Interracial marriage
From AD 839, Viking Varangian mercenaries who were in the service of the Byzantine Empire, notably Harald Sigurdsson, campaigned in North Africa, Jerusalem and other places in the Middle East during the Byzantine-Arab Wars. They interbred with the local population as spoils of warfare or through eventual settling with many Scandinavian Viking men taking Arab or Anatolian women as wives. There is archaeological evidence the Vikings had established contact with the city of Baghdad, at the time the center of the Islamic Empire, and connected with the populace there. Regularly plying the Volga with their trade goods (furs, tusks, seal fat, seal boats and notably female slaves; the one period in the history of the slave-trade when females were priced higher than males), the Vikings were active in the Arab slave trade at the time. These slaves, most often Europeans that were captured from the coasts of Europe or during war periods, and sold to Arabic traders in Al-Andalus and the Emirate of Sicily.
List of Vikings episodes
"Vikings" is a historical drama television series written and created by Michael Hirst for the channel History. Filmed in Ireland, it premiered on March 3, 2013 in Canada. "Vikings" is inspired by the sagas of Viking Ragnar Lothbrok, one of the best-known legendary Norse heroes. The series portrays Ragnar's and his family's rise from serfdom to nobility and fame through successful raids into Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Francia. The series is also inspired by, and loosely adapts, various historical events from European history during the Early Middle Ages.
A series of thirteen webisodes known as "Vikings: Athelstan's Journal" was released by the History Channel. Each webisode serves as a journal entry for the "Vikings" character Athelstan. The webisodes were released prior to and in conjunction with the beginning of the third season of "Vikings", and are available on the History Channel's website. The webisodes have a running time of 1:45 to 5:01 minutes.