Austrveg: The Viking Silk Road

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In the mid-20th century, archaeologists discovered a figure of the Buddha in the site at Helgö, an old viking village. Dating back to the 6th century, the Buddha was made in the Swat Valley in modern day Pakistan, and is believed to have been brought to Scandinavia along an ancient trade route, called, "Austrveg".
Image sources:
Av Holger.Ellgaard - Eget arbete, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Av Berig - Eget arbete, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Av Berig - Eget arbete, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Viksbåten - by Gunnel Illonen/Sjöhistoriska museet: digitaltmuseum.se/02101597632...
Av I, Efarestv, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
The finished replica Lee's Island Log boat. Photo Credit: Brian MacDomhnaill
bau.nu/Historisk%20illustrati...
By Zefram - Self-photographed, CC BY 2.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Sources:
Ship and society - Gunilla Larsson
The Viking World - Stefan Brink
Islam and Scandinavia during the Viking Age - Egil Mikkelsen
old.stockholmslansmuseum.se/up...
www.erikskulle.se/vikboat.php
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:46 The Varjags
6:30 The boats they used
11:59 The route
16:00 Trade with the Caliphate
19:32 Aggression
13:17 Outro
#vikings #history #vikingage

[@ericcloud1023]

Lmao, I love the Morrowind background music. Think I'm going to make a Nord merchant/berserker that'll be a fun build

[@bidenhasdementia8657]

Oblivion is easily one of my top 10 games of all time, skyrim was a major letdown. I've been tempted for sometime to get a xbox copy of morrowind, I've never heard anything but good things about it

[@chrisnewbury3793]

@@bidenhasdementia8657 well I personally love all three games and Morrowind was the one that started my journey. The only really good way to play it these days though, is on a PC using OpenMW. It's amazingly smooth and I played for dozens of hours with zero crashes, which is a rare thing for a TES game.

[@theamazingfuzzlord]

Ooooh you’re so right

[@KibyNykraft]

@@bidenhasdementia8657 Better though to learn history and scientific subjects than just playing games. Some gameplay now and then is of course OK, but such things mislead people too much away from more important things in life.

[@RedSaint83]

@@bidenhasdementia8657 There was quite the jump from Morrowind to Oblivion, so it might be a bit of a culture shock. I remember being disappointed by Oblivion because the world seemed so empty, but the trade off is the voice acting, where there is very little in Morrowind. But(!) there are mods in development that might voice all of Morrowind in the near future.

[@jimbombadill]

Väldigt bra sammanfattat. Gillar de tydliga kartorna och lågmälda musiken.

[@xorebro]

bilderna var alla fantastiska konstverk också

[@goldentoaster9302]

I already knew there were Vikings sailing on the Volga river during the Viking age, but its completely shocking that people made that journey in the Neolithic era.

[@GayTruckDriver]

Religious Journey i would think, crazy to think about

[@christopherellis2663]

Why not?

[@KibyNykraft]

Nothing shocking about that unless you are stuck in the christian /moslim worldviews based only on a very young world.

[@goldentoaster9302]

@@KibyNykraft I'm not religious, that's also kinda rude.

[@itzikashemtov6045]

@@goldentoaster9302 People forget that many civilizations like Greeks/Hebrews/Egyptians had massive castles and fortresses while Europe was still living in mud huts.

[@balticempire7244]

Pretty funny that I get called both a Slavic revisionist and an anti-slavic German supremacist.

[@mik823]

I have checked out your sources but unfortunately there is nothing in these books that confirm your historical claims about the the Slavs or Vikings There's dozens of these videos getting around on KZbin that propagate this false narrative.

[@mik823]

You are not a revisionist, you are just a flatout liar.

[@balticempire7244]

please tell me what historical claims about the Slavs or Vikings these are

[@mik823]

@@balticempire7244 the Kievan Rus.

[@balticempire7244]

The Viking Age was the period when the Scandinavians made themselves known, or rather notorious. From around 800 to around 1050 Scandinavians stirred up northern Europe in a way they had never done before or since. Norwegians in particular controlled and colonised the whole of the North Atlantic, from Norway, to the Faroes, Iceland, Shetland, the Scottish islands, parts of Ireland, Greenland and all the way to the eastern brim of North America. Especially Danes, but also Norwegians and Swedes, ravaged and had an impact on the political and social development of England and parts of France. Swedes travelled eastward, traded along the Russian rivers, and down to the Byzantine and Islamic world. They established in Kiev, under the name of Rus’, a new policy, the embryo of Russia. /Page 4 in The Viking World by Stefan Brink, one of my listed sources. You can find this text online. You can search Rus in this book to find statements which I based the video script on. In this book you also find the potential meanings behind Rus, Varjag, and the origins of the Viking traders.

