The Vikings! - Crash Course World History 224

In which John Green teaches you about Vikings! That's right, one of our most requested subjects, the Vikings, right here on Crash Course. So what's the deal with Vikings? Well, the stuff you've heard about them may not be true. The Vikings weren't just pagan raiders striking terror into the hearts of defenseless European Christendom. They were some of the greatest travelers of their time, and they weren't always traveling to steal. In a lot of cases, they were traveling to trade. John will teach you about Viking trade goods, Norse Mythology, and yes, there will be blood, guts, and dragons. OK?
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[@TheGmodParty]

> Refrains from talking about blood and gore because it's intended for kids. > Makes a joke about semen. Great work.

[@tau70]

Lol😂

[@ellainacase427]

+The egg we actually watched this today in social studies

[@Judicial78]

Are you saying violence is more acceptable than sex? Or do you think they are equal? Or are you saying violence has a place where sex doesnt?

[@TheGmodParty]

+Judicial78 They're both things that are generally considered not suitable for children.

[@atic7910]

the egg but they show semen or blood in the video? no..

[@AliciaNyblade]

"Now of course we know that thunder, as my 4 1/2-year-old son told me, is just dinosaurs walking around Heaven." Oh, my gods, that's adorable!

[@thewhat531]

He's too old to believe in fairytales. Dinosaurs aren't real.

[@gangurogeisha]

@@thewhat531 *anymore

[@mushyro0m.176]

@@thewhat531 No one is too old ro belive in fairytales, im gonna be 12 soon and still belive in fairies.

[@parzival8331]

Lol I liked that you said gods. I'm atheist so I don't mind just caught that.

[@parzival8331]

@@mushyro0m.176 Very true my grand father still believes in fairy tales like jesus. Lol

[@Ruperth316]

Assassin's Creed Valhalla trailer just dropped and now I'm here

[@sandeepgaikwaad9790]

lol me too

[@WoWKackorot]

Yep...

[@muhammadsyahroni6399]

Same

[@InjusticeJosh]

That’s right

[@nomative8915]

Learning how historically inaccurate that trailer is.

[@duende29]

I wish they'd teach us more about Vikings.

[@PatGuy99]

scrolled too far down for this

[@alexruddies1718]

And you''re Italian, your point being?

[@benbarrow2138]

dude, same

[@avaleskar]

Hey, if one you know where can I get any information of the vikings (architecture, culture, etc.), would you put the link?

[@nicholash.730]

The Norse have a fantastic history

[@Murdo2112]

The effects of the scandinavian settlement in England are still readily apparent to this day. I live in Lincolnshire (about half way up the east coast of England), and if you glance at a map of this area you can find, in the space of a minute, hundreds of towns and villages ending the Danish element "-by" (Spilsby, Hagnaby, Thorsby, Asgarby, Ashby, Anderby, and so on and so on). Look at a map of the south of England and you'll struggle to find more than one or two in an hour of searching. Similarly, in our traditional local dialect, as in much of northern England,children are "bairns" and a small stream is a "beck" (down south it'd be a "brook"). When I worked in Norway I learned that in Norwegian "child" is "barn" and "river" is "beck". Just a couple of simple examples, but in fact, while over there, I could speak in my natural accent and be better understood than I could down in London. History never really goes away. Incidentally, the beer was better there than it is in London too.

[@lilleperful]

+Murdo2112 but is cost a loot :)

[@eggvan]

Likewise when people from Newcastle say "hyem" for home, that is supposed to be Norwegian in origin.

[@danielbberg7673]

eggvan probably comes from the Scandinavian Word ”heim” today in norwegian its hjem and in swedish its hem = Home

[@crashcourse]

First. I'm always first. -stan

[@sonofmcleod]

Can I be second?

[@Satakarnak]

An fun fact o is that island =)(the swedish speling) is one of the oldest democracys =) and the first dynasty of russia was viking.

[@fakjbf]

When the Vickings landed in North America, why wasn't there a big outbreak of disease like there was when the rest of Europe came over? Shouldn't they have brought roughly the same illnesses over?

[@newfieocean]

What do you mean you don't know where they settled in North America. I'm from Newfoundland, Canada and we have a UNESCO world heritage site devoted this. It's called L'anse Aux Meadows. Very disappointed at the lack of mentioning this as it is known as the first European settlement in North America.

[@epicshotsallday4316]

I'll let the canada hate slide just because you mentioned nova scotia

[@cybernaut_ev3106]

Start off clean-shaven. End up with a beard. That's one long video.

[@mortache]

Viking-ization

[@cedricvelarde]

Notice the voice also

[@SuperLeica1]

The Vikings also brought a good chunk of Old Norse into the English language, foremost into North England. It´s hard to trace precisely, as the Old Norse is a close relative to low germanic (Anglian and Saxon). Today most scandinavians learn English vocabulary quite easy, because they grasp about each 5th word instantly.

[@garethdean6382]

A nice video, but I think it glosses over the one question that I, and really all Crash Course History fans have been wanting answered from the start. Who would win, Mongols or Vikings?

[@hely1108]

Probably the one who conquered powerful empires.

[@Woodthorn]

I'd say it depends on where the fighting takes place. The vikings would probably have the advantage at or near sea, while the mongols would have a much easier time on open fields.

[@garethdean6382]

el tigre negro Possibly; but what arena would they be fighting in and in what numbers? Also if there's one thing history teaches it's that you can never be sure about these things. (Well that and never invade Russia in winter. Two things.)

[@DaChicagowin]

Gareth Dean Furthermore , who would be defending and attacking would be an important factor too.

[@brasswirebrush]

Pshhh Everybody knows that no one could stand against the Vikings.... .. except for the Mongols.

[@haforrunargumundsson8398]

It is true, I am from Iceland and we can read the old stories... it is cool.

