Comments by "Halfdan Ingolfsson" (@Halli50) on "Discovery Future" channel.

  1. The concept "Viking" is a job description, not an ethnicity. In modern times we would call them Raiders, Pirates or Pillagers. The vast majority of Northmen (Norse, Danes, Swedes, Icelanders) were traders and eventually settlers that assimilate into the cultures they settled in - while still leaving their cultural marks on said cultures. In the Sagas, the concept of "að leggjast í víking" literally meant "to commit to go viking", i.e.go raiding. The Vikings were the brutal bits of Nordic society that would be called "criminal gangs" today. They usually brought back a stolen loot and, one way or another, this kind of behaviour became normalized. In hindsight, the Viking age is a blemish on us, the Nordic nations.
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