tools and weapons in some museum showcase; names of warriors, secret spells, even snatches of songs, appearing on objects as diverse as minute silver coins and towering stone crosses, scattered from Yugoslavia to Orkney, from Greenland to Greece." (Ralph W.V. Elliot, Runes)

Icelandic sagas

Norse mythology, Norse sagas and Old Norse literature tell us about their religion through tales of heroic and mythological heroes. However, the transmission of this information was primarily oral, and we are reliant upon the writings of (later) Christian scholars, such as the Icelanders Snorri Sturluson and Sæmundr fróði, for much of this. An overwhelming amount of the sagas were written in Iceland. Vikings in those sagas are described as if they often struck at accessible and poorly defended targets, usually with impunity. The sagas state that the Vikings built settlements and were skilled craftsmen and traders.
- Voluspá
- Beowulf

13th century

King Harald I of Norway finally was forced to make an expedition to the west to clear the islands and Scottish mainland of Vikings. Numbers of them fled to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, but the Norse sagas are rather subjective in their descriptions, and hence the Vikings in those sagas are sometimes characterized as heroes, later shaping the attitude towards Vikings during the 18th century Romantic period. Still, in Scandinavia, Vikings were not seen as an accepted part of society. They may even have been considered outlaws - several sources name Vikings in association with Jomsborg or Julin, which, according to modern history, was a refugee center for Slavic pirates, as opposed to the descriptions in the Norse saga.

Viking ships and Viking longships

There were no specific "Viking ships" or "Viking longships"; Vikings used any of the common Scandinavian longships. These boats were identical to those used by the Scandinavian defense fleets, known as the ledung. The term "Viking ships" has entered common usage, however, possibly because of its Romantic associations. It is suspected that most Viking ships had an average length/width ratio of 4.5:1. Scholars also debate whether or not Vikings had cooking fires aboard their ships. There is no evidence connecting any discovered longship to any particular classical Viking raid. Nor has any "Viking" boat construction site, or harbour, been found or excavated. Thus, our knowledge of the actual boats Vikings used is limited.

The Viking Age

See main article Viking Age. The period of North Germanic expansion, usually taken to last from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, is commonly called the 'Viking Age.' The Vikings may be seen as late joiners in the Migrations period, and thus the period links Late Antiquity with the high Middle Ages. Geographically, a "Viking Age" may be assigned not only to the Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark, and southern Norway and Sweden), but also to territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly the Danelaw, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Ireland. Contemporary with the European Viking Age, the Byzantine Empire experienced the greatest period of stability (circa 800–1071) it would enjoy after the initial wave of Muslim conquests in the mid-seventh century. Viking navigators also opened the road to new lands to the north and to the west, resulting in the colonization of Shetland, Orkney, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and even a short expedition to Newfoundland, circa 1000 C.E. During three centuries, Vikings appeared along the coasts and rivers of Europe, as raiders, but increasingly also as traders, and even as settlers. From 839, there were Varangian mercenaries in Byzantine service (most famously Harald Hardrada, who campaigned in North Africa and Jerusalem in the 1030s). Important trading ports during the period include Birka, Hedeby, Kaupang, Jorvik, Staraja Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev. Generally speaking, the Norwegians expanded to the north and west, the Danes to England, settling in the Danelaw, and the Swedes (called the Rus) to the east. But the three nations were not yet clearly separated, and still united by the common Old Norse language. The names of Scandinavian kings are known only for the later part of the Viking Age, and only after the end of the Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire a distinct identity as nations, which went hand in hand with their christianization. Thus it may be noted that the end of the Viking Age (9th–11th ct.) for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages. :See also: History of Denmark, List of Danish monarchs, History of Iceland, History of Norway, List of Norwegian monarchs, History of Sweden, List of Swedish monarchs. Viking ship Museum of Norway

The Viking invasions: a commercial war?

According to Joel Supéry, the French author of “Le Secret des Vikings”, the Scandinavian attacks against the Frankish Empire were carried out not by raiding adventurers looking for gold and silver but by armies applying a military strategy. In 795 AD, long before the start of the Danish invasion proper in 840, Scandinavians were present in Asturias, on the northern shore of Spain, where they fought with the local king against the Moors. In 799, the Franks attacked them in Noirmoutier ; in 812, a Viking fleet was seen off Perpignan on the Mediterranean Sea. In 816, Northmen were in Pamplona fighting together with a Navarrese army against the Moors. In 823 and 825, their presence was recorded on the Ria Mundaka in Biscaya. According to Supéry, the intention of these Vikings was to create a commercial route to the Mediterranean Sea, then the centre of the world's trade. The main western European trading route between the south and the north was the Rhine-Rhône axis. The Franks initiated a form of commercial blockade in an effort to weaken the Danish kingdom. The Danes therefore decided to create their own route to the south along the Frankish coast. On this route they met the Moors, who were the masters of the Strait of Gibraltar. As this course was deemed too risky, they decided to reach the oriental markets by crossing the Pyrenees, passing through Mundaka (Guernika), Pamplona and then Tortosa, which was the main slave market in Europe. In 840, the Danes began their attacks on the Frankish Empire – not on the Seine but on the Adour. Gascony fell under their complete control as early as 844. The leader of the invasion, Björn Ironside, became the ruler of the area and gave his name to Bayonne (originally "Björnhamn"). Hastein had occupied Noirmoutier in 843. In 845 Asgeir began to settle in Saintonge in Aquitania. Effectively, by 845 all the lands around the Bay of Biscay were under Danish control. The Danish war in the north of France began with two objectives: to weaken the power of King Charles the Bald and to prevent the Franks from attacking in the south. In 858, having crushed the Frankish kingdom, Björn concluded a treaty with Charles the Bald whereby – according to Supéry – the Danes were formally granted all the country south of the river Garonne, an area which was thereafter no longer mentioned in the Frankish annals. In the following year, Björn forced the king of Navarre to make a treaty allowing the Danes to cross Navarre to reach the river Ebro and Tortosa. He then sailed with Hastein to the Mediterranean Sea. While Hastein set about disorganizing trade in the Rhine valley and Italy, Björn attacked Constantinople, after joining up with the Swedish Varyags who had come across Russia. He obtained a commercial treaty from the Byzantine Emperor intended to attract trade away from the Rhône to the Ebro. In 863, Dorestad in Frisia, the Franks' main commercial centre on the Rhine, was definitively destroyed. The first Viking war was over: the Danes had set up a new trade network in place of an older and opposing one. Then a new war began: the Danish chiefs tried to emulate the success of Björn in Gascony and to create their own overseas kingdoms. Northumbria, Mercia, Frisia, Aquitaine, Bretagne and Normandy were all affected by these attempts to found Scandinavian settlements. Gascony stayed under the Vikings’ control for 140 years. Their army was finally defeated in 982 by forces from Gascony, Périgord and Navarre. The Gascons of Nordic origin were allowed to stay in the country which had become rich under their rule, but they were condemned not to mix with other communities, becoming (according to one legend) the despised and ostracized Agotes or Cagots. Yet their continuing presence in the Biscay area may help to explain why the Basques have so many traditions (such as whale hunting) with possible Nordic origins, and perhaps why they are said to have reached America one hundred years before Christopher Colombus.