[@arnijonsson8651]

wubbalubbadubdub Well, yes it might sound arrogant but it is a fact that Icelandic and Old Norse very simmilar.

[@bigbeartanner]

Wow man I’m jealous this is dope

[@sansamman4619]

Is it true that when first named Iceland was the one with a tone of ice and Greenland was the one with a lot of green land?

[@jubmelahtes]

finally someone on the Internet that knows the difference between Scandinavia and the Nordic. someone that know Finland isn't in Scandinavia. thank you

[@jubmelahtes]

JoeRingo118 sorry autocorect. Didn't notice until now I meant someone that know Finland isn't in Scandinavia

[@kemchobhenchod]

whatever no one cares olav

[@makotoitou8071]

@@kemchobhenchod 44 people beg to differ.

[@kennythelenny6819]

@Big blue whaleI don't understand the root of offense Finnish people would have when called Scandinavian kindly elaborate this for me.

[@meginna8354]

@Big blue whale Also got a lot from Rsussia

[@katiesnudden829]

Why dont you guys do one about the Celts and other people of ancient England, Wales, Scottland, and Ireland?

[@swad2315]

or people of central asia other then the mongols

[@cliftonjames785]

@@swad2315 as a European american, I've always been fascinated by ancient persia, or the umayyad caliphate

[@bajingo4759]

Because nobody cares about that lol

[@Nozylatten]

@@bajingo4759 im sure we do you ball sniffer.

[@G1Bryce]

@@cliftonjames785 You wreak of self hate and white guilt.

[@OrkarIsberEstar]

Gotta add some things 1. Vikings also come from russia and later iceland went as far as sicily and greece later on. 2. They share culture, religion history and language with the germanic tribes of ancient germany and many germans fled to denmark when emperor charlemagne decided to attack heathens in german 3. While the Sagas were written long after the viking age iceland still had pagan "viking" inhabitants - while a lot converted to christianity not all did 4. While the Sagas aint 100% reliable they provide much better written source material than any other until the late 18ths century. 5. Actually the viking raids started even before the viking age as a revenge action after charlemagne killed so many heathens and thus viking relatives. 6. Similiarly the vikings already existed centuries before the viking age 7. You could argue the raids were partially religious - after all the earliest raids were a revenge for the massacred heathens in germany. 8. Old norse is not icelandic though the differences are small enough so an icelander can understand it 9. we did know where in america. Near modern day new york they found a small viking "settlement" likely just for cutting wood however. Also they met with the native americans there. 10. We do know some things about the viking religion by comparing it to the ancient germanic and the modern hinduistic as they share a lot. 11. Romano/greek pantheon and the germanic / viking pantheon share the same roots - similarities are not coincidental. They branched off from the same tree, the romano greek were influenced by the persian / phoenician and the germanic by the early megalith cultures If you want to see more, check my channel its about vikings ^^

[@ThatIcelandicDude]

+Orkar Isber (Estar) you here eh?

[@OrkarIsberEstar]

Óðinn im everywhere^^ the problem is right now i have difficulties recording the videos i made life is a bit harsh right now but i will continue my work as soon as possible

[@jackparker8602]

the Viking settlement wasn't in new york. It was in newfoundland

[@OrkarIsberEstar]

Jack Parker there was a camp near modern day new york though it was likely just for lumbering

[@historywithhilbert146]

Some of them are true some not entirely. Okay so first off the "Vikings" didn't come from Russia but the Swedes did travel through and settle there. Many Swedes has red hair and so the people living in modern-day Russia called them "Rus" meaning "Red". They established cities there such as Kiev on the banks of the Dnieper and Novgorod further north. Secondly the "Vikings" had a similar but not identical culture and religion and language to the Old Germanic peoples but it was different. Having looked at Old English and Old Norse and being a Frisian myself I can tell you it's hard for a speaker of OE or Frisian to understand ON.

[@HeroOfHawks]

The danish vikings went to England. The norweigan vikings went to Scotland and Ireland. The swedish vikings went to russia and ukraine.

[@SuviTuuliAllan]

TheAlphaHawk Some bastards came to Finland and were real bitches.

[@Tubehauge]

*****Not only the swedish... " The duties and purpose of the Varangian Guard were similar-if not identical-to the services provided by the Kievan druzhina, the Norwegian hird, and the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon housecarls. The Varangians served as the personal bodyguard of the emperor, swearing an oath of loyalty to him; they had ceremonial duties as retainers and acclaimers and performed some police duties, especially in cases of treason and conspiracy. They were headed by a separate officer, the akolouthos, who was usually a native Byzantine. "

[@Tubehauge]

TheAlphaHawk norwegians also went to russia, sailing along norway and north as far as siberia

[@zied6456]

+mightybaconful Hi, i think that sicily's norsman kingdom belong to normandie in northern France and was ruled by some danish descendent family not swedish?

[@ranx97]

+TheAlphaHawk It doesnt make sense to talk about Danish/Norwegian/Swedish vikings. They would often go to several larger cities inviting people to join a ship or to have their ship join the fleet. The "raid" could start in sweden, pick up vikings in Roskilde and Oslo, and then go to England. Or go from Ribe to Gotland and then into Russia to trade in Novogrod or Constantinople. Norway was in the Danish kingdom during the whole viking age, it was always just a brother or cusin from the Danish Royal family that ruled in Norway. You are forgetting France, Greenland/Vinland, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Africa and Iceland.

[@margaretjeannemoore]

My mom is Irish and she has a genetic disorder that's found mainly in Scandinavia. Her people as far as she knows have never been out of Ireland. It's interesting.

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

Accualy, from my university studies I have found that much, but obviously not all, of what the two Eddas (especialy the Poetic Edda) describe concerning the nordic religion most likely is quite accurate. The main reason why there are so many similarities between nordic and greek paganism is most likely due to the fact that both are indoeuropean cultures. After all, it also have many similarities with hinduism and, especialy, german and slavic paganism.