[@znail4675]

Something I noticed that this rather condensed video glossed over was why Sweden had even more water travel back in that time, it's because the Scandinavian peninsula is rising due to having been released from the weight of the ice from the Ice Age. It's still rising today and ruins of old forts that used to be located at a beach are now found pretty high up on hills.

[@adamjacksonmedia]

This is unbelievably great on every level. My goodness KZbin content is becoming a hell of an art form.

[@Roger-ws8rj]

Great content like this has been coming out for years on KZbin, I don't even watch regular TV at all anymore

[@mik823]

There's only one problem? It's all BS....

[@louise_rose]

The Buddha statuette from Helgö is a famous object of Viking age archaeology in Sweden, and one of the most striking instances of how far the trade networks of the Dark Ages were actually spun.

[@mik823]

@@louise_rose there's only one problem; there's no evidence that the Vikings got it themselves from India? If you read the references ( research data )its all just a hypothesis by a man called beachcombing. The Buddha statue was more likely initially traded by the Russians in the black sea region and made it's way up into Sweden. Amber was the currency of the Slavs which became the main form of currency at that time which to this day is highly valued and used in slavic jewelry.

[@louise_rose]

@@mik823 Well, not from India, rather it's from Central Asia and this has been known for half a century

[@johanbertilsson2213]

Yes the Austerveg/Österled was probably a part of the silk road. During the early moslem conquests of Persia and the eastern mediterrane area the traditional ways of the silkroad was closed. In the 600 and 700 centuries Björkö, Birka, Hedeby and Gotland stood up as trading centers, while the Byzantine empire declined. From the northern trading centers thd proucts from the far east spread westward. One thesis of the declind of the northern trade routes and the vikings themselves was the first crusade who reopened the southern part of the silk road. Wich lead the northern tradesmen to become plunderers like their earlier western brethren. Tackar för denns intressanta video.

[@mrbaab5932]

Don't see how it could be called crusade if the Vikings were mainly pagan and the Pope in Rome did not order it. Also the Khazars were mainly pagans and Jews while the Vikings were mainly pagan with some Christians.

[@KibyNykraft]

"Which" = som, vilka. "Witch" = shamankvinna, trollkärring.

[@martinjohnsson1525]

​@@mrbaab5932What are you on about exactly?

[@mahbriggs]

​​@@mrbaab5932 The Crusade he referred to was the Christian Crusade which did indeed reopen the Southern trade routes to China. He didn't claim or imply that it was a Scandinavian crusade! The idea that the resulting economic depression from the loss of the trade routes resulted in the Scandinavians to go "Viking" is not something I have read about, but as a contributing factor, it makes sense! As does the better climatic conditions resulting in a population boom that encouraged restless young men to seek their fortune!

[@Deailon]

The "j" in Slavic languages is most commonly transcribed into English as "y", as the sound is closer. So no "staraja", but "staraya", and (arguably) not "Varjags" but "Varyags" or even "Variaghs" - and in Old Church Slavonic "varyazhe"/"varyagi" - which is, probably not accidentally, much closer to the Greek "Βάραγγοι" -"Varangoi" (it is even possible, that digamma was sometimes read as double g by non-native speakers, but it is very hard to pronounce it with Greek phonetics) and possible Scandinavian etymology. In modern Russian it is "Varyaghi", in Ukrainian "Varyahy" and in Polish "Varegovie". But mostly: "staraya": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staraya_Ladoga

[@jornstache2793]

Yes. And: 1) The "ch" in 'Pechenegs' is really an English "ch" like in 'church', not a Slavic/German "ch" (English "kh"). 2) "Rus" has to be pronounced "Ruce" (Chaucer wrote it this way) like in "Bruce". But anyway, the film was very interesting, especially the parts about the different ways how the portage was actually done and that the Austrveg went directly from the Neva and Ladoga to the Volga and that it was so old. That was news to me.

[@Deailon]

@@jornstache2793 I fully agree, only concentrated on the most important wards for me :) Cheers!

[@KibyNykraft]

@@jornstache2793 Since Ro and ru usually came from Rao/rau, it became logical that in russian they say a middlething of "ra" and "ro" in Rossiya/Rassiya (Russia) (that vowel does exist in american english like in how they say "rock")

[@KibyNykraft]

In norwegian we say "væring" to a dweller of a small town along the coast, but only if farther north than Bergen city (roughly). The æ is a broad a. "Vær"= coastal village. A humorous rhyme from traditional songs is "Det dærre været i værre' fra Vårherre kan'kje bli verre enn det hærre". = "That weather (været) in the village (værre') from Our Lord can't get worse (verre) than this one here".

[@Qvartc]

Vikings that sailed to Miklagard served as guards to the East Roman Emperors, called Væringr. Even the later norwegian king Harald Hardråde (hard ruler) Served in the Væring gard. Supposed origin...

