The Vikings At Sea

The Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the North Atlantic were the Vikings' super-highway. These are some of the world's most difficult waters to sail upon.

The Vikings most often sailed along the coasts, but they were the only European seafarers at the time to dare travel so far that they lost sight of land. It was important for the Vikings that they understood the weather that each season brought as they could then plan their voyages whether long or short

They didn't have any of today's modern navigation instruments, but during the Viking era they developed navigational aids that all seafaring peoples in Europe used until the invention of the sextant in the 1700's.

- 14. august 2004 -