[@alvinlam9830]

ok professor

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

The video is about what is historicaly accurate and what is not. Thus I see no point in rediculing that I use science based arguments when correcting flaws in the accuracy of the video.

[@alvinlam9830]

that is why i said ok Professor Lekberg

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

Maby this is a cultural thing, but I took your comment as ironic. Sorry if I misunderstood you.

[@ghostlourde2700]

Dammit, I was going to comment about this.

[@Richie_Godsil]

Thunder = Dinosaurs walking around in heaven? Your 4 year old son could be a republican US congressman someday...

[@TheRunningLeopard]

Agreed, that statement made me cry a little inside to put it simply.

[@4everAudioslave]

someday? he could be one now if there werent any age restrictions

[@TheNightmareRider]

***** Maybe if they're from Night Vale.

[@chipo715]

hey oh! bipartisan squabbling jokes! they never go out of style,,,, that was a cool theory his son proposed though, someone should look into that

[@michaelbarton2549]

Why would you insult his son?

[@keiths81ca]

As a Canadian, Viking colonization is a brief period of our history. There is a confirmed settlement at L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, and a possible site on Baffin Island. But true, we don't know where Lief Ericson went.

[@mikeor-]

Lief Eriksson landed in Newfoundland. He did settle in North America, calling the colonies Vinlund, Marklund, and Hellulund. For this achievement, he earned the nickname "Lief the Lucky." Unfortunately, by the 1100s, this settlement disappeared, and was rediscovered on October 9th, 1968. Ever after, October 9th was proclaimed Lief Eriksson Day, and is celebrated in Canada, the US, Iceland, and Denmark.

[@magnuspersson1433]

The rune stones contain a lot of information about battles and attacks in distant lands. Not just trivial things. Most rune stones are found in Sweden, especially in the landscapes Uppland and Södermanland, which have a total of almost 2000 rune stones.

[@Lemonz1989]

I'm surprised that he mentioned the Faroe Islands. Our existence is not well known and is often left out of explanations where it would be relevant to mention them/us. :D

[@Xanderman]

Ja tad var nokso cool faktiskt :)

[@sfg948]

Lemonz1989 I sometimes feel bad for you Faroese people, not getting any recognition at all. At least not compared to the tourism madness that's going on over here in Iceland. I met these two scotttish women the other day and they didn't even know what the Faroese islands is. I mean like come on! It's right there above you!

[@Xanderman]

Aye, i feel truly blessed growing up in a society where crime is almost non exsistent, :)

[@PanzerIVAE]

The only reason I know that there is a thing called the Faroe Islands is because of a Viking Comic where the Icelandic people usually stop by the Faroe Islands mid-trip to Scandinavia XD

[@kylec.9092]

Lemonz1989 Hey, at least you guys aren't the South Sandwich Islands. Nobody mentions them...

[@jandayranl]

Love the subtle Dovakiin

[@DragonessYT]

Love it how when the Vikings are running from the arrows one has an arrow in the knee.

[@alexanderjohnson1815]

Lucas A. Had to go back & look. Good eye. :b

[@finnurm.1363]

Icelanders have descended from Norwegian vikings who didn't want to pay taxes. And yes it's true that we can actually read the sagas in their original language and they are even taught in schools here in (mostly) the original language (the letters are printed, of course). It annoys me a wee bit when foreigners say "thor"(þór), "leaf(leifur/leifr)", "odinn(óðinn)" etc. I know it's to make it easier to pronounce but please... We love hearing people try to pronounce the words and names. great video btw.

[@lmao2302]

Nice name.

[@f0rm0r]

When there's an r at the end of a word after a consonant, it's unvoiced and trilled, right? also i would love to pronounce Odin with an eð but I might get ridiculed by other silly English speakers for "over-pronouncing" it. You can't win. Also, what's wrong with how we pronounce Thor? Th is just how we write þ.

[@finnurm.1363]

1.Sorry I don't get what án consonant is but please give me an example. 2. people are idiots. 3. th is more like ð than þ, If you put your tounge in the same positions as if you were pronouncing th but blow out more violently then you get the þ. also the way you pronounce the ó (we write þór) is simulair to the way you say the ou in "though".

[@joefromplanetmars2267]

1 big complaint... We are like 99% sure they landed on the Canadian Island of Newfoundland due to the fact we have found 2 viking settlements on the island. Apparently there is meant to be 3 and due to the fact that Newfoundland is the farthest east you can go in North America and we have already found 2 settlements of vikings here I'm willing to bet the 3rd one is here too. Besides that awesome video!

[@Mordaedil]

+Joseph Thompson I assume he means we don't know all the places they settled because they didn't keep a strong track record of it, but those are definite places they landed. We just think there's probably more too.

[@joefromplanetmars2267]

They did keep a fairly accurate record stating there were 3 in North America. 2 are in Newfoundland but we don't know where the 3rd is. We know there is 3 because Leif Erickson named them all because they each had a separate purpose to provide good back to their home land.

[@yetanother9127]

Am I the only one who got the "borne back ceaselessly into Nova Scotia" joke?

[@MrChippinator]

+Jonathan Hughes Look I'm from New Brunswick currently living in Nova Scotia... I got a chuckle out of that one!

[@ProBatman51]

Jonathan Hughes I get the joke I was laughing 😂

[@ChetzNation]

It would have been way better if the vikings permanently settled in the Americas. The Amerindian/viking hybrid nations there would not die from disease as easily, and they'd have been up to date on weaponry, society, politics etc. when more European powers came.

[@notnebeyuiswear2588]

I totally wish that happened

[@yustas2]

+Chetz Have you been to Minnesota?