[@user-jr8kp4vn1j]

Im really glad I found your channel, it's been a great resource to me. I'm American, but ethnically Swedish, and I have a deep desire to learn as much as I can about my ancestors, and your channel has taught me the most, so thanks you, and keep up the good work brother!

[@sandrabrowne2350]

My father who worked in the printing industry in Dublin coincidentally had a hard back book written in seems for pure academic from what i read many years ago still in family home dad 93 years of age the title being " The Viking Achievement " again very scholastic analysis cannot remember authors but seemed to be in depth work on this particular era.

[@Artur_M.]

I'm certainly looking forward to further adventures in Miklagard!

[@1992zorro]

Yes please do, so much history that needs be highlighted more from this period of majestic sea lovers

[@GermanConquistador08]

What an amazing video! I saw the Premiere and wanted such more to support it. I love Gold and Gunpowder, and this Baltic Empire channel is a real hidden gem. The Silk Road has always kind of taken away from the History of other trade routes - the amber, gold, hemp, tar and all kinds of things from the Baltic was absolutely an important part of medieval trade. I wish the Baltic States got more attention, they are fascinating little countries who punch very far above their weight. Thanks for the video!

[@JaMeshuggah]

What he said ^

[@SamtheIrishexan]

If they taught it all together they would have to admit civilization was technically interconnected long before they teach in school

[@martinseptimryden7272]

well said

[@davidcpugh8743]

The beautiful very shallow draft vessel in the Norwegian Skepps museum. Clearly meant for shallow draft of rivers. Also good for portages. Not at all the same boats built for North Sea. A case of small shallow models and larger for war parties. Case of all of the above.

[@chrisnewbury3793]

Love the music. I spent so many hours exploring to that soundtrack.

[@fourshore502]

Hey great video. One small detail I want to mention. Roden would originally have been called Rothen, before sweden got rid of the th-sound. Th is similar to S. Hence Rosen, Roslagen, Ros. There is actually an old medieval song that mentions Rosen. You can find it here on youtube it is called Vänner och Fränder performed by Garmarna.

[@ekesandras1481]

In German it is "rudern" = to row

[@KibyNykraft]

TH from the elder futhark (norse runic alphabet) and a middlething between TH and D both exists in icelandic, but with separate letters not used in swedish or english. The two forms of it came to be in the newer futhark. AU was originally pronounced like a short ao, the sound still used in Malmö of Sweden and in Bryne of Norway (they say yaou for ya, which means yes, in Norway spelled "ja"). Later in some cases it became "øu"/öu", the ö + think about a narrow u like in pool in english said with an aristocratic Cockney accent, where the ø/ö = like in english bird or curve, as well as in german, turkish, hungarian, norwegian, finnish, icelandic where there are many words with the sound there usually spelled as ö or ø. In some cases it also turned into just ö and into just å (like in english aw or o in fork)

[@KibyNykraft]

(æ on the other hand as a broad a, came from æou and æy, a sound widely used in old Greece for example.. The gothic/guta version of Eirik, later Eric/Eric/Aymeric, was Æymeriks).. In a few cases the æ became instead ö in sound, like in some icelandic dialects, like in french boeuf where o and e are handwritten as intervowen/as one letter almost resembling the æ symbol)

[@letsdothis9063]

This channel needs to blow up!

[@loquat44-40]

I just subscribed.

[@ericcleesak8074]

They were also in Croatia - 13 swords have been found around Vrlika , as well as an inscription in Bribirska Glavica

[@biigbadmuthuhmuthuh4630]

The light ships or boats they used are almost identical to kirkkovene or kyrkbåt that are used even today. Here in Finland we have yearly kyrkbåt race called "sulkavan soutu". Its a really big sports event!

[@pistolen87]

I haven't seen much content on YT focusing on vikings eastern explorations, so this channel really fills a void. Subscribed!

[@raphlvlogs271]

trade between different populations in history was often much more common than conflicts and international trade has been playing a huge rule in the rise of various civilisations since the bronze age

[@chrisnewbury3793]

In my opinion it's one of the biggest underestimations by historians and anthropologists, especially when it comes to sailing. Now they're finding evidence of sailing in the Mediterranean almost one hundred thousand years ago, according to current dating techniques, which I don't necessarily trust. But it's obvious that sailing is a very ancient art.

[@loquat44-40]

@@chrisnewbury3793 Some think that the Neanderthals may have used water craft to reach some islands. There brain cases were often bigger than those many modern humans, especially if we go by their shorter heights.

[@loquat44-40]

@@chrisnewbury3793 It is now accepted the americas must have been population by people sailing the western coasts of the americas.

