:: The Vikings
in History - a Selected Timeline ::
|
ca. |
3100 BC |
First phase of Stonehenge construction
begins on Salisbury Plain in England |
ca. |
2606 BC |
Pharaoh Khufu orders construction of
the Great Pyramid at Giza |
ca. |
1200 BC |
Celtic Hallstatt (Austria) culture
begins |
ca. |
750 BC |
Homer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey |
ca. |
500 BC |
Celtic La Tène (Switzerland)
culture begins |
|
390 BC |
Gauls sack Rome |
|
335 BC |
Celts send ambassadors to Alexander
the Great |
|
279 BC |
Celts sack Delphi |
|
221 BC |
Shih huang-ti unifies China, connects
and extends existing defenses into the Great Wall |
|
58 BC - 50 BC |
Julius Caesar divides and conquers
the Gauls |
|
55 BC |
Julius Caesar attempts invasion of
Britain with 10,000 troops and 80 ships; fails |
|
48 BC - 44 BC |
Reign of Julius Caesar |
|
27 BC - 14 AD |
Reign of Augustus Caesar |
|
9 |
Arminius and a confederation of North
German tribes slaughter Quinctilius Varus and three Roman legions
in the Teutoberg Forest. The defeat puts an end to Roman expansion
east of the Rhine. |
|
43 |
Roman legions under Claudius successfully
invade and occupy Britain |
|
60 |
Boudicca, Queen of the Celtic Iceni
tribe, leads an unsuccessful revolt against Roman rule in Britain |
ca. |
115 |
Roman Empire reaches its greatest extent
under Trajan |
|
410 |
Last Roman legions leave Britain |
|
455 |
St. Patrick returns to Ireland |
|
476 |
Alaric the Hun sacks Rome; traditional
date for the fall of the western Roman Empire |
|
500 |
Battle of Mount Badon halts Saxons
(German) advance in Britain. Legends associate the victory with King
Arthur. |
|
771 - 800 |
Charlemagne sole ruler of Frankish
Empire (includes modern France) |
|
793 |
Norsemen plunder the monastery
at Lindesfarne in northeastern England. The Viking Age begins. |
|
810 |
Danish Vikings attack the Frisian coast
of the Frankish empire |
ca. |
830-850 |
Norwegians establish themselves in
Ireland, founding the town of Dublin |
|
844 |
Vikings take Seville, Spain, and are
quickly driven out by the Moors |
|
845 |
Vikings destroy Hamburg, Germany |
|
858 |
Swedish Vikings found the city of Kiev |
|
860 |
Vikings attack Byzantium (Constantinople),
without success |
ca. |
860 |
Vikings discover Iceland |
|
871 |
Alfred the Great comes to power in
Wessex, England and spends most of his reign fighting Norse invaders |
ca. |
874 |
Vikings establish a settlement in Iceland |
|
885-886 |
40,000 Danish Vikings with 700 ships
lay siege to Paris for 11 months |
|
900 |
Rolf the Ganger raids and then settles
in northern France; now known as Normandy (Northman land) |
|
907 |
Swedish Vikings, called Rus, attack
Constantinople |
ca. |
900-935 |
Erik I Bloodaxe becomes king of Norway,
later becomes king of Northumberland, England |
|
902 |
Irish force Norse Vikings out of Dublin |
|
930 |
Icelanders convene the first Althing,
a democratic assembly |
|
934-961 |
Haakon I (the Good) King of Norway,
only surviving brother to Erik Bloodaxe; introduces Christianity |
ca. |
982 - 986 |
Erik the Red discovers and explores
Greenland; 400 Icelanders colonize |
|
985 |
Bjarni Herjolfsson fails to make landfall
in Greenland and reaches North America instead |
ca. |
1000 |
Erik's son Leif explores North America,
wintering in a place he calls Vinland |
ca. |
1000 |
Vikings establish a settlement at L'Anse
aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada - the only authenticated Viking
site in North America |
|
1014 |
Irish defeat Vikings at Clontarf |
|
1016-1035 |
Cnut the Great of Denmark, son of Svein
Forkbeard, reigns as King of England |
|
1066 |
Harald Hardrada, King of Norway,
attacks England from the north and is defeated by Saxon King Harold
Godwinsson at Stamford Bridge on 25 September. Duke William of
Normandy invades England from the south-east, 190 miles away, and
defeats King Harold at Hastings on 14 October. French-speaking
Normans rule England for 300 years. The Viking Age ends. |
|
1085 |
Last Viking raid on England fails |
|
1215 |
King John of England signs the Magna
Carta, a milestone toward government by the governed |
|
1492 |
Christopher Columbus makes landfall
in the West Indies |