[@joakimwessel9206]

+Chetz There's a few factors that drove them out. One of them was that the vikings didn't get along with the natives very well. Would you attack the Natives of North America with a group of about 20 people? Well no. (but yeah it would be cool). It's hard to make love not war when you just attack the natives.

[@ChetzNation]

***** Nah. Sure there would have been wars as there always is, and sure the vikings would come out on top due to superior technology and strategies and general war skills, but the vikings weren't christian, and they had no ideology of colonization and spreading their religion, etc. Most likely a few viking dominated kingdoms would form, and a few mixed ones, and all of these would help the natives catch up tech wise, and give them immunity to euro diseases. When the vikings converted to christianity, most likely the natives would have done similarly, and thus like the vikings they would have escaped the south european conquests simply because the south Europeans weren't ready to conquer until after the conversion. So when the continental empires re-awoke after the darkness left by the collapse of Rome, they'd face christian norse and native American kingdoms to trade with, rather than pagan tribes to conquer and convert.

[@masonhuffman3480]

+Chetz The Vikings would've have done the same thing to the Amerindians as the English and Americans have done. You can't just throw a European/Cro Magnon race together with an Asiatic race and expect them to get along and miscegenate. Likewise in Europe when Genghis Khan attacked our ancestors didn't stop until his Asiatic Mongolian army was slaughtered and banished.

[@gershomkoinei8256]

God, it's so hard not to whistle to that theme music.

[@marmorealcandors]

VIKINGS! The Masters of Trade and Raid in Northern Europe.

[@pencileraser101]

cough...... cough.......

[@tenjiku8251]

Leonard Marc Ramos Have you forgotten about the Saxons

[@wisdomleader85]

Space Daddy Phoenicians started the trend, lol.

[@motivatedlemonadeRider33939]

The barbarian

[@ultimatevtgb7551]

@@eliza1826 Do you feel all warm and fuzzy when you copy and paste your own comments for the 100th time?

[@Myrborg]

Thanks, this was great! Best regards from Iceland! Oh, and for those who are interested in the sagas, great first reads are Egils saga for a really dark epic hero type viking that kicks ass while making poems, and then the short Krókarefs saga for humor.

[@Myrborg]

Sure. 1. you mean the bands? yeah. I've heard of them and I like Sólstafir a lot. If you like them I recommend Skálmöld. 2. It is usually "gaggalagú" or something like that.

[@hahahadracula]

***** thank you for the recommendation indeed great music. just wanted to check if 9gag was right.

[@Myrborg]

No prob. And isn't 9gag always right? ...we are everywhere. (potato)

[@AFamiliarStranger95]

***** I LOVE Skálmöld. Cheers! \m/

[@Myrborg]

Spread the Icelandic musical viking love. Skál!

[@MajoraZ]

I've said this before, but I would really like an episode about the Aztecs. Most depictions of them are more or less bloodthirsty savages sacrificing people indicmisntaly, but that's a huge misconception (with some grounding in reality) that does a discervice to the a lot of the architectural, agricultural, and social marvels the Aztec's produced for that period of time and given their resources, particularly the relative lack of workable metals.

[@jordanetherington1922]

I hate when people say that Aztecs never invented the wheel, cause they totally did. There are kids toys with wheels made by them. It's just that wheels weren't that useful for moving stuff where they lived. Almost as bad as people talking about Mayans as if they're "extinct"

[@rdreher7380]

Jordan Etherington Jabberwockxeno Agreed, and agreed. Especially about how the Maya still exist. I studied linguistics, and one of my professors specialized in Mayan studies, and there were also a lot of professors that did work on Mayan archaeology at my university, so got to learn a lot about the field. It's so silly that people don't realize that their are Mayan speaking peoples to this day, because it's by studying their languages that linguists were able to begin to decipher the Mayan writing system.

[@ninjolav]

I swear I would rip somebody's hearth out for glorious Quetzalqoatl and donate his blood to Mictlantecuhtli to make this happen! (I know the Aztecs did more then that, plz don' be mad! I think they are freaking cool!)

[@misterbaybers4013]

Jordan Etherington You're absolutely right, thing is they never used it the way most Europeans would have ie, agriculture or transport. The latter would have been difficult considering there were no horses in the Americas.

[@oliskranz]

hate to say it but in all honesty they were bloodthirsty savages.

[@DylanBegazo]

“When raiding gives way to trading, you’ve stopped fueling your hating” lol

[@q_tfiaw]

"History isn't always written by the winners, but when it's written by the losers, they are very bitter about the winners." This is my favorite line in the entire video. I come from a country that is pretty much on the losers side, and everytime I learned more and more about my history, I tend to take that though into account, I take almost everything about my country's history with a grain of salt

[@g.m.7416]

Are you German?

[@brianamitchell5475]

I see Ragnar in the thought bubble and I just cracked up! go Vikings! can't wait for that show to come back on.

[@TheEmanExperience]

Ragnar is awesome

[@Kazesama1]

TheEmanExperience Not so awesome when Ella of Northumbria throws him in a snake pit.

[@TheEmanExperience]

***** I know that Paragon Patriot I just like the character form the show

[@Thought-Cafe]

"We fight. That is how we win, and that is how we die."

[@TheEmanExperience]

Thought Café season 3 is almost here so excited

[@hydrangeadragon]

Hahaha jeg blev nødt til at stoppe videon fordi han udtalte Hedeby og Roskilde så forkert xD men det okay John dansk er svært for de fleste :D

[@ChokoBoyEspersen]

De satte også Roskilde i Tyskland haha

[@EpicPoulsen]

Hey, det hans ting at udtale forkert jo ;)

[@rasto62]

Og satte dem det forkerte ste på kortet....

