Re: New Viking Research

[Lena A Löfström <lal@algonet.se>]

Dear Niel,

well there where several reasons for the Viking explorations. The most
important one though was the need for new trade markets. Above all the
travelling Viking where a merchant who did not set out to steal, lout
and kill (unless they had to). The climate was also of great importance
as the cooooooooold Scandinavia could not provide everything that was
needed....... like for instance a warm and sunny climate. This of course
made it very interesting to find new places as far away from Scandinavia
as possible in order to explore what a Viking might bring back from the
far far away... and also find out what to bring in order to trade on
their next voyage. But of course they where also interested in finding
new land, places for possible settlements but that was not the main
purpose of the voyages.

If you want to know more about it..... try this link out!
http://www.control.chalmers.se/vikings/indexframe.html

Best regard
Lena (who's main interest is "modern" history... 1700--)

Neil Sinclair/Peggy Rintoul wrote:
> 
> Lena; I was not aware that you were on the Museum side of your career. No
> wonder you know so much. Indeed history looks different from different
> positions in the globe. Now perhaps you might enlighten others as to the
> popular image of the Vikings being distorted by again popular images. What I
> really would like to know is the cultural purpoose as taught in Sweden for
> the Viking explorations. Was the purpose to simply find new lands, the
> thrill of the seach, to claim new lands or what?
> Thanks
> Neil Wallgren Sinclair
> PS were is Lund University and is it reputable?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lena A Löfström" <lal@algonet.se>
> To: <sinclair@matrix.net>
> Sent: 11 June, 2000 3:36 PM
> Subject: Re: New Viking Research
> 
> > I feel really proud and I'm happy that the rest of the world now seams
> > to realize the importance and influence of the Vikings. To me as a Swede
> > this is nothing new, the only new about it is the fact that it is now
> > spread to a wider public as not only the scientific journals write about
> > it but also more common magazines and news papers do.
> >
> > But then I live with it every day as head of our local museum where we
> > have not only our very own original viking stone but also our very own
> > viking (or rather the remains of a woman age aprox. 1 000 years).
> >
> > Lena
> > [ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
> > [ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html
> >
> 
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