Vikings (Dens an Bokmål: vikinger; Swadish an Nynorsk: vikingar; Icelandic: víkingar), frae Auld Norse víkingr, war Nordic seafarers, mainly speakin the Auld Norse leid, wha raidit an tradit frae thair Northren European hamelands atort wide auries o northren, central an eastren Europe, during the late 8t tae late 11t centuries. The term is an aa commonly extendit in modren Scots an other vernaculars tae the indwallers o Viking hame commonties during whit haes acome kent as the Viking Age. This period o Nordic militar, mercantile an demografic expansion constitutes an important element in the early medieval history o Scandinavie, Estonie, the Breetish Isles, France, Kievan Rus' an Sicily.
Facilitatit bi advanced seafarin skills, an chairacterised bi the langship, Viking activities at times an aa extendit intae the Mediterranean littoral, North Africae, the Middle East an Central Asie. Follaein extendit phases o (primarily sea- or river-borne) sploration, expansion an settlement, Viking (Norse) commonties an polities war established in diverse auries o north-wastren Europe, European Roushie, the North Atlantic islands an as far as the north-eastren coast o North Americae. This period o expansion witnessed the wider dissemination o Norse cultur, while simultaneously introducin strang foreign cultural influences intae Scandinavie itsel, wi profoond developmental implications in baith directions.
Popular, modren conceptions o the Vikings—the term frequently applied casually tae thair modren stryndants an the indwallers o modren Scandinavie—eften strangly differ frae the complex pictur that emerges frae airchaeology an historical soorces. A romanticised pictur o Vikings as noble savages began tae emerge in the 18t century; this developed an acame widely propagatit during the 19t-century Viking revival. Perceived views o the Vikings as alternatively violent, piratical heathens or as intrepid adventurers awe much tae conflictin varieties o the modren Viking meeth that haed taken shape bi the early 20t century. Current popular representations o the Vikings are teepically based on cultural clichés an stereotypes, complicatin modren appreciation o the Viking legacy.