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This is a webpage about the Viking age (800-1050) on the territory of today's Estonia. The Vikings are commonly associated with Scandinavia, yet their influence and heritage may be found way beyond the Scandinavian peninsula.

This site does not seek to establish Estonian "roots", "identity", "national" or "ethnic heritage" which I am convinced are products of the 19 and 20th century nation-building processes. Rather, it aims, simply, to explore the way people lived in the present-day Estonia 1000 years ago and interacted with others in the North, during the so called Viking age.

Pages listed on the right present a general overview of the topic: get to know the basics on geographic, economic and political setting of the Estonian lands; learn who the Vikings were and where from we know about their interactions with the ancestors of the Estonians.

Posts, on the contrary provide more details on the following set of topics: society, trade, religious practices and the role of the inhabitants of the Estonian land in the Viking trade and raids.

Enjoy!

"Gufi raised this stone in memory of Ólafr, his son, a very good valiant man. He was killed in Estonia. Hávarðr(?) cut the stone.", the Frugården rune stone in Västergötland
Source:
"Vg 181, Frugården" by Berig - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vg_181,_Frug%C3%A5rden.JPG#/media/File:Vg_181,_Frug%C3%A5rden.JPG