What is Vikings?
[[File:Viking towns of Scandinavia 2.jpg|thumb|right|300px|{{center|Viking towns in Scandinavia}}]][[File:Wikinger.jpg|thumb|250px|{{center|Vikings ready to attack}}]] The '''Vikings''' were [[Scandinavia|Scandinavian]] people from Northern [[Europe]] who were known as great [[Sailor|seamen]] and [[warrior]]<nowiki/>s. From the 8th to the 11th centuries they travelled to Europe in their [[longship|long ship]]s. They attacked and later [[Settler|settled]] in areas that are now [[British Isles|modern Great Britain]], [[Germany]], [[France]], [[Spain]], and [[Italy]].<ref>Colin Hynson, ''How People Lived in Viking Times'' (New York: Rosen Group Publishing, Inc., 2009), p. 6</ref> == Background == The people of the far [[north]], later called Vikings, were first noticed by the [[Roman Republic|Romans]] around the year 100 [[BC]].{{efn|The Romans of the time believed the Baltic sea was a part of the ocean and lands north of the Baltic were [[island]]s.<ref>James Oliver Thomson, ''History of Ancient Geography'' (New York: Bilbo & Tannen, 1965), p. 241</ref> Early writers mentioned an island called [[Thule]].<ref>Barry Cunliffe, The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek: The Man Who Discovered Britain'' (New York: Walker & Company, 2002), p. 126</ref> It lay beyond the known world of the time but it is thought now to be [[Norway]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/thule#m_en_gb0862120 |title=Thule |author= |website= |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries |accessdate=8 December 2015 |archive-date=9 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009110943/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Thule#m_en_gb0862120 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They did not come into contact with Germanic tribes north of the [[Danube]] until the [[1st century]] [[AD]]. About 98 AD, [[Tacitus]] wrote ''Germania'' which was an account of the German peoples.<ref>Graeme Davis, ''Thor: The Viking God of Thunder'' (Long Island City, NY: Osprey Publishing, 2013), p. 60</ref>.}}<ref name=