[@chrisnewbury3793]

@@loquat44-40 yes I've read that. Though they still refuse to acknowledge it happened all over The Atlantic Coast as well...until Colombus sailed the ocean blue :/

[@MrGunnar69]

If goods don't cross borders, soldiers will. It is probably easier to get funding if you research war instead of trade.

[@tonynorris9139]

When one studies a selection of local or national histories, it is like a jig saw manifesting itself as pieces join together. After 1500 years, it becomes clear how European society and culture became such a fascinating mix.

[@paulmilligan2657]

Great video, loads of information in a short time 🔥

[@notheotherklaus]

From what I can tell, this has good scientific level.

[@thomasdoubting2730]

Right before the mention of "wheels" 11:25 I taught to my self: --What if the shields on the sides actually was wheels⁉️

[@johndough1703]

You may have invented the tank

[@thomasdoubting2730]

@@johndough1703 Sounds about right for me, I "invented" the accordion gun for a tabletop RPG, 250 years after Colt Sr did it IRL. 😅

[@smonline631]

we studied in history class that boats had detachable wheels indeed. (for the 'road from variags to greeks')

[@siggevibes]

Great channel! I'm happy that I have found it, I can tell that you have put in some great work on your interesting videos.

[@ronyeahwiggie729]

Just found the channel and this was a superb introduction to it!

[@nikobellic570]

Love the relaxing tone, delivery and charming accent!

[@portastsic]

This was a great video. Thank you!

[@haraldsigurdsson1232]

Fantastic video!👍. 👋 from Norway

[@valverdeout2972]

Nice video bro. Im so excited for the Miklagard video! Hope you bring up the Varangian Guard. If not please do another video about that :)

[@aaron6178]

Wonderful work!

[@arlen_95]

Love your videos as always! 

[@stenhard61.46.1]

There is also another meaning for 'Austrveg'. In the poetic edda it is used as a kenning for going raiding (vikingr). "Þórr kom eigi, þvi at hann var í austrvegi". Thor didn't come because he was on the way east (ie: he was away raiding). Quote from Lokasenna.

[@TheSwedishMeatball]

Incredibly well explained! Lovely to have someone break it down into great detail with all relevant information along with no over the top editing. Please keep this concept when making future videos (maps, low profile music etc.) Looking forward to more. Greetings from a Swede in Malta!

[@ElijsDima]

This is very interesting.. the way you said "Vaeringi" (as the self-pronounced version of Varingians), is exactly the way that the word "Vergi" is pronounced in Latvian. "Vergi" literal meaning is "slaves" (singular: "vergs"). This could be a hint towards an old slave trade association that took place around that route.

[@kizilkedi8604]

Vergi means tax in Turkish. I wonder if these could be related.

[@ew-uy6cs]

Slavers maybe? Varjags meant slavers?

[@naturbursche5540]

Varg means lawless in Old Norse.

[@ew-uy6cs]

@@jailedtwice735 During the Russian raids during the 18-century thousands of Swedes were enslaved when Sweden had officially banned slavery 13 century and never enslaved Russians during the early modern era. While the barbaric rule of the Tsar never abolished slavery until the 19 century.

[@ew-uy6cs]

@@jailedtwice735Baltic pirates enslaved Olof Tryggvason. So yes baltic peoples frequently enslaved Scandinavians. The raids on Sweden and Denmark was the official reason for the Nordic crusades.

[@hirannes2217]

This was very entertaining and interesting. Thanks!

[@samitheman9783]

Utterly fascinating. Subscribed, and looking forward to more!

[@johndough1703]

Extremely informative content. Keep it up. 👍

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

Using Morrowind music in video about nordic people. Ballsy! I approve!

[@SarahGreen523]

I really appreciate and enjoy your presentations. I always learn new and valuable information. Very well researched with great illustrations used. Thank you!

[@janetmackinnon3411]

I came across this by hasard. Looking forward to exploring this channel further.

[@thomasdodd2548]

Studied this in my third year at uni. Fascinating stuff. Love the Channel keep up the good work!

[@katosigmarsrensen2343]

Fantastic video!

[@geckoman1011]

This channel does not disappoint. It's amazing how far these people would go.

[@LarsOfMars.]

Excellent video, very informative. Subscribed.

[@seandawson2335]

Very good sir. Keep it up!

[@Jez.Von.Franco]

Thanks for sharing, very interesting vid 👍

[@rickme2005]

Impressive work!

[@neil03051957]

Very detailed, thanks

[@zooziz5724]

What a beautiful presentation. Granted I'm only 6mins in and I've noticed your pinned comment so it might change, but as it stands now it's brilliant. The visuals matched with historical locations and time periods, condensed into perfectly digestible pieces of information and if anyone wants to dive deeper it's all there for them to do so too while still remaining simple. It reminds me of older KZbin before every channel dropped into their comfort zone and almost robotic format. Great job!

