Importance Of Vikings

The medieval period was a period between the 5th and 15th century which started with the fall of the Roman Empire. For many different explorers, the medieval period allowed them to discover and conquer new land for their country. One group of explorers during this period were the Vikings which originated in Scandinavia. These Vikings conquered land such as Iceland and Greenland due to their home countries not having enough farmland to sustain them. They were able to successfully conquer new lands because of their invention, the longship. The longship was very helpful to Vikings because it could easily navigate through shallow waters. One of the most famous Vikings is Leif Erikson because he became the first known European to discover continental North America. Leif Erikson was born in the 10th century in Iceland and was able to establish a settlement in Vinland (modern day coastal Canada) before he died in 1020 CE. Similar to the Vikings, the Crusaders were a group of people that were attempting to take over land. The Crusades were expeditions called by the Roman Catholic Church in an attempt to take back the holy site, Jerusalem, because of the Muslim Empire not allowing pilgrims in. The Church …show more content…
Erikson was also responsible for teaching anyone he encountered the ways of Christianity. Godfrey of Bouillon was also the leader of his army on the journey to Jerusalem. Although he had no intention of staying in Jerusalem he still raised a large amount of funds to supply him and his army for the Crusade. He was also very persuasive and mentioned to many men that if they died on the Crusade, they would immediately be sent to Heaven. Because of this, he was able to form a large army that would not only help him fight for Jerusalem, but also acquire more wealth along the way. On the way to Jerusalem, Godfrey lead his army to take control of a region named Tilbesar which increased his wealth and supplied his men with more