[@ragnkja]

Talayin Jeg syntes det var et merkelig sted å sette Roskilde. Andre navn som ble uttalt helt feil: Leif ("Leaf") Erikson, Gotland ("Goat-land").

[@markusse007]

Tror de forvekslede Rosklide med Rostock i Tyskland.

[@DaDunge]

I'd say Danelaw was pretty important in the brittish isles too, the influx of viking settlers helped the cement germanic hegemony on the brittish isles, a legacy that would only be broken by the arrival of the normans. There's a reason the viking age is said to end in 1100 while the battle of Hastings happened in 1066.

[@Persnikity-yv3nh]

Little Henry's interpretation of thunder is so precious! :3

[@FortuitusVideo]

"and then you didn't settle the land and kill 95% of American Indians. And for that Lief Erikson I say good job." and I say he was an under achiever.

[@ragnkja]

I still don't get why _Leif_ (yes, the _e_ comes before the _i_) is so frequently pronounced like "leaf", when it's actually pronounced like "layf".

[@oliskranz]

Nillie it´s actually pronounced "Leifur", what you got there is a modern Danish translation.

[@ragnkja]

oliskranz Actually, it's Norwegian in my case, while you have the modern Icelandic form of the name.

[@richielomas9564]

pretty sure there's no shame in being an underachiever in the genocide department

[@oliskranz]

Richie Lomas but they didn´t plan on genocide, they just planned on establishing a farm and not claiming the continent or anything, they stayed clear of Natives most of the time, but when they did fight the Vikings killed a bunch and drove them off.

[@gabriellaureano2570]

Ok now we need pirates then ninjas

[@crashcourse]

Ninjas are totally sweet. I'd flip out if we covered them. -stan

[@colesweet8478]

Yas!!! Please cover Japan shogun age!

[@92alexmaster]

CrashCourse is there a chance for an episode on Women and war?

[@colesweet8478]

That's also a good idea

[@gelasson]

vikings were pirates not the ones you mean, of course

[@emeraldkma]

I'm watching this during quarentine.

[@kiaragregal389]

Emerald Victor same for school

[@goblingunk_]

Very interesting. Nice to get history in the context of the time original documents were written and possible biasness of the writer. That is a rare thing. Definitely enjoy your work. Thank you for the quality videos.

[@Lakster37]

"Going to Canada - not that great" At least the Vikings had sufficient funds to get to Canada...

[@mattiaseriksson9993]

Haha kudos for remembering that!

[@Nagassh]

For once I actually wanted more on trade. The Sound Toll and Kalmar Union are fascinating, albeit after the time period that this video chose to focus. Seeing some post-Viking age videos for the Scandinavian region would be nice though in future.

[@TheTexas1994]

Either John had a little bit of a cold while filming or Stan abused his power and forced John to film at 4 am. Those are the only 2 explanations for the coarseness of his voice.

[@overlychaotic]

I agree ; )

[@joshuahadams]

"Where in North America, we're not really sure." L'anse aux Meadows.

[@BoxofMonkeyBrains]

Technically we don't know if that is where Leif himself visited. There were many expeditions to North America after him, like Thorfinn Karlsefni who followed the same route as Leif and tried to make a settlement. Also, recently another likely viking site in Canada was found at Point Rosse.

[@Spaceboy709]

While we don't know if it was Leif Eriksen, we do know that it was a Norse site by the archaeology. At this point the Greenland Saga and Erik the Red's Saga only add spurious context to the site in L'anse aux Meadows. We know they came, and didn't stay long.

[@cee-lopreen6754]

They at least settled there. They also traded with natives on many occasions.

[@BluePwnsU]

I think there should be a video about scandinavia, the unfication of Denmark,Norway and Sweden. The Kalmar Union, the Swedish Empire, Denmark-Norway and Norway-Sweden. How and why Norway became independant. How Denmark lost Iceland. The wars between Denmark-Norway and Sweden. So much pontential for a great episode(s)!

[@oliskranz]

ok, i like this a lot but i noticed some errors in John´s dialogue, the Crashcourse research guy could have done a lot better job. Unlike what John said, Viking establishment in north America were found back in the 60´s, dating back to the year 1000 exactly the same time the Sagas say the establishments took place. So it isn´t guesswork like John would have you believe. And Leifr Eiriksson wasn´t actually the guy who found America, Bjarni Herjolfsson (an Icelandic trader) was actually the guy who found it, Leifr even heard about it from him. And Norse mythology didn´t die out when Scandinavia became officially Christian, many in Iceland still stuck to Norse Mythology behind the scenes, which is why the Icelandic texts get it very accurately and detailed. legitimacy of the Sagas also depends on the writer, archaeological evidences show that some Sagas have very high legitimacy. and most settlers in Iceland and Greenland weren´t after agricultural gains, it was sought after by many, big reasons were simply escaping tax from self proclaimed Norwegian kings and to the Icelandic commonwealth or running from the consequences of killing a bunch of people. Greenland was actually sold as a agricultural heaven by Erik the Red which lead people to it.

[@KrunchyGoodness]

Could you also provide some more discussion to the parallelism of Thor and Zeus among others? It seemed awfully weird of a reason to dismiss this as the ethnicities have Indo-European roots (as well as some of the examples meant to dismiss the similarities).

[@EdwardCree]

I think the reason he doesn't mention the whole "go to Iceland, escape Norwegian kings and their taxes" thing is because libertarians like me go on about it a lot (Saga-period Iceland is one of the classic case-studies on anarchic law enforcement) and John doesn't seem to like us that much.

[@oliskranz]

Edward Cree i just think the CC research guy wasn´t taking his time to study it.

[@potstickalicka8334]

oliskranz True all the errors were just due to laziness. It's documented fact that the vikings were in L'anse aux meadows, Newfoundland. There is literally ruins there, along with fields of artifacts. I know they probably travelled elsewhere in North America (maybe debated in someplaces) but it's known fact they were in Newfoundland. Sloppy vid.