Decline

After decades of trade and settlement, Christianity was introduced into Scandinavia by the 11th century, and the process of Christianization was mostly completed during the Middle Ages. However, elements of the old faith and secret blóts remained until the 19th century (and played a role in the emergence of Asatru in the mid 20th century). The influence of the Norse, seeing themselves then as part of wider European civilization, as well as technical advances in warfare, made the Viking raids less desirable and less profitable, and eventually the political structures based on them were replaced by structures based more on continental feudalism.

Modern revivals

See also 19th century Viking revival. Early modern publications, dealing with what we now call Viking culture, appeared in the 16th century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Olaus Magnus, 1555), and the first edition of the 13th century Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus in 1514. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the Edda (notably Peder Resen's Edda Islandorum of 1665).

Romanticism

According to the Swedish writer, Jan Guillou, the word Viking was popularized, with positive connotations, by Erik Gustaf Geijer in the poem, The Viking, written at the beginning of the 19th century. The word was taken to refer to romanticized, idealized naval warriors, who had very little to do with the historical Viking culture. This renewed interest of Romanticism in the Old North had political implications. A myth about a glorious and brave past was needed to give the Swedes the courage to retake Finland, which had been lost in 1809 during the war between Sweden and Russia. The Geatish Society, of which Geijer was a member, popularized this myth to a great extent. Another author who had great influence on the perception of the Vikings was Esaias Tegnér, another member of the Geatish Society, who wrote a modern version of Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna, which became widely popular in the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom and Germany. A focus for early British enthusiasts was George Hicke, who published a Linguarum vett. septentrionalium thesaurus in 1703–1705. During the 18th century, British interest and enthusiasm for Iceland and Nordic culture grew dramatically, expressed in English translations as well as original poems, extolling Viking virtues and increased interest in anything Runic that could be found in the Danelaw, rising to a peak during Victorian times. Richard Wagner's works are strongly influenced by Norse mythology.

Fascism

The Romanticist heroic Viking ideal and the Wagnerian mythology also appealed to the Germanic supremacist thinkers of Nazi Germany as reflected, for example, in the runic emblem of the SS, the neo-Nazi youth organization Wiking-Jugend, and its Odal rune symbol (see also fascist symbolism).

Living History

Since the 1960s, there has been rising enthusiasm for historical reenactment. While the earliest groups had little claim for historical accuracy, the seriousness and accuracy of re-enactors has increased dramatically during the 1990s, including many re-enactment groups concentrating on an accurate representation of the Viking Age.

Myths about Vikings

1990s

Horned helmets

There is little evidence that the Vikings on any occasion wore horned helmets. Apart from two or three representations of helmets with protrusions that may be either snakes or horns, no depiction of Viking Age warriors' helmets, and no actually preserved helmet, has horns. The idea of horned Viking helmets is, rather, a latter-day myth created by national romantic ideas in Sweden at the end of the 19th century, notably the Geatish Society, blending the Viking Age with glimpses of the Nordic Bronze Age some 2000 years earlier for which actual horned helmets, probably for ceremonial purposes, are attested both in petroglyphs and by actual finds (See Bohuslän [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhornedhelmet.html]). The cliche was perpetuated by cartoons like Hägar the Horrible and Vicky the Viking.

Skull cups

The use of human skulls as drinking vessels is also unhistorical. The rise of this myth can be traced back to a mistranslation of an Icelandic kenning. In the Latin translation of the Krákumál by Magnús Ólafsson (in Ole Worm's Runer seu Danica literatura antiquissima of 1636), warriors drinking ór bjúgviðum hausa [from the curved branches of skulls, i.e. from horns] were rendered as drinking ex craniis eorum quos ceciderunt [from the skulls of those whom they had slain]. (Scandinavian skalle: skall means simply "shell" or "bowl".) The skull-cup allegation may have some history also in relation with other tribes (see skull cups).

