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.\t<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n