Read the rest of the information to find out more about the Vikings.

The life of the Viking varied depending on the country he came from. In Norway, they did not have much land for growing crops and so raised more livestock than the other countries. Also, their land stretched right up to the Arctic Circle and beyond, which greatly reduced the growing season. These Norwegian Vikings were the ones who raided and then colonised the Shetland Isles, the West Coast of Scotland, Fairisle, Iceland, Greenland and Canada.
The Vikings from Sweden travelled eastwards into Russian and down to the Black Sea. The mainly traded furs along these routes, although once again many settled there and colonised the trade routes.
In England, when we think of Vikings, we think of the ones from Denmark. Denmark itself was larger than it is nowadays, its border being further south than now and also owning a large chunk of land in Norway and Sweden.
Recent DNA sampling has shown that there are descendants of the Norwegian Vikings living in the Shetland Isles, some Western Scottish areas and from the area around Dublin. Also the parliaments of the Isle of Man and in Iceland are still run in the same way as the things of the Vikings.
Descendants of the Danish Vikings were more difficult to trace in Britain, as the Danish Viking DNA was very similar to the Saxons who had invaded Britain before the Vikings arrived and was difficult to trace.
However there are still many place names in Britain that originate from the Viking language, that allow us to see where they settled.

Being a very successful race of people, they raised large families and needed more food and space for farms than they had. That was the main reason for raiding other lands, but when many of their own people were living in the colonised countries, trading became the way of life instead.
The Vikings could travel long distances because of their longships. These were much bigger vessels than were being built in other countries at the time, and could carry large numbers of men. They built two different kinds of ship. One type was the sea going vessel that travelled across the Atlantic, and the other, a smaller, shallower fighting ship that could travel inland great distances on the rivers, taking the natives by surprise.
Wessex was the last kingdom left under Anglo Saxon rule and in 871 the Vikings attacked it and King Ethelred I was killed. It appeared that the Vikings would take over completely, but Ethelred’s successor, Alfred, although beaten once, fought back the following spring and managed to gain a truce with Guthrum the Viking. In 878 AD the treaty of Wedmore was agreed between them. In it they divided England up between them, Guthrum taking mainly the East, from Northumbria to Essex, and called it the Danelaw, and Alfred taking Wales, Mercia and Wessex. Alfred built great forts over his kingdom to keep the peace.
There was also a strong presence of Vikings in Dublin who traded with the Danelaw Vikings. They introduced their own language and renamed many of the towns and villages.