Historical Importance of the Vikings

Blog: IH
Status: Published
Author: Mike McLaren
Original Link: Viking Importance

Headline:
Historical Importance of the Vikings

Vikings — the first images that come to mind are of barbaric marauders ravaging, looting, and terrorizing the coasts of northern Europe. That may be accurate, to some degree, but not entirely. The Vikings gave the world sagas, collections of stories and poems that shaped the way modern fantasy and science fiction are written today. Without the old literature of Iceland, there probably would not have been J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit.

The Vikings also gave the world the enduring legacy of the Alþingi , the world’s first parliamentary government. What we know of Norse mythology and Scandinavian history was written in Iceland.

To sustain themselves with food crops and livestock, they would have needed a calendar, and therefore a knowledge of the stars. To know the cosmos is to also understand mathematics.

Beyond literacy, political savvy, and agriculture, the Vikings were also a people who traveled the globe far and wide, in boats, which could only have been done with their knowledge of the stars and planets, and mathematics. In other words, the Vikings also knew science. To cross the ocean for global exploration and trade, in boats that could also serve as warships in shallow tides, the Vikings had to know more than just thumping people on the head.

And they did.

Fierce warriors, to be sure, they were feared opponents, but they were also sought after for trade, and for imparting their technological advancements. Kings in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe commissioned Viking longships, because in the years between 900 and 1100AD, no one could craft a sea-going vessel to match the Viking longship.

Their art, delicately crafted and intricately tooled, has been unearthed in archaeological sites across the globe. Their literature paved the way for current best-selling books and blockbuster movies. They gave the world a government which serves as foundation for governance in countries all over the current world.

In truth, the Vikings gave to and educated the world as much as the Greeks and Romans.

As you discover Iceland, with its hard, finicky weather, its rumbling mountains and tectonic activity, blue ice glaciers, and its isolation from the rest of the world, you have to image that the people who could settle in such a land, and who could be successful, must have been a bit smarter than the average polar bear.

From any Icelandair Hotel, you can easily tour and explore a world that marries fire with ice, and you can visit museums and landmarks to learn more of Viking history. If you stay long enough, you might even become a Viking yourself!

Surreal Power of Dettifoss Waterfall

Original Link: Dettifoss

Though only 100m wide, and just 45m high, Dettifoss currently reigns as the most powerful waterfall in Europe — 500 cubic meters (96,500 gallons) of water per second. The spray of the waterfall, visible a kilometer away in all directions, forms vibrant double rainbows across the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, which flows through a black gorge of jagged, columnar basalt.

Dettifoss means, literally, “Waterfall,” though over the years it has collected other names, such as “The Beast” and “The Raging Waterfall.” It provided the open backdrop for Ridley Scot’s movie, Prometheus, and is the namesake of a musical piece, written by the Iceland composer, Jón Leifs.

Dettifoss cascades near the southern boundary of Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, the most precious gem of Northeast Iceland. Getting to Dettifoss is not difficult, but neither is it a quick stroll in the park. To reach the eastern 2WD car park, you’ll putter along at 15 kph (10 mph). It is prudent to check road conditions to ensure the route is passable for the time of year when you visit.

West access to the falls requires 4WD, and roughly a twenty-minute walk. Once there, your heart rate increases as you stand on the rim of a canyon, with no walkways, viewing pads, or guardrails. Be prepared to get wet from the spray. Nothing stands between you and the thundering water.

Twenty minutes upstream (south) of Dettifoss you’ll find Selfoss, a little sister just as impressive in her own right. Downstream (north), just 2 km, you’ll come upon Hafragilsfoss, another waterfall which plunges into the deepest part of Jökulsá canyon, and which cuts through the Randarhólar crater row, ridges of lava that have collected from the spatter of the volcanic fissure in the east wall of the canyon.

Jökulsárgljúfur National Park will astound you with its surreal beauty. From the cliffs of Ásbyrgi — where Óðinn’s horse stamped a huge footprint in the earth — to the echoing rocks of Hljóðaklettar, you won’t find it hard to imagine that you’ve left the Solar System on an adventure to another world in a different galaxy.

You can read about spectacular places, or look at pictures, but Icelandic Mountain Guides offers several tours through some of the most stunning, surreal landscape in Iceland, to give you first-hand experience to last a lifetime.

Check out our spectacular tours through northeast Iceland:

Ásbyrgi - Mývatn - IMG44

Sixty-three kilometers and four days in Iceland’s eerie, Jökulsárgljúfur National Park. You’ll get soaked at Dettifoss, and will experience lava fields, craters of the Krafla volcano, and the famous lake Mývatn. The tour will exhilarate you with the sensation that you’ve walked from pastoral fields to craters on the moon.

Mývatn-Askja - IMG45

During this five-day backpacking adventure, we’ll hike from Lake Mývatn to Askja, with its natural beauty, diverse flora and fauna, and landscape shaped by volcanic activity. The colors, the scenery, and the stunning changes in landscape will provide you with memories you won’t be able to forget.