The Viking homelands consisted of the three present-day Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, together with part of Finland. The original border of the Danish Viking kingdom was at the base of the Jutland peninsula which today lies in north Germany. This represents a huge combined landmass extending from well inside the Arctic Circle to over 1,200 miles to the South.
The geography of Scandinavia, with its long indented coastline, numerous islands and inland waterways, meant that the lives of its inhabitants were dominated by water and water-borne conimunicitions. Natural inland barriers – dense forests, deep bogs and high mountains – and the low agricultural potential of much of the Scandinavian landmass, restricted both where people could settle and farm, and the nature and frequency of interaction between established communities.
These geographical differences in the Scandinavian homelands led to variations in both agricultural and building practices. Geography also determined to a great extent the directions of the Viking movements: Norwegian Vikings looked inevitably to the west while Swedish Vikings looked eastwards,- the Danes looked mainly to the west along the southern coast of the North Sea.
Yet despite its enormous physical diversity, Scandinavia constituted a relatively uniform cultural area in the Viking Age. Vikings all over the Scandinavian homelands spoke almost the same language and worshipped the same Norse gods.
Throughout three centuries of Viking adventure, Scandinavian farmers, hunters, fishermen and trappers at home continued to lead the same lives as their forebears. Scandinavia was just too far north and surrounded by too hostile waters for the cultural impulses from the centres of power in central and southern Europe to have much influence.
Moreover, in the eyes of the Christinised Europeans, one fact united the Vikings above all others: they were pagans.
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Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. "Viking Homelands" https://englishhistory.net/vikings/viking-homelands/, January 13, 2022