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Viking expansion is the process by which the Vikings sailed most of the North Atlantic, reaching south to North Africa and east to Russia, Constantinople and the Middle East as looters, traders, colonists and mercenaries. Vikings under Leif Ericson, the heir to Erik the Red, reached North America and set up a short-lived settlement in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Longer and more established settlements were formed in Greenland, Iceland, Great Britain and Normandy. ==Motivation for expansion== There is much debate among historians about what drove the Viking expansion. One widely held idea is that it was a quest for retaliation against continental Europeans for their previous invasions of Viking homelands, such as Charlemagne's campaign to force Scandinavian pagans to convert to Christianity by killing any who refused to become baptized.〔Rudolf Simek, "The emergence of the Viking age: circumstances and conditions", ''The Vikings first Europeans VIII - XI century - the new discoveries of archaeology'', other, 2005, pp. 24-25.〕〔Bruno Dumézil, master of Conference at Paris X-Nanterre, Normalien, aggregated history, author of ''Conversion and freedom in the barbarian kingdoms, 5th - 8th centuries'' (Fayard, 2005)〕〔"Franques Royal Annals" cited in Peter Sawyer, ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings'', 2001, p. 20.〕〔''Dictionnaire d'histoire de France'' - Perrin - Alain Decaux and André Castelot - 1981 - pages 184-5 ISBN 2-7242-3080-9.〕〔''Les vikings : Histoire, mythes, dictionnaire'' R. Boyer , Robert Laffont, 2008, p96 ISBN 978-2-221-10631-0〕 The historian Rudolf Simek has observed, “It is not a coincidence if the early Viking activity occurred during the reign of Charlemagne.”〔Rudolf Simek, "the emergence of the Viking age: circumstances and conditions", "The vikings first Europeans VIII - XI century - the new discoveries of archaeology", other, 2005, pp. 24-25〕〔François-Xavier Dillmann, ''Viking civilisation and culture. A bibliography of French-language'', Caen, Centre for research on the countries of the North and Northwest, University of Caen, 1975, p. 19, and ''Les Vikings - the Scandinavian and European 800-1200'', 22nd exhibition of art from the Council of Europe, 1992, p. 26.〕 Those who favor this explanation point out that the penetration of Christianity into Scandinavia caused serious conflict and divided Norway for almost a century.〔''History of the Kings of Norway'' by Snorri Sturlusson translated by Professor of History François-Xavier Dillmann, Gallimard ISBN 2-07-073211-8 pp. 15, 16, 18, 24, 33, 34 and 38.〕 However, the first target of Viking raids was not the Frankish Kingdom, but England, which seems inconsistent with vengeance as a motive. Another idea is that the Viking population had exceeded the agricultural potential of their homeland. This may have been true of western Norway, where there were few reserves of land, but it is unlikely the rest of Scandinavia was experiencing famine. Alternatively, some scholars propose that the Viking expansion was driven by a youth bulge effect: since the eldest son of a family customarily inherited the family's entire estate, younger sons had to seek their fortune by emigrating or engaging in raids. However, no rise in population, youth bulge, or decline in agricultural production during this period has been definitively demonstrated. Nor is it clear why such pressures would have prompted expansion overseas rather than into the vast, uncultivated forest areas in the interior of the Scandinavian Peninsula, although perhaps emigration or sea raids may have been easier or more profitable than clearing large areas of forest for farm and pasture in a region with a limited growing season. An idea that avoids these shortcomings is that the Scandinavians might have practiced selective procreation leading to a shortage of women, and that the Vikings main motive for emigration was to acquire wives, although this would not explain why the Vikings chose to settle in other countries rather than bringing the women back with them to Scandinavia.〔James H. Barrett, "What caused the Viking Age?" ''Antiquity'' Volume 82 Number 317 (September 2008), 671-685; ("Viking Age Triggered by Shortage of Wives?" )〕 It is also possible that a decline in the profitability of old trade routes drove the Vikings to seek out new, more profitable ones. Trade between western Europe and the rest of Eurasia may have suffered after the Roman Empire fell in the 5th century, and the expansion of Islam in the 7th century may have reduced trade opportunities within western Europe by redirecting resources along the Silk Road. Trade in the Mediterranean was at its lowest level in history when the Vikings began their expansion. The Viking expansion opened new trade routes in Arabic and Frankish lands, and took control of trade markets previously dominated by the Frisians after the Franks' destroyed the Frisian fleet. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Viking expansion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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