[@feldgeist2637]

damn, too early - thought it's been already uploaded interesting thumbnail, showing the horribly long road to the Caspian Sea or in other words several months of traveling across mosquito habitats

[@smonline631]

it might have been too cold for moskitos. in caspian sea you would need lots of fresh water.. not easy to get

[@feldgeist2637]

@@smonline631 I doubt it don't know about every part of Russia but I know that in the almost arctic region, which is bitter cold during the winter season, you'll literally breath mosquitos in the summer if you don't cover your mouth .......and there you often don't find large slow flowing river systems and extensive swamp areas bet on the Don or Volga the little vampires will try to suck you dry as soon as it gets warmer

[@terryhughes7349]

Excellent documentary. A lot of information i did not know about.

[@SSB_Its_Me_SB]

Awesome video!

[@1kenneth1985]

Fascinating . Thank you !

[@KapteinFruit]

Vepsians made me think that maybe the word wasp or veps stem from it. You know, the damn wasps always take and take. Whether its a milkshake or a steak. Know what Im saying? They are tolling the vikings like wasps "toll" your food. Makes sense to me lol

[@maxt-pi5ky]

Excellent video.

[@chrisnewbury3793]

"The Oera Linda" is very pertinent to the subject. One very interesting passage in the book explains that a natural straight used to exist from the Mediterranean into the Red Sea. This would have opened the trade route up to all of Southern Asia. According to the text, it collapsed with the earthquake of 1600bc that accompanied the eruption of Thera. Once that straight was closed, trade colonies in the East were cut off from their Mediterranean route, which would have been a major catastrophe for a maritime trading culture.

[@sheepdog1102]

Great video 😊

[@carlloeber]

Wow, what a fantastic history, so detailed .. It's the best out there.. Thank you mucho..

[@oisinoceallaigh1671]

fantastic video I'm not even half way through and I'm very impressed by the way you've explained viking age Sweden it's something that was always glossed over in other things I've seen

[@user-ju8lp6vx8u]

Russian Primary Chronicle explicitly states that the Rus tribe was neither Normans nor Swedes. It was another varangian tribe altogether.

[@stefanospairani8485]

Arguments highly unusual to hear on Southern Europe. Thanks for Sharing

[@christinec7892]

My grandmothers family is Lithuanian/Polish/Swedish/Danish so I found this so interesting, thank you.

[@curiouscatlabincgetsworrie7755]

What? I had no idea about most of it! Super interesting and well organized so it was easy to follow along. Yet my memory isn't what it used to be so I'll watch and listen again hehe. Grymt jobbat! Sådana historielärare skulle man haft. Då hade jag haft andra betyg!!! :D

[@markhughes7927]

Reminds of the Canadian ‘voyageurs’ who shouldered their light boats in land bridges between waterways in recent history. Brilliant video - very good to see the symbols for the various groups - and finally learn how the Russians began as Norse but became Slavicised.

[@user-zp7jp1vk2i]

those boats weren't so light. there's one of the largest in the Ottawa Natural History Museum!!

[@KapteinFruit]

History is interesting. There are reasons to why people from one part of the world dislike another. We are too touchy feely these days.

[@deleeson]

Very interesting, good video.

[@fdshands2663]

“Are you here as a pilgrim?” John asked. “No, no. Not really, anyway. No, I am a lecturer at the University of Delhi. History Department. I’m here at the university nearby for a study I am doing on the Arab world’s interest in India during what you call medieval times. One scholar in particular I am researching is Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, late tenth century, who was actually from present-day Uzbekistan and lived in Afghanistan, but was a most important traveler in India, the founder of Indology one could even say, and an important link between Indian science and the golden years of Arabic science.” “You are Muslim?” “No,” he said with a laugh, “wrong again. No, I am Hindu, and one day I will come here to Varanasi, for my departure from this earth. But just now it is the Arab-Indian connection that fascinates me, and has brought me here. And you are from Northern Europe, I would guess from your blond hair and your English?” “Swedish,” said John. “Ah, a Viking! You know, I have come across another Arab, from Baghdad, Ahmad ibn Fadlan was his name, who has apparently provided us with one of the few eye-witness accounts of a Viking ship burial, from the early tenth century. Is that not remarkable?” “I have certainly never heard of him.” “It is an interesting account, especially in the context of you and me here in Varanasi. In his account, he tells how a Viking chieftain died whilst on an expedition eastward, to the place where ibn Fadlan was religious and legal adviser to the ambassadorial mission from Baghdad to the Bulgar people. One of the chieftain’s female servants volunteered - according to ibn Fadlan - to follow him into the afterlife, as was the tradition. After preparations, his ship is brought on land, he is installed in it with her, and the two are cremated. He goes into much detail, with much fornication with the young woman, by the way, but that is the gist of it.” “And the connection is the cremations here in Varanasi?” “Yes, but not only. There is something, or someone, known as a sati here in India, named after Sati, Lord Shiva’s first wife.” “I have heard her story,” said John, thinking of the mysterious young woman who had appeared, then vanished, at the Elephanta cave temple. “Ah so you know that she committed suicide by self-immolation. This developed into a…tradition, here in India. On the death of a husband, the wife would join him on the funeral pyre. A most horrible thing. Outlawed many times it was, under successive rulers and in different regions. Yet it would keep coming back. I think the last known incident occurred just thirteen or so years ago in Rajasthan, not far west of here. A young 18 year old widow. The laws now are quite strict, following that event. And now thanks to an Indian scholar studying medieval Arab interest in his country, a Swede traveling in India, a descendant of the Vikings, has learned of a not dissimilar practice among his own ancestors,” he concluded with a smile. John remained silent, thinking of the woman he had just seen, whose intentions as she ran towards the pyre he would never know.” From Frame 39 by Rick Shands