Uncleanliness

skull cups The image of wild-haired, dirty savages, sometimes associated with the Vikings in popular culture, has hardly any base in reality. The Vikings used a variety of tools for personal grooming such as combs, tweezers, razors or specialised "ear spoons". In particular, combs are among the most frequent artifacts from Viking Age graves, and one can conclude that a comb was the personal equipment of every man and woman. The Vikings also used soap, long before it was reintroduced to Europe after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The Vikings in England even had a particular reputation of excessive cleanliness, due to their custom of bathing once a week, on Saturdays (as opposed to the local Anglo-Saxons). As for the Rus', Ibn Rustah explicitly notes their cleanliness, while Ibn Fadlan is disgusted by the women sharing the same vessel as the men to wash their faces in the morning. Ibn Fadlan's disgust is thus probably motivated by ideas of personal hygiene particular to the Muslim world (for instance, Muslims are required to wash only with running water), while the very example intended to convey the disgusting customs of the Rus' at the same time records that they did in fact wash every morning.

Famous Vikings

- Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1976). T
- Askold and Dir (legendary Varangian conquerors of Kiev)
- Björn Ironside (pillaged in Italy and son of Ragnar Lodbrok)
- Egill Skallagrímsson (popular icelandic warrior and skald, see also Egils saga)
- Erik the Red (discoverer of Greenland)
- Gardar Svavarsson (discoverer of Iceland)
- Guthrum (colonised England)
- Harald Finehair (founder and first king of Norway; some dispute, as part of the etymological dispute discussed above, whether he really merits the label "Viking" at all)
- Harald Hardrada (king of Norway and member of the Varangian Guard)
- Ingvar the Far-Travelled (the leader of the last great Swedish viking expedition, which pillaged the shores of the Caspian Sea).
- Ivar the Boneless (disabled son of Ragnar Lodbrok who, despite having to be carried on a shield, nevertheless conquered York)
- Ingólfur Arnarson (colonised Iceland)
- Leif Eriksson (discoverer of Vinland)
- Oleg of Kiev (conquered Kiev, founded Kievan Rus' and attacked Constantinople)
- Ragnar Lodbrok (captured Paris)
- Rollo of Normandy (founder of Normandy)
- Rurik (founder of the Rus' rule in Eastern Europe)
- Skagul Toste (the first Viking to exact the Danegeld)
- Styrbjörn Sterki (conqueror of Jomsborg)
- Thorfinn Karlsefni (colonizer of Vinland) - Source: “Famous Vikings of Northern Europe by Harmondsworth: Penguin. New edition 1990 by Penguin Books. ISBN 0140206701.

Books

Vikings, and Viking inspired societies have appeared in a number of works of fiction, including:
- The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavrieal Kay.

Movies

- The Vikings (1958)
- The Longships (1963)
- Island at the Top of the World (1974)
- The Norseman (1978)
- Erik the Viking (1989)
- The 13th Warrior (1999)
- Beowulf & Grendel (2005)
- Beowulf (In production)
- The Northmen (In production)

Bibliography

- Brøndsted, Johannes (1960). The Vikings, trans. Kalle Skov. Harmondsworth: Penguin. New translation 1965. ISBN 0140204598.
- Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1964). Gods and Myths he Viking Road to Byzantium. London: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0049400495.
- Foote, Peter G., and David M. Wilson (1970) The Viking Achievement
- Graham-Campbell, J. (date?). The Viking World.
- Jones, Gwyn (1984). A History of the Vikings
- Magnusson, Magnus (1980). Vikings!
- Roesdahl, Else (date?). Viking Age Denmark.
- Sawyer, P. H. (date?). Medieval Scandinavia
- Sawyer, P. H. (1997). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings
- Sawyer, P. H. (1962). The Age of the Vikings
- Wilson, David M. (1970) The Vikings and their Origens
- Wilson, David M. (1980) The Northern World

External links

- [http://viking.hgo.se/ Viking heritage] magazine on Viking history
- [http://www.lofotr.no/engelsk/index.htm Lofotr Viking museum]
- [http://www.khm.uio.no/english/viking_ship_museum/index.shtml The Viking ship museum in Oslo]
- [http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/default.asp?contentSection=2 The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde]
- [http://www.moesmus.dk/my.php?top=13&language=1 The Moesgård Museum in Århus]
- [http://home.online.no/~joeolavl/viking/index.htm Vikingships and traditional Norse wooden boats]
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/ PBS NOVA: The Vikings]
- [http://www.lost-civilizations.net/vikings-isle-man-leif-eriksson.html Vikings - Isle of Man ~ Leif Eriksson]
- [http://www.sobresites.com.br/vikings Vikings in portuguese, Brazil site] Category:Viking Age Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Warriors Category:History of Europe zh-min-nan:Viking-lâng als:Wikinger ko:바이킹 ms:Viking ja:ヴァイキング simple:Vikings

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is the cultural and historic region in Northern Europe consisting of the Scandinavian and Jutland peninsulas and the islands inbetween. Today, this region encompasses three sovereign states: :
- Denmark :
- Norway :
- Sweden These three countries have mutually recognized each other as parts of political and cultural region, since the height of the nationalist movements in these countries in the middle of the 19th century. The region takes its name from the peninsula, which in turn is thought to be named after Skåne (Scania) situated at the southern extreme of the Scandinavian peninsula. Prior to the mid-19th century, the region included a larger area of Northern Europe, comparable to the modern "Greater Scandinavia": :
- Denmark-Norway :
- Sweden-Finland The collective label "Scandinavia" nowadays primarily reflects the linguistic similarities, but also the strong historical and social ties between these countries despite their current political independence and different policies during the two World Wars and Cold War and membership in international organizations.

