The Vikings

So upon request by a friend of mine who I used to teach with, I am blogging about Vikings. Her fifth grade class is studying explorers, in particular Lief Erickson. As exploring is the theme of this trip, I thought I would begin this blog focusing on those famous Norwegian Explorers throughout the ages from the Vikings to the Kon-tikki…and I might add in a few of my own adventures as the year goes on.

Vikings:
There is an ancient Viking saying that goes something like this:

He is truly wise
Who’s travelled far
And know the ways of the world.

He who has travelled
Can tell what spirit
Governs the men he meets.

With that in mind, the Vikings travelled far and wide. They travelled for a lot of different reasons, the most popular being to conquer other lands. But they also travelled to trade their farm products with other towns and to find new land to farm.

The Vikings were known to be harsh, warriors, but excellent seamen. When Mrs. Miller asked me to visit the Viking Museum, or Vikingskipshuset, I was surprised at how small the ships were. However, as I thought about it more I realized that this was over 1,100 years ago (around 800 AD). So in that time these ships were quiet large and incredibly sturdy. Since they didn’t have motors then, they relied on sails and oarsmen. The largest ship, the Gokstad, (in the picture below) had room for 32 oarsmen. They did not have seats so they would sit on their own chests that they brought along to carry their clothing and personal items.

The majority of what we know about the Vikings is from their burial sites. They believed in an afterlife and thus they believed that when people died they needed to have food, transportation, gold, etc. with them so that they can live comfortably in the afterlife. Each of the three boats I have pictures of here were originally Viking ships and then eventually they were used to bury important people.

The next ship, Osbergship, is from 815 AD. It had room for 30 oarsmen. It is not as sturdy as the Gokstad, so historians believe it was probably a pleasure ship for short journeys and smooth water.

The last photo is of the Tune Ship. This ship was found in the worst shape and historians were unable to determine its exact function.

The burial sites also provided historians with a bunch of other information about the time period that the Vikings lived in. For example, the found bits of clothing and shoes.

The most beautiful aspect of the Viking paraphernalia is the intricate carvings on their carts, eating utensils, and ship ballasts.

So here are some additional facts about Vikings that might be interesting:

• The Viking men were some of the first people who developed the art and craft of knitting.
• Some English words we got from the Vikings: freckles, scabs, scream, egg, dirty, and rotten.
• Vikings ate all of the following: goose, seal, boar, moose, walrus, polar bear, seagull, horse, and wale. They also ate things like bread and cheese.
• The song London Bridge is Falling Down is about a Viking attack
• Viking clothes didn’t have buttons and their houses didn’t have windows.
• Slaves, or thrall, were often named for their physical features. For example a female slave might be named “fat thighs.” Fierce Viking warriors were also named for physical features, like Kon Smelly-Feet, Rudolph the Red-Nose, and Ragnar Hairy Breeches.
• Viking women could be married at the age of 12 but could divorce her husband whenever she wanted. One Viking woman divorced her husband for showing too much bare chest.

I will leave the Viking portion of this blog with another one of their sayings:

The traveler must
Train his wits.
All is less at home.

He who knows little
Is a laughing-stock
Amongst men of the world.

Polarship Fram

Polar Explorers:
Near the Viking Museum was the Polarship Fram Museum. This museum is dedicated the polarship Fram, which was sailed by Roald Amundsen. Amundsen set sail to be the first person to reach the North Pole. However, on his way he heard that someone had Robert Peary already reached the North Pole, so Amundsen changed his course and headed to the South Pole. He was the first person who reached the South ole in 1910. The ship is built to withstand crushing ice. The designer used an egg as it’s inspiration. The museum allows you to climb into the ship and see what the quarters looked like:



This is me behind the wheel of the polarship Fram!


Amundsen eventually died in the arctic region in an attempt to rescue another exploration. For more information about his South Pole expedition you might want to read the book Ice Story: Shackleton's Lost Expedition by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel.

Kon Tikki

Kon-Tikki:
More recent explorers from this area include Thor Heyerdahl, who in 1947 sailed a raft made of balsawood, the Kon Tikki, from Morocco to Barbados.


Then in 1970 sailed across the Atlantic in a boat made of papyrus, the Ra II. This explorer died in 2002, but is known for his quirky scientific experiments. Heyerdahl sailed these routes to prove to the scientific community that historically it is possible that cultures could have interacted earlier than current belief.

An interesting fact about Heyerdahl: He and his wife decided to be dropped off on a deserted island with nothing but the bare essentials. They wanted to live off the land. They scavenged for berries and mangos, drank water from fresh water springs, and built their own home out of sticks and leaves from local trees. They ended up having to be rescued from the island as the native people threatened to kill them.

Borders? I have never seen one.
But I heard the exist in the minds of some people.
-Thor Heyerdahl

To learn more about Thor Heyerdale check out:

• Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raftby Thor Heyerdahl which is about his adventure travelling across the Pacific Ocean on a raft. There is a movie of this as well!
• Green Was the Earth on the Seventh Day: Memories and Journeys of a Lifetime by Thor Heyerdahl which is about his adventure with his wife trying to live off the land on a deserted island (he and his wife eventually have to be rescued because the native people of the island were threatening to kill them).