[@thethinredline4714]

he was Iranian

[@bidenhasdementia8657]

The possibility of this trade route having neolithic origins is interesting to me. I think the traditional academic view of the "rise of civilizations" is outdated.

[@chrisnewbury3793]

Of course it is. To those of us who have read heretical works like "The Oera Linda", none of this is a surprise.

[@varalderfreyr8438]

@@chrisnewbury3793 The Bock saga makes sense of the Volga trade route as well, with proto-finns travelling to India.

[@jakkeledin4645]

There where stone age road between Black Sea and Ice Sea. Many items has found. It look that nobody go whole road for himself. I don't think that Same people are sailors ( there have been talk about it). I think that they are inland peoples just like Finns. But there are Courlansers who was the original vikings. It sad that Sweden, Norway, Denmark stole that propagand for them.😢 Is It possible that Courlansers has started that sailors living much much earlier than we taught????

[@bidenhasdementia8657]

@@jakkeledin4645 I think all around the globe seafaring was far more common far earlier than we would be made to believe. Ive always been interested in the cultural, religious, or societal reasons for people to explore and expand. From the Polynesians to the indoeuropean expansion. It's something not looked into enough

[@rickrandom6734]

@@varalderfreyr8438 I am afraid Bock saga does not have backing of any evidence to prove it to be nothing else than Ior Bocks work of fiction.

[@madman6962]

You have no idea how much your music choice improved this watching experience for me. You chose Soule's absolute best for this. His Solstheim tracks for Dragonborn hold a special place in my heart. It was so pleasant to learn something new with music that lovely playing in the background.

[@balticempire7244]

A lot of viewers notice the Morrowind tracks but I think youre the first to notice that its actually Solstheim, which includes old MW tracks. It invokes the right sense of adventure and mystery which I want in these videos

[@madman6962]

@@balticempire7244 i honestly wish he composed more original tracks for solstheim. his morrowind work is great too but he was absolutely at the top of his game when the dragonborn dlc came around. it's a really unique blend of the style of his skyrim tracks and the style of his morrowind tracks. just his absolute best compositions. shit's so beautiful it could bring a tear to my eye. it's great music choice on your part, i can imagine sailing the rivers of the east with that music playing in my head, experiencing all the sights and sounds and smells.

[@larsrons7937]

@madman6962 - can you gove a time stamp for this Solstheim track? I would be very pleased to hear that track. I never got to start on the Dragonborn expansion but do have it installed.

[@larsrons7937]

@@balticempire7244 - "Adventure and mystery" is exactly what I feel when listening to many of those Morrowind tracks. 7:40 was on eof my favorites. Playing the game I sometimes ventured to wander in open areas where the game would typically chose these tracks, just to listen to and enjoy them. They fit your video very well. (I was about to mention this in the top pinned post, but then read the toxic nationalism, you were attacked by. I believe you chose the right time to disengage. Thank you for interesting, informative videos. You have a new subscriber.

[@madman6962]

@@larsrons7937 The only one i bothered to note was the very first track in the video. I forget its name but it's the eighth exploration track in the dragonborn soundtrack and the first of the original exploration tracks we get from that OST. It's been a while since I've seen this video so I can't remember if my favorite is included in it, but "Morning Star", the ninth exploration track, is my absolute favorite out of the Dragonborn tracks. I without a hint of irony think it's Jeremy Soule's magnum opus.

[@tiptoptechno]

Impressive research and ability to present it so succinctly. Great work!

[@randersson3672]

Otroligt intressant ! 🏆

[@robertobruselas3952]

I am shocked to see that the Vikings traded with the Middle East region crossing the big rivers of Euro-Asia. Your video content added value to the History of the Nordic-Middle East Trade routes. Great work! Greetings from Europe BE

[@unknowntrooper_2791]

Great video! The reason why I am so interested in maritime history, explorers, pirates, vikings etc, is the way these stories show how different groups of humans interact in strange circumstances in new strange environments and how cultures meet, sometimes clash and at times also cooperate. Anyway, Cheers!