Greater Scandinavia (Norden)

Like other regions of the world, the usage and meaning of the term 'Scandinavia' can vary depending on defining criteria. Some or all of the following geo-political entities may variously be considered peripherally Scandinavian, since they traditionally have had strong political and economic ties with Scandinavia proper:
- Faroe Islands
- Finland (a sovereign republic since 1917-18)
- Greenland
- Iceland (a sovereign republic since 1944-45)
- Jan Mayen
- Svalbard
- Åland These alternative meanings are sometimes considered incorrect in some parts of Scandinavia, and occasionally some people may take offence at such usage. In recent years "Scandinavia" has again increasingly been used by scholars and teachers, in Scandinavia and other regions, in the historical sense with Finland included. [http://www.h-net.org] The term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for the Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the republics of Finland and Iceland. More infrequently, the term is also used occasionally to include Estonia, owing to its cultural ties with Sweden and Finland and its proximity to Scandinavia. The terms Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are used either to include the Scandinavian peninsula, the Kola peninsula, Karelia, Finland and Denmark under the same term alluding to the Fennoscandian Shield, even if Denmark actually resides on the North European Plain, or they may be used in a more cultural sense, more or less as a synonym for the Nordic countries, to signify the historically close contact between Finnic, Sami and other Scandinavian peoples and cultures.

Etymology

The etymology for the names Scandinavia and Skåne (Scania) is considered to be the same. The name is most probably derived from the Germanic
- Skaðin- meaning "danger" (cf. English scathing and unscathed) and
- awjo meaning "island". It may have referred to the dangerous banks around Skanör (skan- is the same as in Scandinavia, and -ör means "sandbanks") and Falsterbo in Skåne in southernmost Scandinavia. Alternatively, the first element is sometimes attributed to the Scandinavian giantess Skaði from Norse mythology. The original form is considered to be
- Skaðinawjo, which gave rise to different forms in Germanic languages and by non-Germanic scribes. In Beowulf we meet the forms Scedenigge and Scedeland. Ptolemy uses the form Scandia, and Scatinavia appears in Roman texts, e.g. Pliny the Elder, whereas Pomponius Mela used the deviant form Codanovia. The form Scadinavia, the original home of the Langobards, appears in Paulus Diaconus' Historia Langobardorum[http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost08/PaulusDiaconus/pau_lan1.html], but in other versions of Historia Langobardorum appear the forms Scadan, Scandanan, Scadanan and Scatenauge[http://www.northvegr.org/lore/langobard/001.php]. In Jordanes' history of the Goths (AD 551) we meet the form Scandza their original home, separated by sea from the land of Europe (chapter 1, 4)[http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html]. The name of the Scandinavian mountain range, Skanderna in Swedish, is artificially derived from Skandinavien in the 19th century, in analogy with Alperna for the Alps. The commonly used names are bergen or fjällen; both names meaning "the mountains".

History

Languages

Main articles: North Germanic languages, Finno-Ugric languages Most dialects of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are mutually intelligible, and Scandinavians can with little trouble understand each other's standard languages as they appear in print and are heard on radio and television. However it is often assumed that Swedes have the greatest difficulties understanding the other two languages, which may be a consequence of limited access to Danish and Norwegian radio and television in Sweden. The reason why Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are traditionally viewed as different languages, rather than dialects of one language, is that they each are well established standardized languages (Ausbausprache) in their respective countries. They are related to, but not intelligible with, the other North Germanic languages, Icelandic and Faroese, which are descended from the Norwegian dialect of Old Norse. Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have, since medieval times, been influenced to varying degrees by Middle Low German and standard German. The Scandinavian languages are (as a language family) entirely unrelated to Finnish and Estonian, which as Finno-Ugric languages are distantly related to Hungarian. This said there still is a great deal of borrowings from the Swedish language in both the Finnish and Estonian language. Although Swedish speakers constitute a small but influential minority in Finland—and Finnish speakers constitute a minority in Sweden of similar relative size—and most ethnic Finns have studied Swedish as a mandatory school subject, the linguistic distance between the language families is often seen as indicative of a cultural distance and a reason not to classify the Finns as Scandinavian. This view was particularly prominent among Finns influenced by the ethnic nationalist movement called Fennoman in the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the language-based Scandinavian movement in the other Scandinavian countries in the 1850's. Only in 1902 was Finnish language granted an equal status with Swedish as an official language of Finland. Still in present day, the municipality with the highest fraction of native Swedish speakers of the population in the world, Korsnäs, resides in Finland. A rather typical folk-linguistic view might suggest the following. Finns and Icelanders who have studied Swedish and Danish, respectively, as foreign languages often also find it hard to understand the other Scandinavian languages. On the other end of the scale are the Norwegians, who with two parallel written standards, and a habit to hold on strongly to local dialects, are accustomed to variation and may perceive Danish and Swedish as only slightly more distant dialects. In a conversation between a Swedish speaker and a Dane there can be significant difficulties in understanding each other's spoken language, due to differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. In the Faroe Islands Danish is mandatory, and since Faroese people this way become bilingual in two very distinct Nordic languages find it relatively easy to understand the other two Mainland Scandinavian languages. [http://www.nordkontakt.nu/].

Politics

The modern use of the term Scandinavia rises from the Scandinavist political movement, which was active in the middle of the 19th century, chiefly between the First war of Schleswig (Slesvig in Scandinavian) (1848-1850), in which Sweden-Norway contributed with considerable military force, and the Second war of Schleswig (1864) when Sweden's parliament denounced the King's promises of military support. The King proposed the unification of Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a single united kingdom. The background for this was the tumultuous events during the Napoleonic wars in the beginning of the century leading to the partition of Sweden (the eastern part becoming the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809) and Denmark (whereby Norway, de jure in union with Denmark since 1387, although de facto merely a province, became independent in 1814 and thereafter was swiftly forced to accept a personal union with Sweden). Finland being a part of the Russian Empire meant that it would have to be left out of any equation for a political union between the Nordic countries. The geographical Scandinavia included Norway, Sweden and parts of Finland, but the political Scandinavia was also to include Denmark. Politically Sweden and Norway were united in a personal union under one monarch. Denmark also included the dependent territories of Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean (which however historically had belonged to Norway, but unintentionally remained with Denmark according to the Treaty of Kiel). The end of the Scandinavian political movement came when Denmark was denied military support from Sweden-Norway to annex the (Danish) Duchy of Schleswig, which together with the (German) Duchy of Holstein had been in personal union with Denmark. The Second war of Schleswig followed in 1864. That was a brief but disastrous war between Denmark and Prussia (supported by Austria). Schleswig-Holstein was conquered by Prussia, and after Prussia's success in the Franco-Prussian War a Prussian-led German Empire was created, and a new power-balance of the Baltic sea countries was established. Even if a Scandinavian political union never came about there was a Scandinavian Monetary Union established in 1873, with the Krona/Krone as the common currency, and which lasted until World War I. The modern Scandinavian co-operation after World War I also came to include the independent Finland and (since 1944) Iceland and Scandinavian as a political term came to be replaced by the term Nordic countries; and eventually, in 1952, by the Nordic Council institution.

