Viking Explorers: Eric the Red & Leif Ericsson

Viking Explorers:
Eric the Red & Leif Ericsson

The Vikings were Scandinavian seafaring traders, who mainly spoke the Old Norse language, and were known for raiding and settling in many parts of northwestern Europe during the late 8th to the late 11th centuries. Vikings traveled on the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea to sea routes in the south. They used various ships for different purposes, though the longships are the most well known; these were used for warfare and exploration and designed especially for speed and agility.

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The Vikings

Vocabulary to Know

• banish – to send away from a country or place as an official punishment

• fjord – a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs

• Inuit – the native peoples who inhabit the Arctic regions of Canada, Denmark, Russia and the United States

• saga – a long and detailed story that involves the heroic events of a legendary character

The Vikings used runes as the characters in their alphabet. Each rune represents a phonetic sound and has a meaning connected with Norse mythology.

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Written Language

Multiple Choice

The Norse people lived in what is now called

• Scandinavia

• Slovakia

• Cantabria

• Slovenia

Multiple Choice

Leif Erikson was the first European explorer to sail to

• Greenland

• Norway

• Iceland

• Norway

Multiple Choice

What technology made the Vikings so successful at raiding?

• Shipbuilding technology
• Innovative cooking methods
• Advanced farming techniques
• Sophisticated pottery making

Multiple Choice

Which countries make up Scandinavia?

• Norway, Sweden, and Denmark
• Sweden, Denmark, and Germany
• Norway, Finland, and Iceland

Multiple Choice

What is Valhalla to a Viking?

• Where dead warriors go to feast in the afterlife

• A giant castle in Norway that no one has conquered

Multiple Choice

Why did Erik the Red name an island Greenland?

• It was very green with grass and trees.

• He wanted to be ironic.

• He wanted to attract settlers to come live there

Multiple Choice

Which statement best describes what the Vikings did in Iceland?

• The Vikings never set foot in Iceland
• The Vikings only used Iceland as a temporary stopover
• The Vikings primarily used Iceland for farming
• The Vikings settled in Iceland and established communities.

Multiple Choice

What is the main reason that the Vikings stopped raiding in Europe?

• They ran out of timber to build their ships and couldn't control the seas.

• 
  They had already conquered all of Europe.

• 
  They were defeated by King Alfred the Great of England.

• 
  They converted to Christianity and didn't want to raid other Christians.

Vikings have captivated people’s imagination for hundreds of years. They have been vilified and romanticized. Were they “barbarians” or traders and explorers?

Viking Settlement Areas

​Orange lines represent approximate routes of the Vikings; light green shading represents Viking settlement areas; and numbers are dates of Viking contact with that region

Open Ended

Look at the map of Vikings approximate routes of travel and settlements. What does this tell us about them?