[@1992zorro]

Good narated history during one of the most fascinating but least explored time period with Morrowind music. The perfect cocktail

[@TomBombadil73]

That was excellent.

[@xorebro]

tacksåmycket. really good renditione of a history

[@alexanderlindstrom01]

Good video, you got yourself a new follower. Is that morrowind music i hear in rhe background?

[@Dumptruck70]

Thanks!

[@jamesleonard2870]

When you were discussing portage either in summer or in winter it made me think about Christmas. Like how Santa clause has a lot of Scandinavian tropes. Like sleds and little expensive gifts acquired in the winter that could have been acquired from annual travels. Maybe they even wore red clothes for safer travel in the snow.

[@xorebro]

Best history channel

[@rickschuman2926]

I am an operator of a spring pole lathe. The question among my group has been, who invented this device. A further question is, how did it come to Western Europe. My theory involves the acquiring of technology as well as trade goods in the East. One of the difficulties I have had is that the Vikings must have originally brought it back except that to go viking was not about trade and technology but rather about acquiring goods/wealth. This video has given a clear picture of how the Varjags could have brought back the reciprocating lathe technology and adapted it to making bowls rather than kabob handles. This same adaptation would have been familiar in the British Isles. When the English went to Jerusalem in the first Crusade, they likely saw the origins of the Varjag lathe, a small bow lathe, in the market places on the way. Or, traders had seen the making of small turned spindles. To the English, it could have been a moment when they realized that the way to make bowls could be adapted to making chair legs. Thank you for broadening my perspective.

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

The Volga-route was probably established by the Rus in late 700 AD, but for a long time the Rus did not trade directly with Bagdad, Volgabulgars and Khazars handled that. The first mentioning of Rus in Bagdad is from around 870 AD. According to my readings, the Rus Khaganate existed only between 820 - 860 AD, it was destroyed by Finish and Slavic tribes. After that the Rurikids established a new realm, Gardarike, and resumed the trade on the Volga and Dnepr. The oath ('vár') sworn by the Varjags was to the Byzantine emperor. They were not employed there before around 850, so calling Rus in the period before 850 for Varjags is not correct.

[@ew-uy6cs]

The idea is hard to comprehend and written are barely nonexistent. The only source that describes early Russia is Saint Barnes which mentions the Frankish emperor asking what type of nationality the rhos are and the said Swedes. Then the Norse sagas mention that Erik Anundsson conquered vast swaths of territory in the east and that the Swedes in 1015 considered the East their tributary countries. Or that Finns and Slavs should pay tribute to the Swedes.

[@ew-uy6cs]

@@jailedtwice735 The first Western European source to mention the Rus' are the Annals of St. Bertin (Annales Bertiniani).[82] These relate that Emperor Louis the Pious' court at Ingelheim, in 839, was visited by a delegation from the Byzantine emperor. In this delegation there were men who called themselves Rhos (in the Latin text, ... qui se, id est gentem suam, Rhos vocari dicebant, ...; translated by Aleksandr Nazarenko as ... who stated that they, i.e. their nation, were called Rhos, ...). Once Louis enquired the reason of their arrival (in the Latin text, ... Quorum adventus causam imperator diligentius investigans, ...), he learnt that they were Swedes (eos gentis esse Sueonum; verbatim, their nation is Sveoni) This is not some pretending they clearly claimed they belonged to the Swedish nation. Another source comes from Liutprand of Cremona, a 10th-century Lombard bishop whose Antapodosis, a report from Constantinople to Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, says that Constantinople 'stands in territory surrounded by warlike peoples. On the north it has the ... Rusii sometimes called by another name Nordmanni, and the Bulgarii who live too close for harmony'.[91][92][93] The Frankish sources clearly identifies the Rus as a Scandinavian people.

[@m.l.6685]

@@ew-uy6cs And its still pretty accurate (referring to the last paragraph). If you look on the map of northen part of Russia, there's a city called Murmansk (or Nordmansk).

[@KibyNykraft]

@@m.l.6685 The danish-norwegian claim of land in the late medievals was stretching eastwards to the Murmansk bay. At this time most of the dwellers of the Kola peninsula and north Karelia were säämi and finns. Before the early Renaissance epoch, there were no formal borders in north Europe worth mentioning. A lot of hunter-gatherers and small-scale farmers and fishing villages across large parts of north Europe were occasionally taxed multiple times every year by chieftains, kings, and the Birkarl groups.

