<P> Vikings ( Old English : wicing -- `` pirate '' , Danish and Bokmål : vikinger ; Swedish and Nynorsk : vikingar ; Icelandic : víkingar , from Old Norse víkingar ) , were Norse seafarers , mainly speaking the Old Norse language , who raided and traded from their Northern European homelands across wide areas of northern , central and eastern Europe , during the late 8th to late 11th centuries . The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age . This period of Nordic military , mercantile and demographic expansion constitutes an important element in the early medieval history of Scandinavia , Estonia , the British Isles , France , Kievan Rus ' and Sicily . </P>
<P> Vikings ( Old English : wicing -- `` pirate '' , Danish and Bokmål : vikinger ; Swedish and Nynorsk : vikingar ; Icelandic : víkingar , from Old Norse víkingar ) , were Norse seafarers , mainly speaking the Old Norse language , who raided and traded from their Northern European homelands across wide areas of northern , central and eastern Europe , during the late 8th to late 11th centuries . The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age . This period of Nordic military , mercantile and demographic expansion constitutes an important element in the early medieval history of Scandinavia , Estonia , the British Isles , France , Kievan Rus ' and Sicily . </P>
who were vikings and what did they do
who were vikings and what did they do
Norse seafarers raided traded
Norse seafarers raided traded