[@Mega3rn3st]

In baltic pagan religion god of thunder is Perkūnas.

[@ethanhatcher5533]

10:28 thanks for that from Columbus john. It really puts it in perspective

[@mrbearbear83]

2:24 the Gogstad ship can be seen in Oslo, Norway. Worth it, especially if you get the ferry from Oslo harbour to bygdoy.

[@JDLENLa]

I've been to "Goatland" and I can assure you that the Swedes pronounce it "Gahtland." You should try it sometime, Visby is a really nice city and the Medeltidsveckan festival is fun.

[@ragnkja]

Why couldn't he just pronounce it "got-land", like the spelling suggests?

[@skalpathal]

Being Swedish I can assure you we pronounce it Got-land, with the "Got" pronounced as you would in British English and "land" as in "Shetland".

[@KungKras]

skalpathal They do not pronounce O like we do. Gahtland was actually a better representation.

[@skalpathal]

KungKras If you want to do gotländska "Gåatland" would be closer. It's definitely not an "ah" sound in any Swedish dialect I can think of.

[@KungKras]

the ah, sound that the english make is a bit closer. I think the "a" in british "all" or the "o" in communist might be closer though,

[@sitstoreason4895]

These crash courses are fun, thanks for doing them! ...Also nice to see fewer people spewing hate. And more questions and exchanges motivated by genuine curiosity. A good thing for the tube.

[@briannaguerin7142]

I loved the Settlers of Catan references!! That game is awesome!!

[@nathankim7936]

There were quite a lot of written sources from 8th-11th century such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Frankish Chronicles, Alcuin's Letters, Vita Anskarii, Poem in honor of Louis the Pious, etc. that tell us a lot about the cultural context of Viking raids. Despite their biases, these sources still tell us a lot about Vikings.

[@caseyharrington4947]

Um nothing about Constandinoble mercenaries

[@gamesman0118]

"It's Istanbul not Constantinople"

[@caseyharrington4947]

How dare you

[@gamesman0118]

Google "They Might Be Giants"

[@caseyharrington4947]

*facepalm* again; How dare you

[@Kamekification]

The Varangian Guard, as they were called, might have cool stories written about them, but in the end, they didn't really end up being that relevant. I can understand why John skipped them.

[@Wytych]

Think you got Roskilde misplaced there

[@MrNordicnicklas]

+Cezary Wytych And Hedeby ;)

[@3thandang]

it left a note

[@cornellwaters9089]

I needed this. Weather and terrain for North America could not have been much different than that of Scandinavia at that time.

[@ahutch4882]

great vid!cant wait to watch more! can you please do the irish celts next?

[@kongo112]

I was really excited for this episode as im from Sweden, but gotta say I'm kinda dissapointed about the execution of this episode. And no not because there wasnt enough blood and guts. Just felt like so many important and interesting parts were left out. And as always insufficent display of how far the vikings traveled and traded. That the Vikings went to the byzantium empire is very well documented with runes in Haga sofia for example.

[@jenniferlewer2265]

I am Norwegian and i agree!

[@ericeinarson6654]

I completely agree, an 11 minute video and all he seemed to mention was 'they traded and went to america'. No mention of Constantinople, of the invasions of the middle-east, of the wars with the italian city states or anything else of both interest and importance.

[@mishrazz]

Sigurd Jorsalfar brought an army to fight in the cruesades as well. Some of them stayed in the middle east as soldiers for hire.

[@justamoose220]

You would have to make a really long video to cover absolutely everything about the Vikings.

[@kongo112]

+Flock Of Moosen agreed, but simply having an illustration that is accurate instead of inaccurate doesnt take up more time. The commonality of coins from persia, baghdad and syria being found in viking tombs and hordes along with arab historians describing encounters with vikings as far east as the caspian sea and the well documented varangian guards of byzantine shows the inaccuracy of the illustration in this episode. I didnt mean to indicate that the episode was to short i simply wanted a accurate representation of an interesting culture :) The video almost came a cross as a "debunking" video more than a factual representation.

[@magnum3659]

john green your amazing! keep up the good work.

[@wanderingrequiem5032]

Needed all of your videos on the Norsemen. Thank you!!

[@misseli1]

Is it a coincidence that the Viking in the thumbnail had the same color scheme as Stoick the Vast from "How to Train Your Dragon"?

[@misseli1]

Okay, his outfit looks far too much like Stoick's, and you mentioned dragon training, that HAD to be on purpose

[@haley3316]

That culture of the people in "How to Train your Dragon" are most likely based on the Norse. There's also a reference to Odin when one of them dies.

[@christinalim2320]

True i saw the thumbnail and screamed inside "ITS STOICK!!!!!"

[@InvictusByz]

Except the Vikings had regular trade with Damascus too. See *Ulfberht* for more details.

[@styx85]

They also sailed to Northern Africa and the Mediterranean.

[@hahahadracula]

I've heard about viking graves in Australia. anyway, ulfbert is high carbon steel not damascus steel.

[@JogInTheFog]

Sicily too.

[@mrnarason]

And Constantinople.

[@procrastinator99]

I'm glad someone mentioned Ulfberht, I was surprised that Jon didn't mention the high quality craft that the Vikings honed.

[@Hypoo]

That's the first time I heard my island of Gotland pronounced as "Goat-land", I admit, I kind of chuckled.

[@jasperotterloo1570]

roskile is in denmark not in germany 6:51 i think they got rostock and roskilde mixed up.