Historical political structure

1/ The original settlers of the Faroes and Iceland were of Pictish or Celtic origin (from Scotland or Ireland), then Nordic origin (mainly Norwegian). zh-min-nan:Skandinavia als:Skandinavien ko:스칸디나비아 ja:スカンディナヴィア simple:Scandinavia

Northmen

"Northmen" was a common term for the Vikings, famously used in the prayer A furore normannorum libera nos domine ("From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord!"), doubtfully attributed to monks of the English monasteries plundered by Viking raids in the 8th and 9th centuries. The word " Norman" is a derivation. The Northmen were also known as Ascomannii by the Germans (perhaps due to their mythological ancestor Ask), Lochlanach by the Irish and Dene (Daner) by the Anglo-Saxons. The Slavs, the Arabs and the Byzantines knew them as the Rus' or Rhos (probably from various uses of roþs-, i.e. "related to rowing", hence Russia). The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians (Væringjar, meaning "sworn men"), and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard.

Middle-Earth

J. R. R. Tolkien adopted the term in his fiction; his "Northmen" were Men that lived in the north of Rhovanion in Middle-earth, and were friendly to Gondor. The Northmen who dwellt in Greenwood the Great and other parts of Rhovanion were friendly to the Dúnedain and were after the Dúnedain the most noble Men on Arda, counted as Middle Men by the Dúnedain, and believed to have been descended from the same group of Men as the Edain, the Atanatári. The only difference was that they didn't cross the Ered Luin into Beleriand and therefore didn't go to Númenor. The result of them not participating in the War against Morgoth was their considerably shorter lifespan if compared to the lifespan of the Dúnedain, whose lifespan was enhanced by the Valar after the War of Wrath. They were important allies of Gondor and served as a buffer against the Easterlings, and in the Army of Gondor. For a time many of them even became subjects of Gondor, as the realm extended beyond the river Anduin. East of Greenwood the Great was the kingdom of Rhovanion, and this became the most important nation of the Northmen. In the fourteenth century of the Third Age, King Rómendacil II of Gondor sent his son Valacar as an ambassador to Vidugavia, the so-called "King of Rhovanion". Valacar loved Rhovanion and the daughter of the King, Vidumavi. He married her. and she bore him a son whom she called Vinitharya in her mother tongue. In Gondor Vinitharya became known as King Eldacar and caused a civil war, the Kin-strife because of his mixed Dúnadan/Northmen blood. Shortly after the death of Vidugavia a small group of Northmen moved to the vales of the Anduin between the Gladden Fields and the Mirkwood, probably to flee from the Wainriders, who had enslaved Rhovanion. After the evil Kingdom of Angmar was defeated by Gondor and the remains of Arnor in 1977 T.A., these Northmen moved north and began to call themselves the Éothéod. They were skilled horsebreeders and horsemen. In 2510 T.A. they responded to a plea of help from the trapped Gondorian army at the Field of Celebrant. After they helped Gondor win this important victory they were rewarded the province of Calenardhon and became known as the Rohirrim. The Men of Dale and Esgaroth were also counted under the Northmen, as were the woodsmen of Mirkwood. Most of Rhovanion had been depopulated after the wars of the Easterlings and the Great Plague. Category: Middle-earth Men

Scandinavia

Greater Scandinavia (Norden)

Etymology

History

Languages

Politics

Historical political structure

British Isles

:For an explanation of often confusing terms like (Great) Britain, United Kingdom and England see also British Isles (terminology). :The "British Isles" is also an old name for the British and Irish Lions rugby team. British and Irish Lions The British Isles is a term traditionally given to the group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe including Great Britain (containing England, Scotland, and Wales), Ireland, and several thousand smaller adjacent islands. The name was extensively used historically, derived from when the island of Great Britain was called Britannias, and Ireland and the other islands near Great Britain were called Britanniae (the Latin genitive case meaning of Britannias.) In 1922 most of the island of Ireland ceased to be in the United Kingdom and became the independent sovereign state of the Republic of Ireland. However, even before this, and especially since, the usage of the term British Isles has been seen by many people, especially in Ireland, as problematic, due to an implied continued British sovereignty over the whole of Ireland, or more generally as referring to Ireland as being British in any sense. This is not a result of anti-British sentiment, but simply a reflection that Irish people do not regard themselves or their country as British. The term is also considered by some to be offensive to people in Wales and Scotland. In terms of geography the term British Isles is understood to refer to the whole archipelago, from Scilly to Shetland, containing more than 6,000 islands and totalling 315,134 km² (121,674 square miles) of land. These islands were originally inhabited by the ancient Britons (hence the name "British Isles"). The historic name British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe the island group. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (iv.xvi.102) records of Great Britain that "it was itself named Albion while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae".

