Trade during the Viking Age
Improvements in ship technology and cargo capabilities made trade and the transport of goods much easier,[4][1]: 97 especially as Europe began to shift to a bulk economy.[1]: 128 The majority of trade was conducted among the several ports that lined the Scandinavian coasts,[5] and the routes were well enough established that they were frequented by pirates looking to seize possessions.[5] Archaeological evidence from Hedeby suggests that the city's economic importance was of political significance as fortifications were erected in the tenth century to withstand numerous assaults.[1]: 107 Ribe, located on the West coast of Denmark, was established in the early 8th century as the eastern end of a trading and monetary network that stretched around the North Sea.[8] Many of the trading towns in the Baltic would begin to disappear shortly after the year 1000 as the continent shifted to a bulk economy that minimized the role of these centres.[9]: 71–77 [10][11] There were also several Viking trading centers located along several rivers in modern-day Russia and Ukraine including Gorodische, Gnezdovo, Cherigov, Novgorod, and Kyiv.[12] Silver hoards in Ireland containing coins from other corners of the Viking World also show how such settlements were very quickly incorporated into a new Global economy.They were likely drawn by the opportunity to gather furs, slaves, and other goods from the forests and Arctic regions, which they could then trade in the thriving markets along the Volga River.[16] Additionally, Harstad, located north of the Lofoten and Ofoten archipelagos, was a key trading settlement during the Iron Age, serving as both an agricultural frontier and an ethnic boundary between the Norse and the Sami.During the Viking and Middle Ages, the Sami and other groups on the fur trade's supply side endured harsh and often violent extortion, or tribute, from multiple countries simultaneously.The conversion of neighboring Norse and Karelian societies to Christianity in the tenth and eleventh centuries provided a pretext for the ruthless exploitation of the pagan Sami.[20] Silver, silk, spices, weapons, wine, glassware, quern stones (for grinding grain), fine textiles, pottery, slaves, both precious and non-precious metals.[8][21][5][22] Honey, tin, wheat, wool wadmal, various types of fur and hides, feathers, falcons, whalebone, walrus ivory, and other stud reindeer antler, and amber.[1]: 103 [25] In Iceland, archaeological evidence suggests that while coins may not have been as prevalent as they were in Scandinavia, they still played an important role in daily life and as a status symbol.[7]: 56 People taken captive during the Viking raids in Europe could be sold to Moorish Spain via the Dublin slave trade[27] or transported to Hedeby or Brännö in Scandinavia and from there via the Volga trade route to Russia, where slaves and furs were sold to Muslim merchants in exchange for Arab silver dirham and silk, which have been found in Birka, Wollin and Dublin;[28] initially this trade route between Europe and the Abbasid Caliphate passed via the Khazar Kaghanate,[29] but from the early 10th-century onward it went via Volga Bulgaria and from there by caravan to Khwarazm, to the Samanid slave market in Central Asia and finally via Iran to the Abbasid Caliphate.[31] Trade during the Viking Age also took place at the local level, primarily involving agriculture products such as vegetables, grains, and cereals.The revenue generated from these taxes was likely highly valuable, as Scandinavian kings were willing to eliminate competitors and, at times, even actively pursue trade agreements with the Carolingian and Byzantine Empires.In this economic framework, traders and merchants exchanged goods for bullion (precious metals, primarily gold and silver).When the silver mines near Baghdad ran dry in the late 10th century, the Vikings began to tap central Europe, specifically the Harz Mountains in Germany.While not a pure metal like gold, and thus slightly less valuable, silver jewelry was popular during the Viking Age as it was a visible marker of wealth and interconnectedness in trade that could also serve a utilitarian purpose as it was broken off to be used as payment within the bullion economy.Many surviving Viking Age silver pieces exist as hacksilver fragments, as coins and jewelry would be measured using Islamic weight systems.
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