18th March 2025 18th March 2025 By Victor Rouă In

The Norwegian Colonial Empire During The Viking Age

The Norwegian colonial empire is a syntagm which refers to the colonial empire which Norway had back during the Early Middle Ages (more specifically during the renowned Viking Age, a sub-epoch or sub-era of the Early Middle Ages) and still kept during the High Middle Ages (and, to a considerable extent, up until 1814) across the North Atlantic Ocean, from the British Isles to Greenland. Outside of the Viking Age, it must be mentioned that Norway had a relatively negligible colonial empire during the Modern period, those sparse and relatively small colonies scattered throughout the world (namely throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America) being actually part of the Danish colonial empire given the fact that Norway was part of Denmark as Denmark-Norway for several centuries (which was a dual monarchy that lasted from the mid-early 16th century to the early 19th century, or, more specifically, from 1537 to 1814, the last year coinciding with the Treaty of Kiel per which Denmark lost Norway in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, Norway being ceded to Sweden). As a side note, in Norway, the dual Danish-Norwegian colonialism is mostly perceived as Danish because Norway was de facto and de jure led by Denmark throughout the Modern period. In English however, those colonies are also alternatively known as Dano-Norwegian colonies.

As it can be clearly seen on this map, the medieval Kingdom of Norway had a vast territorial extent both in Europe and overseas. This map is taken from History of the Norwegian people by Knut Gjerset (1915). Note that Helluland and Markland are also coloured as part of the overseas teritorial possessions of the Kingdom of Norway. These two territories situated in present-day Canada were important sources of timber for the Greenlandic Vikings during the Viking Age. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Back to the Viking Age, Norway had overseas colonies (known as crown dependencies) in the British archipelago. The Norwegian Vikings most notably established colonies in Ireland where they founded the first towns/cities, more specifically Dublin (meaning black pool; the Kingdom of Dublin was a vassal state of the medieval Kingdom of Norway), Wexford, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork (for more information on the matter, please see the articles The History Of The Norse Settlements In Ireland During The Viking Age and The History Of Ireland Throughout The Middle Ages). Outside of Ireland and right in its vicinity in the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man (also simply known as Mann) was a crown dependency which was previously part of the medieval Kingdom of Norway as were the Orkneys (known in Old Norse as Orkneyar), the Hebrides (known in Old Norse as Suðreyar), and Shetland (known in Old Norse as Hjaltland), the adjacent islands of Scotland. As an important cultural mention, to this day, Shetland still has a Dannebrog-based flag which is quite similar to the Norwegian flag. And while we are still discussing Scandinavian Scotland, a special mention goes to the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, an important Norse-Gaelic kingdom (alternatively referred to as Sodor) under Norwegian suzerainty which lasted from the 9th century to the 13th century and included the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, and the Islands of the Clyde. The medieval Kingdom of Norway also briefly ruled the Welsh island of Anglesey though Norwegians never settled it. With respect to the Faroe Islands and Iceland in particular, the Norwegian Vikings who settled these islands had left an indelible mark on the local culture and language of these two countries. So it is that both Icelandic and Faroese are the closest North Germanic languages to a series of Norwegian dialects spoken in south-western Norway and that the traditional architecture of the longhouses and the turf houses was exported from Norway to these two former colonies. For more information on the matter, please see the article The Norwegian Cultural Heritage In Iceland And The Faroe Islands.

Moving northward from the British Isles, Norway also had the Faroe Island and Iceland as its North Atlantic colonies back during the Viking era. West of Iceland was Greenland which remained part of the Kingdom of Norway up until 1814 (when, as per the treaty of Kiel, only Norway from the Scandinavian peninsula was ceded to the Kingdom of Sweden, not its overseas colonies as well, which have ever since been an integral part of the Danish Realm), alongside Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Both Iceland and the Faroe Islands were settled mostly by Norwegian Vikings from south-western and central-northern Norway (but there were also, to a lesser extent, other Scandinavian settlers from Denmark and Sweden) and Gaelic populations from the British archipelago brought by the Norse there (both thralls or slaves as well as Gaelic nobility). Lastly, for a brief period of time, Norse settlers also set ashore and lived in Newfoundland (known in Old Norse as Vinland, i.e. Wine land, named by Leif Erikson as such for the alleged wild grapes he had found there), Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Because of a conflict with the local Native American population of Skrælings (most likely the Beothuk population or their ancestors), they abandoned their settlement on Canadian/North American soil at some point during the early 11th century.

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