Between the 8th century and the end of the Viking age, the Vikings and other Norsemen traveled extensively in the Western part of the world. They traveled all over Europe, as far South as the Mediterranian Sea, and inland as far as Bagdad (though their raiding parties went further, into the Caspian Sea). They also traveled North and West, landing in Iceland, Greenland, and North America, and establishing settlements that, in many places, still have modern equivalents.
This widespread expansion was probably motivated by a few different factors. Some historians propose that Viking raiding and exploration were motivated by a lack of diversity in their home population - specifically, a lack of available women due to the formation of polygynous relationships between many women and the wealthiest men in the culture. It’s also been speculated that exploration was motivated by revenge; the Vikings wanted to retaliate against European groups that had forced religious conversion and domination on Nordic cultures. Another popular explanation is that the Vikings’ homelands didn’t have enough available agricultural space to support a growing population. It’s also possible that the expansion came from the tradition of leaving all familial wealth to oldest sons, leaving younger sons to fend for themselves. All of these factors likely played at least some part in the expansion mindset and widespread settlement by the Vikings.
Viking Settlements in Europe
The Vikings expanded their settlements from their homelands in Scandinavia into wider Europe first. This expansion started largely in the British Isle, where Vikings took control of large parts of England and Scotland, with some stops in Wales and Ireland, raiding all along the coasts and destroying or overtaking existing settlements.
From Britain, the Vikings expanded into Normandy in what is now France, raiding along the coast and up into more of what is now France, then called West Francia and Middle Francia. They moved into Italy and Sicily from there, and then into Eastern Europe through the Baltic Sea and the Byzantine Empire, in what is now Russia and Ukraine. Viking expansion in Europe went as far as Georgia by the later 1000s.
Viking settlements did not constitute a solid empire as other peoples did, but they were more consistent, permanent settlements than previously established, meaning their culture was more readily able to mingle with local peoples including the Celts and Franks.
Viking Settlements Beyond Europe
Of course, the Vikings also settled outside of Europe. By the 800s, the Vikings had settled in Iceland and in Greenland by the 900s. Famously, the Vikings - specifically Leif Erikson and similar explorers - made landfall in the North American continent in the late 900s and early 1000s, in the area that would become the Eastern coast of Canada and the United States.
Vikings also extended further east into the Asian continent to some degree. Some settlers landed in Armenia in the Middle East and as far as Central Asia, as archaeologists have found memorial runestones in the area dating back to the 900s. Though their settlements weren’t as expansive here, they were, for at least a little while, major players in economic trade in the area.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Viking-people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_expansion
https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/vikings-and-the-establishment-of-norse-settlements/
https://www.thoughtco.com/viking-settlement-how-the-norse-lived-173148
https://icelandictimes.com/vikings-and-settlement/
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/viking-settlements/
https://norse-mythology.org/vikings-explorers-settlers/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vikings-a-memorable-visit-to-america-98090935/