[@tabelovokozela1995]

good

[@lvd8122]

Yeah, and hedeby IS in Germany, don't know why they put it in Northern Denmark😂

[@lakshen47]

@@lvd8122 Hedeby was the southern most Danish city :)

[@lvd8122]

@@lakshen47thats true, it is in modern day northern Germany, which back then was Denmark

[@nicolaipedersen5090]

@@lvd8122 Hedeby was a important

[@achille295]

4:43 look at the bullied monk in the back :D

[@noahmarx8297]

Was the Ragnar Lodbrook?

[@Thought-Cafe]

"We fight. That is how we win, and that is how we die."

[@noahmarx8297]

Thought Café You pumped for the new season? Odin knows I am!

[@WBSGBS]

Unfortunately he wasn't real

[@jadessb]

WBSGBS No, he was, he was in fact very real, and had too many sons who were at war with either the Anglo-Saxons or each other.

[@SUPREMEJUDGE75]

WBSGBS of course he is,he has a recorded family legacy,such as his son Bjorn who raided various places in south europe.

[@mikeor-]

7:08: Actually, Erik the Red was exiled FROM Greenland TO Iceland for the murder of several of King Olaf Tyvgersson's courtiers. And I should know, because Viking history is my speciality. This is especially true when we consider that Lief Eriksson was born in Iceland.

[@simonimanse8782]

At school I need to make a project and this really helped me, thanks!

[@claudiaibrahim6991]

Thank you for the crash course videos never stop making them and don’t forget to be awesome 😎 too.I love world history

[@ansiaaa]

was John sick when they recorded this episode?

[@THEROCKETSUMMERL0VER]

he looked very ill in the first half of the video

[@RocketChild]

@@THEROCKETSUMMERL0VER I thought so too, then he grew a beard and got resurrected after the Thought Bubble

[@FaultAndDakranon]

Rocket Child I gather the start was rewritten and so it was a scramble to get it done on time. Hence sick John.

[@Robstar100]

whoa imagine an alternate history where the viking took over North America...would it be better or worse?.Probably better now that I think about it,I don't mind being living in a land owned by vikings, but any other European rulers would probably extort the land and kill the natives.After all being Irish I'm tought that quite often.

[@margaritam.9118]

It would be much better. Vikings wouldn't be so greedy and bloodthirsty, cause they are the cool ones :3

[@cessatiolux6250]

They settles Canada and massechusets

[@VCYT]

+Robert Gilmour No it'l be worse, as they didn't have English common law, which allows proper justice for people, as only England created that centuries ago, plus they had no industrial revolution till later - coz they'e slow dullards, an still used horses to get about when my people went by train an steam-ship :-) -those primative fucks.

[@TheAnthraxBiology]

+Robert Gilmour Yeah, most of Ireland was settled by Norse and later Normans and it's pretty cool!

[@GiderTheGreat]

Vikings were kinda greedy, like everyone else, that's why they raided and stuff.

[@cchange7776]

yahmann, brilliant dude, very interesting and finally somewhat more accurate and solid overview. Cheers for that! Really like the sticker on the laptop :D

[@dancingthedream1410]

6:59 Nice little Great Gatsby reference there!

[@tildadalunde9496]

Yes, Vikings did trade a lot, but quite a big part of that trading was human slaves. Dublin was a major slave port for a long time, some say even founded for that purpose. So I agree: more trading and less raiding, but not necessarily all very nice trading. Interesting episode all the same!

[@m00rtin4]

i think mr green undervalue the impact of the vikings by just stating that it only affected iceland and greenland. vikings made a huge influence and without vikings we prob would see a diffrent uk & ireland, baltic area, france, russia,ukraine, turkey and some other mediterreinan states. but ye like he said vikings blended in with the people they raided/traded, but still they made a significant impact either directly like danelaw or the varangian guard. Or indirecly with kievan rus or normans. tbh they are one of the more prominent nation founders if u look back at some countries in eu

[@ulmo5536]

Aggbala Thank You

[@michaelpatm]

Hahahahahaha!

[@Dmdm_dm]

Aggbala Green is an idiot

[@MrPicky]

Hahaha yes that is correct ;)

[@savannahsky8528]

yub

[@macgeekfromapple]

watched your video in class, very informative!

[@joefrew1614]

-6:57 What a funny reference to "The Great Gatsby" by the way.

[@user-vw2jq3to5e]

Canterbuty Tales is actually quite understandable: HEERE BIGENETH THE KNYGHTES TALE: Whilhom, as olde stories tellen us Ther was a duc highte Theseus Of Atthenes he was lord and governour, And in his tyme swich a conquerour That gretter was ther noon under the sonne, ful many a riche countree hadde he wonne...

[@user-vw2jq3to5e]

***** It's actually how it's written - the spelling was just different back then (and wasn't standardized). The pronunciation was also different - for example, the "e" at the end of each word was often pronounced, so "sonne" would be "son-NEH."

[@pimmelfischli]

Enna Silkov this comes from a germanic pronounciation which over time and more latin/french influences were lost in the english language. for example Sonne is still the word for Sun in german :)

[@user-vw2jq3to5e]

pimmelfischli Thanks for the info! :) Also, the French invaded England in 1066, and French became the language of the aristocracy, but over time I guess Old English and French bled into one another to make Middle English (and it still wasn't a uniform language by 1400). Do you speak German yourself?

[@pimmelfischli]

Enna Silkov I am german

[@user-vw2jq3to5e]

pimmelfischli Ok :)

[@robertt6475]

4:30 get ready, the raiders have the dovahkiin on their side!

[@tenzintsundue6474]

as always, beautifully said and fun animation to add on. thanks

[@blitz7341]

3:00 was that a Settlers of Catan reference? way to go John!

[@irrupship8592]

Your son a unique minded child "thunder is sound of dinosaurs walking to heaven" 😁

[@synnvesimonsenfarstadvoll7580]

i wish he would have talked about the women in the viking age. Despite the rest of the world at this time in history, women had a lot of basic rights. And also he should´ve mentioned the slaves and how they came form all around the world. for example thats the reason we know the vikings actually visited north america.

