The Vikings burst quite suddenly into European history in the last decade of the 8th century with a series of terrifying attacks on the coasts of Britain, Ireland, France and deep into the Mediterranean. For centuries, their Scandinavian homeland had been a remote region that other Europeans knew little about. Why then, after centuries of obscurity, did the Scandinavians take to the seas to make such a dramatic impact on the world?
In a two part series, writer and director Bo Landin, takes us in the footsteps of the Vikings, trying to understand their lives beyond the well-known attacks on monasteries and villages and beyond the often one-dimensional presentations of the people and their culture. From the sagas, modern archaeology and 21st century science a new image of the Vikings is progressing; we will meet a people and individuals with far more knowledge and experience of the world, than we have given them credit for in the past. The development of the Viking ships became the decisive tool for their raise to continental dominance. The strong role of women created the social base from which they could prosper. And their explorations and discoveries took them to new worlds beyond the horizon.
The series is to a large extent based on re-enactments and is filmed on location in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the USA.
The Viking World project is a co-production with Discovery USA, ZDF Germany, France 5 and Swedish Television.