List of the British Isles

Albion]] :Main article: Complete list of the British Isles
- Great Britain
- Northern Isles (including Orkney, Shetland and Fair Isle)
- Hebrides (including the Inner Hebrides, Outer Hebrides and Small Isles)
- Islands of the lower Firth of Clyde (including the Isle of Arran and Bute)
- Anglesey (in Welsh: Ynys Môn)
- Lundy
- Isles of Scilly
- Isle of Wight
- Lindisfarne
- Ireland
- Ulster: Rathlin Island
- , Arranmore, Tory Island
- Connacht: Achill Island, Clew Bay islands, Inishturk, Inishbofin, Inishark, Aran Islands
- Munster: Blasket Islands, Valentia Island, Cape Clear , Sherkin Island, Great Island
- Leinster: Lambay Island, Ireland's Eye
- Isle of Man
- Channel Islands¹
- Rockall Many other small islands are not listed.
- Rathlin Island is the only Irish island part of Northern Ireland and hence the UK.

Origin of the term British Isles

In classical times, foreign sources used "Brit-" or "Prit-" with various endings and native sources used oceani insulae meaning "islands of the ocean" or insularum meaning "islands". Only in modern times has British Isles entered the English language.

Classical geographers

The inhabitants of the British Isles in classical times were the Celtic Bruthin or Priteni, later known as the "Brythons", who were in Great Britain and Ireland some time before the 5th century BC, whether as a result of cultural changes in the native population or of immigration, possibly through conquest. The classical writers of geographies named the group of islands after these inhabitants, using a transliteration into their own language such as Latin (e.g. Bretannae) or Greek (e.g. Βρηττανων). Throughout Book 4 of his Geography, Strabo is consistent in spelling the island Britain (transliterated) as Prettanikee; he uses the terms Prettans or Brettans for the islands as a group. For example, in Geography 2.1.18, "...οι νοτιωτατοι των Βρηττανων βορηιοτηροι τουτον ηισιν". (...the most southern of the Brettans are further north than this)². He was writing around AD 10, although the earliest surviving copy of his work dates from the 6th century. Pliny the Elder writing around AD 70 uses a Latin version of the same terminology in section 4.102 of his Naturalis Historia. He writes of Great Britain: Albion ipsi nomen fuit, cum Britanniae vocarentur omnes de quibus mox paulo dicemus. (Albion was its own name, when all [the islands] were called the Britannias; I will speak of them in a moment). In the following section, 4.103, Pliny enumerates the islands he considers to make up the Britannias, listing Great Britain, Ireland, and many smaller islands. Ptolemy is quite clear that Ireland – he calls it Hibernia – belongs to the group he calls Britannia. He entitles Book II, Chapter 1 of his Geography as Hibernia, Island of Britannia.

Native sources

The early surviving discussion of the geography is almost exclusively in classical languages. The "British Isles" terminology of the classical geographers is found in English only in documents written after the Reformation. The earliest native source to use a collective term for the archipelago is the Life of Saint Columba, a hagiography purporting to record the missionary activities of the sixth century Irish monk Saint Columba among the peoples of Great Britain. Written in the late seventh century by Adomnán of Iona, an Irish monk living on a Scottish island with considerable Pictish and English interests, it must be considered an authority as regards the totality of relationships within the archipelago at that time. The collective term for the archipelago used within this work is oceani insulae meaning "islands of the ocean" (Book 2, 46 in the Sharpe edition = Book 2, 47 in Reeves edition) and it is used sparingly. Another early native source to use a collective term is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum of Bede written in the early eighth century. The collective term for the archipelago used within this work is insularum meaning "islands" (Book 1, 8) and it too is used sparingly. The term does not appear to have entered English usage until after the Reformation. The earliest quotation of "British Isles" given by the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary is in 1621.

Renaissance mapmakers

Continental mapmakers Gerardus Mercator (1512), Balthasar Moretus (1624), Giovanni Magini (1596), Abraham Ortelius (1570) and Sebastian Munster (1550) produced maps bearing the term "British Isles". Ortelius makes clear his understanding that England, Scotland and Ireland were politically nominally at least separate in 1570 by the full title of his map: "Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio" which translates as "a description of England, Scotland and Ireland, or the British Isles", additionally many maps from this period show Cornwall as a separate nation, most notably those of Mercator.

Modern historians

:There were four groups of Celtic invaders of Ireland, viz., beginning with the earliest: :(1) The Cruthin (Priteni), after whom these islands were known to the Greeks as the Pretanic Islands. In early historical times they preserved their individuality best in the North of Britain, where they were known to Latin writers as "Picti". O'Rahilly, T. F. (1984). Early Irish history and mythology. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. pp. 40–2 :The first group of invaders of which we know anything were the "Bruthin" or "Priteni", a group of P-Celts, who invaded both Great Britain and Ireland, presumably from Europe, some time before the fifth century B.C. They maintained their individuality best in North Britain, where they were known as Picts to the Latin writers. It was their presence which made Greeks like Ptolemy and Pytheas refer to the British Isles as "the Pretanic Isles". Needham, C. (1963). The life of St. Patrick. Camden, NJ: The St. Patrick Fathers. :"The Brettans" appears to be an older term than Brettanike, and suggests that the earliest sources viewed Britain together with adjacent islands under this name; ... Strabo spells this with a P (Prettans)... Pliny seems to use the same terminology... "cum Brittaniae vocarentur omnes") It is quite possible that this goes back to Pytheas... Certainly it would not be unreasonable for mariners using the Western Seaway between Ireland and Britain to group all the outlying islands together with the large ones under a single term... (Roseman, C H (1984) Pytheas of Massalia: On the Ocean Text, Translation and Commentary Chicago, Illinois: Ares Publishers, Inc. p. 45) The term "British" had been used to describe the Brythonic Celts, now known as Brythons, who inhabited Brittany ("Little Britain") and most of the largest island of the archipelago, Great Britain. Ireland was inhabited by Goidelic Celts. :use of the initial P is considered to reflect the Brythonic branch of Keltic, and ... the change in spelling from Pre- to Brit- [may be] based on a misconception of Caesar's arising from his familiarity with Britanni occupying the Gaulish coast around Boulogne. (Roseman, op.cit., footnote 34, chapter IV)³