[@nadineswag5265]

the viking age is really not about women though? lol

[@sasayaki]

Jorwig People just can't politely disagree anymore.

[@ahmeda.omarabi2267]

What i do about thier women is the fact that they used take good care to thier husbands with the wounds ,and how warm thier are with thier smiles,they really deserve respect and to be felt and treated as ladies

[@cjb4924]

umm....there still remains a strong celtic cultural influence in Iceland because of all the Celtic women that were captured as booty on raids. Not sure how that fits into your narrative of basic human rights for women.

[@motordude67]

The most spectacular viking find ever, the Oseberg ship, was a grave for a powerful woman aged 70-80 and possibly her slave, aged 50. Viking age women deserve more attention.

[@ApocalypseOwl]

Somehow you managed to place every city, perhaps with the exception of York, wrong. Amazing.

[@bearofthunder]

About 5 years since this video was released, but still I want to honor the realistic picture that is presented here. I believe that the popularized views of Vikings is often on the level of a story by JRR Tolkien.

[@derekperry1745]

If more American schools and teachers taught classes let alone history class like you do Americans would be more interested in schooling and we'd be more intelligent. It's very informative and 99% unbiased plus it isn't boring, factory line like produced education. I admire your enthusiasm about history and knowledge. Best wishes!

[@yehudab.667]

Open letter to hank green: hank, you always get to do open letter so now it is my tern. Hank you are awesome, my role model, very very cool, amazing author, and very smart. I want to be like. You someday! Yours Truly, me

[@Woodthorn]

**cough*John*cough**

[@epicshotsallday4316]

*turn.

[@Lisatheecologist]

Okay I'll correct all of you. Hank is Johns brother and fellow youtuber on their channel vlogbrothers. John is an author and I'm not quite sure what hank does. Hank has done open letters in the science crash courses but I'm not sure. DFTBA everyone

[@yehudab.667]

My bad, i meant John! Hank is my second pick for role model

[@tootz1950]

Lisa Heithmar I bet you were a hall monitor in school.

[@NicoSan805]

Loved the awesome ending quote!

[@shakespearaamina9117]

Brillant as usual!!! Thank you!🌹🌹🌹 Always learning from you ❤️

[@hd_inmemoriam]

In the map, Hedeby and Roskilde are placed at the wrong locations. Roskilde is quite close to Copenhagen, and Hedeby is in modern day Germany, near the small town of Schleswig.

[@Ryuzaki365]

I'm from Denmark and i also live in Roskilde. I can clearly say that Roskilde is not a part of Poland as portrayed in this video. It is actually only 30 kilometers west from Copenhagen (The capital of Denmark). We have a viking museum here in Roskilde, so you should definitely come to Roskilde.

[@christosmavrogiannis4331]

I loved the Catan references in the Thought Bubble so much.

[@1987MartinT]

2:49-3:03 It should also be pointed out that only very few vikings knew how to read and write runes. It may have been as few as 1 out of 1000.

[@amandawynn1040]

Hey Crash Course any chance you'll add an Econ section someday?

[@crashcourse]

Yes. There is a 100% chance. Econ is in pre-production now. -stan

[@amandawynn1040]

CrashCourse Bless you, I know a Teacher friend of mine is going to be oh so happy about this!

[@YHofSuburbia]

CrashCourse Awesome. Please talk about some basic finance too, like Time Value of Money and interest rates.

[@dakotadenverdexter]

CrashCourse You better cover (at least once) socialist (or communism) economics in theory and the few actual examples we've had (Soviet Union, China, Cuba); each has had very different results. Sticking to the Capitalist model solely is the trap many university courses fall into in my opinion.

[@erasmusvanhoogstraten3537]

I am not convinced that the similarities between Greco-Roman and Northern mythologies are as coincidental as John says at 9:30, as both are ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European religion. There are many recurring themes; a younger generation of gods associated with agriculture replacing an older one, a pantheon led by a "sky father" (the PIE "Dyēus ph2ter" is the etymological origin of both "Zeus" and "Jupiter", and the "Dyēus" part turns up in the northern pantheon in the form of Týr), etc. Of course many similarities can be ascribed to an amalgamation of the myths by post-viking age authors, but as with the different languages in the Indo-European language family, different religions can very well be traced back to a point of origin.

[@michaeldonauer284]

"When raiding gives way to trading...good things often happen!" Nice takeaway

[@mykomatos5445]

5:53 Dude looks like king Ecbert from the HBO Vikings series

[@itayzeltser4290]

Erik the Red never sat his foot on Vinland, he just discovered Greenland and Lief Eriksśon(his son) had came to Vinland(Newfoundland) after Erik already died

[@Draktand01]

We should rebuild Birka as it looked at the time, it's really close it stockholm so there would probably be many tourists there.

[@SaandviNorskSpill]

Draktand01 there is also a vikig town rebuilt as it was on karmøy right outside Haugesund in Norway, it was the village of Harald Hårfagre who gathered all norwegian viking kings under him, he has a huge mark in haugesund.. i live there.

[@lateremortis6115]

Saandvi - Norsk Spill The norwegian Viking Harald Hårfagre was a Finnish Man.

[@lateremortis6115]

Draktand01 The "swedish" viking Rurik was a Finnish Man

[@SaandviNorskSpill]

FINNISH PAGAN Ha-Ha You Så Fønni

[@lateremortis6115]

Saandvi - Norsk Spill Yes I know! Do you know how to read?

[@pamelapang9913]

thanks for this introduction course!

[@ittfgirl]

You guys should do a (mini)series on legends and mythology, and do a video on Norse mythology as part of said series, since everyone loves Mjolnir so much :D