Vikings and Finns??

Of course there were scandinavian settlers in Finland, just like there were Finnic settlers (and natives) in Sweden. They were simply assimilated rather quickly. �land of course became largely Scandinavian during the viking age.

Could you tell me the difference between vikings, lived on the teritory of Finland, Sweden and Norway?I know that they were very brave sailors - they cross the Atlantic, sailed in the Medeterranean, fought as Bysantian mercenaries away from their raida on the French and British coast.

To my knowledge, there are no evidence of Finns as Vikings - but surely there was contact between Finns and Vikings.

A laymans (me) brief summary on Vikings...

First of all, The Vikings were more than just a bunch of raiding pirates.
They also were venturesome seafarers, farmers, settlers and great ambassadors of the nordic culture.
From Scandinavia they spread through Europe and the North Atlantic in the period of vigorous Scandinavian expansion (AD 800-1100) known as the Viking Age. 
From Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, they appeared as traders, conquerors, and settlers in Finland, Russia, Byzantium, France, England, the Netherlands, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland in Canada. 

Centuries before the Viking Age, such tribes as the Cimbrians, Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, and Angles had been wandering out of Scandinavia.

The word Viking is not, as many believes, the name for all the people living in Scandinavia in that period, but only for the "pirates".

Furthermore, 'Vik' is the norse expression for bay, and the expression was originally used for the seafares or more accurate, used for what they did. To say - He went in viking that summer, or laid in Viking, would be a more correct use of the term.

The Vikings were different because they were sea warriors and because they carried with them a civilization that was in some ways more highly developed than those of the lands they visited. The also had good skills in trading and organizing. Trading cities such as Birka and Hedeby appeared, and became the centers of strong local kingdoms.
 
How far and where did they venture?
The Danes and Norwegians went westward and south, and for a period most of England was under the Danish Kingdom. The vast area of England called Danelaw or Danelagen still has numerous places and cities founded and named by the Vikings.
A huge fleet of mostly danish Vikings conquered Paris - and a chieftain (Rollo) was given a large area or duchy of France to protect it from other raiders - that area was subsequently called Normandy, Land of the Norsemen.

Norwegian Vikings were most explorative - they came to Iceland and from there they went on to establish several settlements in Greenland and Leif Ericson (Leif the Happy), son of Eric the Red, went on to what he called Vinland which we know as America today.
A settlement was excavated in the 1960's - a place on the coast of New Foundland, L'ance aux Meadows.

The Swedes went East.
The northeastern Slavic tribes called the Swedes 'The Rus-people' (from the Swedish area "Rus- or Roslagen"), and these Vikings were asked to rule the land of the tribes and by uniting the cities and areas of Novgorod and Kijev they founded Rus-land - Russia. 
Through the rivers of Russia they ventured as far as the Caspian Sea and longer. 

Much more could be told - but I'm way off topic already. I'll stop my rampling...

Could you tell me the difference between vikings, lived on the teritory of Finland, Sweden and Norway?I know that they were very brave sailors - they cross the Atlantic, sailed in the Medeterranean, fought as Bysantian mercenaries away from their raida on the French and British coast.

Originally posted by rapala We all know that vikings traveled far as turky but why did they not travel or made trade routes in finland. i'v had a history leason in school and they told about the viking trade routes in all eu countries but they did not talk about finns?? finland is closer sweden than turky so why did they not make trade routes in finland.

Trade contacts between Scandinavia and Finland were strong during the Late Iron Age, and it is witnessed in the wealth of finds. I think that the reason why Finland is not mentioned, because there were no grand trade centres compared to those further to the south and east, but to think that there was no trade is absurd. South Western Finland (inahbited by the Finns) had very strong contacts to Swedish trade centres, Sigtuna, Birka, etc. Finland also had contacts much further down, as the finds Frankish Ulfberth swords are more numerous in Finland than in Sweden or Denmark. The Tavasts had important trade centres around the Kokem�ki area (Telja/Telj� was a significant market town) and a viking-style (but Tavastian) trade station has been uncovered in Varikonniemi. These trade stations were often some distance from settlements, because of the ever present risk of raiding parties. There were also prehistoric trade routes over land, such as H�meen H�rk�tie,which ran from the heartlands of Tavastia (Vanaja) down to Finland-proper and to Turku and the Aurajoki valley. There might also have been another prehistoric road, although there is debate about the date of its construction, called Hiidentie, which runs from Vanaja to the southern coast.

If you are interested, the information is there, not perhaps very easy to come by, but its there. Just last weekend I got myself a very detailed book about ancient Tavastia from the library, published by H�meen Heimok�r�j�t, and it contains the work of many respected historians.

The only thing from childhood that i remember before i came to the us that ive seen and resembles some sort of a viking barbarian was the movie Conan the barbarian, lol. Seriously in 6th grade in bosnia before i came to the US in our history class we started from the cave man almost untill Napoleon (and then i came to america), we never once really mentioned the vikings. There was no viking state, or republic, or country, or empire ever in the balkan regions. Maybe thats why we never discussed them. Vikings were mostly around northern and western europe. They never had much of an impact in eastern and southern.

Originally posted by Bosniathebestcountry Its kind of strange i never even heard of the vikings untill i came to the U.S. Ive heard of the mongols, the turks, the romans. but never the vikings. seems like bosnian people never really had much contanct with the vikings so theyre not even mentioned in schools. Im kind of surprised to hear that they were in southern europe as far as greece!

You would have heard at least of the Normans, who ruled southern Italy and made incursions into Albania and Greece, apart of the Crusades... these weren't the genuine Vikings but a French offshot of them.

But it's curious you have never heard of the Vikings anyhow...

Its kind of strange i never even heard of the vikings untill i came to the U.S. Ive heard of the mongols, the turks, the romans. but never the vikings. seems like bosnian people never really had much contanct with the vikings so theyre not even mentioned in schools. Im kind of surprised to hear that they were in southern europe as far as greece!

Originally posted by Tanel Finns unfortunately become christians,they have no history yet

Eeh? Can you please elaborate.

Originally posted by rapala We all know that vikings traveled far as turky but why did they not travel or made trade routes in finland. i'v had a history leason in school and they told about the viking trade routes in all eu countries but they did not talk about finns?? finland is closer sweden than turky so why did they not make trade routes in finland.

It was not Turkey then. The Vikings came before the Turks invaded the area and it was Anatolia and part of what we call the Byzantine Empire. I could not pass this up because I am half Greek and my Papoo's (Grandfathers) family came from E. Thrace or present day Turkey.

Originally posted by axeman How long were vikings part of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish kings's armies? Some historians say that last viking army was defeated in Stamfordbridge battle 1066 by Anglo-Saxon king Edvard.

Scandinavian viking-age equipment like "viking swords", battle-axes and round shields were used in some parts of Scandinavia well into the 13th century, although mounted knights appeared in the early 12th century. In Denmark the military development went fast, whereas in the more remote, sparesly populated and poorer Norway and Sweden the development was naturally slower, and feudal cavalry never became as important as in western Europe. Instead peasant levies with spearmen, archers and axemen were more common, much like during the Viking Age. In Norway the Kongshirden - "The King's guard" originating from the viking-age - was kept into the late 14th century, although their equipment followed the time. In Sweden and Norway the viking-age fleet-organisation known as ledungen was still around in the early 14th century