[@KibyNykraft]

@@ew-uy6cs But there was probably no ethnic group called the Rus. If true that Rus is a simplification of roth, which in turn naturally will be a simplication of rauthi, rautha, raouth or similar, it may have become used as a way to describe a profession or a lifestyle of rowing and building (so a typical riverboat culture). Once the south europeans encountered them they might have heard Rus/rautha or similar as one of the names used by northern and north-eastern cultures, and used that on them.

[@MichaelT_123]

It is not necessary to move/drag boats over land between unconnected waterways. The solution is simple and straightforward. Establishing trading posts/ports with their own vessels on both sides of a land gap would necessitate transport of goods/equipment only, very likely on horses or oaxes' backs. Sweds are smart people ... even today 😉. Challenges they have had faced in the ancient brutal past could made them even smarter... so indeed, they ... doted the route with such trading/military settlements. Very good, informative presentation!

[@barkershill]

Yes , I share your opinion . It certainly seems a more sensible way of doing the job . And if archaeologists could find the remains of the sort of trading post you mention this would add considerable weight to the argument .

[@Daoland-Everywhere]

There is a similar traderoute from the frisians. There might be an overlap

[@gunnargronvall9385]

Very interesting and much appreciated talk and video! Thank you from a Viking descendant living in Melbourne Australia!

[@Feathermason]

Tak-sa-Mooka fra midt Jylland!!!! 😉 Wonderful presentation!

[@thethinredline4714]

mycka

[@davidcpugh8743]

And there is a map of Swedish Viking age settlements. Officially the presence nearly universal of iron working. For local use. Obviously wrong? Think export trade of iron utensils that could be easily sledged in winter to Lake Malaren to be sold in the springtime to traders to carry down the river roads. Malaren is ice bound in the winter. I remember happily x c sling on it.

[@airborneranger-ret]

Liked and subbed

[@grandimehu]

The boat-like silhouette of of a drawn vagina was not only noted in Sweden, in Finnish the crudely drawn picture of a vagina is colloquially known as "kirkkovene" (long boat that was used for trips to church).

[@davidcpugh8743]

Very good exposition. Loved living in Stockholm in Lidingor. Swedes good people.

[@charliem5254]

Can't wait for Miklagard

[@ur-inannak9565]

I've been watching a lot of your videos and from the start I was thinking, "wow he sounds like that other guy". But I just thought that you are both Swedish so thats why. Then I noticed you made jokes from the same memes. Finally now it has dawned on me that both of you being Swedish wouldnt explain this level of vocal similarity. Hopefully KZbin is kinder to you on this channel, my glorious true friend.

[@daya1082]

Good video, just one correction the region u called Azerbaijan, was actually called Arran or sometimes Shirvan. Real Azerbaijan is further south. Russians/Soviets renamed Arran to Azerbaijan to create a casus belli to gain control of more regions.

[@KibyNykraft]

Maybe unrelated (or distantly related), but in the northeast of Norway there is a wilderness location name called Arran. There is also a surname ,"Arras" in the same area. This area received much migration from east, southwest and south in Europe, Russia and the nordic region.

[@TonyfromTO]

There are plenty of westerners still denying a scandinavian-west asian connection. The rivers literally connect...

[@daneaxe6465]

Yes, unless a person looks really close on a satellite photo they won't see how many waterways crisscross the land. Years ago I read there was only one location the Norse had to portage across land on their way to the Black Sea. I've never heard any other claims to debunk or confirm one portage. There's a lot of swamps and marshy areas in that region. They helped preserve a lot of World War 2 equipment.

[@Jonsson474]

They are all influenced by story telling the Roman Catholic church who only became interested in writing about Scandinavians or vikings when they sacked a monastery on the British islands. The trading and reading by the Scandinavians had been going on for more than a thousand years before that. The Christians also called them all Danes, even if they were Norwegians, Gutes, Geates or Swedes.

[@Nero_Karel]

You only mentioned it in passing, but was the organisation structure the Kievan Rus evolved from really a Khaganate? I think this is the first time I'm hearing it be referred to as such, so it would be great to hear more about that

[@theliato3809]

Nice little dive into this important route of commerce. I mostly only here about Vikings jsut going down to Constantinople and not what ever else they’re doing

[@Sadoyasturadoglu]

Thanks for this great informative video, I'd like to add something 22:50 Actually, Atil was probably destroyed not by Rus's, but Oghuzs, Svyatsolav instead attacked Sarkel, Rus's and Oguzes acted in coordination, probably because they were allies.

[@andrejmucic5003]

Nestor wrote 400 years later, and he was a descendant of the Varjagi, and the new web of family alliances they built.

[@dougsundseth6904]

The boats used by the Varjags remind me strongly of the boats used in the northern US and southern Canada by the fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company. Similar use; similar technology.

[@lorq3370]

The Baltic and North Sea regions had the first experiments with capitalism all laid down with the trade routes from an earlier time. Excellent video sir.