Subsequent political history

Thus at the time the name Priteni was first applied to it, the archipelago was inhabited by the P-Celts. By the time the Romans left in the 7th century they were differentiated into the Brythonic Celts (Brythons) in the lands that would become England, Cornwall, Wales and southern Scotland and the Picts in northern Scotland, while Ireland was dominated by Goidelic Celts who, as Scotti (Scots) had by then established Dalriada in western Scotland. In the following centuries Anglo-Saxons formed the kingdom of Wessex, pushing the Brythonic Celts back into Wales, Cumbria, south-west Scotland and Dumnonia later to become Kernow (or Cornwall). Angles took over Northumbria and south-east Scotland. Viking invaders formed the Danelaw in eastern England and took over Caithness, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man and north-east Ireland, forming a settlement at Dublin. The Scots amalgamated with the Picts forming a Scottish Kingdom which by the early 11th century expanded to include the area of modern Scotland and Cumbria. The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought England under Norman rule and their 1072 foray into Scotland left the first of a series of arguments as to whether the Scots accepted the suzerainty of the English kings. From then on Scottish kings were Anglo-Norman rather than Celtic. In 1171 King Henry II of England invaded Ireland, asuming the title Lord of Ireland. The Anglo-Normans settled as a ruling elite controlling much of Ireland, but over time the native Irish regained some territory and, outside the area of English authority around Dublin called the Pale, the Norman lords adopted the Irish language and customs and became known as the "Old English". In 1140 the Hebridean Islands, the Isle of Man and Antrim came under the Norse-Gael rule of the Lord of the Isles who kept a varying degree of independence until the Hebrides were forfeited to Scotland in 1493. From the early 13th century the Scots language of south east Scotland was spread throughout the Lowlands, but the Scottish Highlands remained Gaelic speaking and developed the semi-independent Scottish clan system. Wales came under English control with the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. The English Kings became Kings of Ireland as well in 1541, ruling through an Irish Parliament. Scotland was still independent despite a series of disputes and wars with England, then in 1603 King James VI of Scotland inherited the title James I of England, unifying the countries under a personal union of the crowns. While the governments of England and Scotland remained separate, King James proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine" on October 20th 1604, apparently with the political aim of creating a shared identity under his autocratic rule. Ireland was effectively being ruled as a colony of England and James expanded an existing policy of English settlers, adding Scots Presbyterians and creating the "Plantation of Ulster" at the expense of the existing Roman Catholics, both the native Irish and the "Old English". As the century progressed the Civil Wars of the Three Kingdoms brought Irish rebellion with massacres alienating Protestants from Catholics and making Irish Catholics embittered about the English, tensions further reinforced in the Jacobite war in Ireland. Scottish economic weakness against English protectionism lead to merger of the governments in the 1707 Act of Union when the official name became The Kingdom of Great Britain, with pro-Hanoverian Scots enthusiastically adopting the term "North Britain" as an alternative to "Scotland" for example "The Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons" were renamed "The Royal North British Dragoons" (later examples included the North British Magazine and the North British Railway). The Scottish Highlanders were still Gaelic speaking and were derisively called "Erse" (Irish) by the Lowlanders, but to end Jacobitism the Scottish clan system was crushed and they became fully British. A French-aided rebellion in Ireland in 1798 was defeated and Ireland was brought firmly under British government control by the 1800 Act of Union in what became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. During the 19th century famine and emigration affected the Irish and the Scottish Highlanders. Irish nationalist attempts to win independence peaked in the early 20th century with the Anglo-Irish war of independence and the 1922 separation of the Irish Free State, later becoming the Republic of Ireland. The mostly Protestant northeast continued to be part of what was now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with a Northern Ireland Assembly which is at present suspended. Inspired by the Irish movement, nationalist parties developed in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. More recently Scotland has gained Home Rule with a Scottish Parliament and Wales a degree of home administration with the Welsh Assembly, but both remain part of the unitary United Kingdom. Cornwall has not been granted any devolved power but a petition calling for a Cornish assembly has collected more than 50,000 signatures.

Problems with modern usage

Today the term British is usually used to describe people or things belonging to either Great Britain or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However the whole island of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are still commonly included in the 'British Isles', despite the fact that the greater part of Ireland has, since 1922, been independent of the United Kingdom, first as the Irish Free State and now the Republic of Ireland, and that the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not a part of the UK but crown dependencies. Many Irish people, as well as some Scottish, Welsh and Cornish nationalists, find the term British Isles proprietorial and unacceptable as being inconsistent with the modern meaning of the word British, and, as such, offensive. However, Unionists in Northern Ireland attach great importance to their 'British' identity. Other people see it as a geographical term that does not imply ownership or control by the British. Hostility to the term British Isles has often been caused by its misinterpretation; this was exemplified by an embarrassing and controversial faux pas by the then American First Lady Nancy Reagan during an Irish visit. The confusion caused by the term was also highlighted during a stop-over visit to the Republic of Ireland by then Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, when he indicated that he presumed Ireland's head of state was Queen Elizabeth II, given that she was the British Queen and his officials said that Ireland was a part of the British Isles. The term British Isles is no longer used in Irish state documents, has been abandoned in schoolbooks in the Republic of Ireland and is being phased out of textbooks⁴. Its usage is also decreasing in official British state documents, out of sensitivity to the concerns of some Irish, Scottish and Welsh people and the evolving geo-political relationships.

