The Vikings Trivia

Skilled shipbuilders, fearsome raiders, and surprisingly far-ranging traders, the Vikings left their mark from North America to Byzantium. This quiz tests your knowledge of Norse history, mythology, and exploration.

Raiders, Traders, and Explorers

The Viking Age is often dated from the raid on the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793 to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Vikings sailed from Scandinavia in longships, vessels light and shallow enough to navigate both open ocean and narrow rivers, which let them raid coastal towns and trade deep into foreign territory alike.

• Leif Erikson is credited with reaching North America centuries before Columbus, landing in a place the Norse called Vinland.
• Viking traders known as the Rus traveled river routes into Eastern Europe, eventually giving their name to Russia.
• Vikings settled Iceland and later established colonies in Greenland.

Gods, Runes, and Assemblies

Norse mythology centered on gods like Odin and Thor, with warriors said to hope for a place in Valhalla after death. Vikings recorded messages and memorials using runic alphabets carved into stone and wood, and many Scandinavian communities held a "thing," a public assembly where free men gathered to settle disputes and make decisions — a distant ancestor of later democratic institutions.