Alternative terms

Many have suggested replacements for the term British Isles but none has yet won universal acceptance. Sometimes, an ambiguous phrase such as "these Isles" or "the Isles" is used, thus utilising the same logic used when referring to the Persian Gulf as the "Gulf". In cases where what is being referred to is the two largest islands, the term "Great Britain and Ireland" can be used, but this risks confusion with the common term "Great Britain and Northern Ireland". The phrase "Great Britain, Ireland, and surrounding islands", is also occasionally used, but lacks brevity. In the context of the Northern Ireland peace process the term Islands of the North Atlantic (IONA), a term initially created by former Conservative Party MP Sir John Biggs-Davison, has been used as a neutral term to describe the 'British Isles', but in a wider context the term might be misunderstood as including Iceland, Greenland, the Azores and other islands. A more geographically accurate and slightly less ambiguous phrase, "North-Western Europe", is starting to find favour, especially in Ireland; however, the term has often been used before to refer to northern France, Germany and the Low Countries. The phrase "North European Archipelago" is somewhat whimsical, but even more accurate. Both of these suffer, however, from political issues associated with the word "European", particularly in the United Kingdom. The phrase "the Anglo-Celtic Isles" has also been suggested and is in some use, being both ethnically and geographically accurate and elegantly concise. The term British Islands is not a potential alternative; this is an official term used for the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, i.e. all of the isles except the Republic of Ireland.

Footnotes

#The Channel Islands are included here by convention. Some people do not consider them part of the archipelago, as they are closer to France than to Great Britain. #Translation by Roseman, op.cit. #The author also refers to related discussion in Chadwick, H.M. 1949, repr. 1974, Early Scotland Octagon Books; (November 1974), ISBN 0374913579 #The problems caused by how one refers to the isles was highlighted when the historian Norman Davies produced a book examining the history of the archipelago. The title chosen was the neutral The Isles: A History though the cover carries a picture of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland from Abraham Ortelius's 1570 map. Indeed the term British Isles does not even feature in the index of the book. The index simply refers to The Isles. Norman Davies, The Isles: A History (Palgrave/Macmillan, 1999) ISBN 033376370X

External links

- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast Coast] - The BBC explores the coast of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- [http://www.geograph.org.uk Geograph British Isles] - Creative Commons licenced, geo-located photographs of the British Isles
- [http://www.roman-britain.org Roman-Britain.Org]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/_Periods/Roman/home.html Roman Britain at LacusCurtius] (includes 3 complete books)
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/.Texts/Ptolemy/2/1
- .html The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy: Book II, Chapter 1]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/4
- .html#102 Pliny, Book 4 section 102ff.]
- [http://www.roman-britain.org/pliny.htm Pliny excerpts]
- [http://www.maphist.com/artman/uploads/04520_002.jpg Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio. - Ortelius, 1570]
- [http://www.bergbook.com/htdocs/woda/data/demo/descriptions/14983.htm Britannicarum Insularum Typus - Ortelius 1624]
- [http://www.walkingtree.com/ Mercator's Atlas] Maps of Cornwall & Wales ("Cornewallia & Wallia"), Ireland ("Irlandia"), Scotland ("Scotia") and England ("Anglia") circa 1564.
- [http://www.antiquemaps.co.uk/book/chapter18.html Early maps of the British Isles – Munster 1550 et al.]
- [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/L201040/text082.html Excerpt from Reeves edition of Life of Saint Columba.]
- [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/bede1.html#8 Excerpt from Bede in Latin]
- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html Excerpt from Bede in English translation]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Category:British Isles ko:영국 제도 ja:ブリテン諸島

8th century

Events

- The Iberian peninsula is conquered by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost eight centuries of Muslim presence there.
- Sometime this century, Beowulf is probably composed.
- Borobodur, the famous Indonesian Buddhist structure, begins construction, probably as a non-Buddhist shrine.
- Buddhist Jataka stories are translated into Syriac and Arabic as Kalilag and Damnag.
- An account of Buddha's life is translated into Greek by Saint John of Damascus, and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat.
- The Nara period begins in Japan.
- The Moravian principality and Nitrian principality arise in central Europe (see Great Moravia)
- Many Volga Bulgarians convert to Islam.
- The very first Viking raid is carried out on the abbey of Lindisfarne in northern England in 793.
- Kanem-Bornu arises north of Lake Chad.

Significant persons

- Alcuin, English monk, scholar, and teacher
- Charlemagne, king of the Franks from 771 to 814
- Charles Martel
- The Venerable Bede, English scholar
- Pippin the Younger
- Harun al-Rashid, fifth Abbasid Caliph
- Li Po, Chinese poet
- Du Fu, Chinese poet

Vikings

Etymology

Historical records

Adam of Bremen

Rune stones

Icelandic sagas

13th century

Viking ships and Viking longships

The Viking Age

The Viking invasions: a commercial war?

Decline

Modern revivals

Romanticism

Fascism

Living History

Myths about Vikings

Horned helmets

Skull cups

Uncleanliness

Famous Vikings

Books

Movies

See also:

Culture

Historians

Archaeology

Popular Culture

Bibliography

External links

Scandinavia

Greater Scandinavia (Norden)

Etymology

History

Languages

Politics

Historical political structure

Northmen

Middle-Earth

Scandinavia

Greater Scandinavia (Norden)

Etymology

History

Languages

Politics

Historical political structure

British Isles

List of the British Isles

Origin of the term British Isles

Classical geographers

Native sources

Renaissance mapmakers

Modern historians

Subsequent political history

Problems with modern usage

Alternative terms

Footnotes

Further reading

See also

External links

8th century

Events

Significant persons

Inventions,