IndexIntroductionBodyConclusionIntroductionThe Vikings were an extraordinary civilization that was very advanced and developed, the Vikings invented ships because there was a particular need and there is a background story. A background story about the Vikings is that they were located in Europe, more specifically in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Furthermore, to demonstrate that the Vikings traveled widely, at the beginning of the 8th century AD and continuing until the 11th century, the Vikings, aboard elegant and fast ships, landed on the coasts of France, England, Spain, the Mediterranean and along the rivers of Western and Eastern Europe. The Vikings also traveled extensively along rivers: they followed the great rivers of modern Russia, founding cities like Novgorod and conducting trade between northern Europe and the Balkans. Some, such as the Varangian Guard, found service as bodyguards to the Byzantine emperor. Scandinavian settlement, assimilation, and the slow but steady conversion to Christianity all contributed to the transformation of the medieval cultures of Denmark, Iceland, and Norway and the merging of the Viking and native populations in Ireland and France. Along with the gladiators and Spartans, the Vikings are recognized as one of the greatest warrior cultures in history, however this was not possible without their wonderful ships, however did you know how they built their ships, how they used their ships and their ship more important. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Body To begin with, the Vikings had a very complicated and explicit way to build their ships. They had all kinds of ships, blueprints and ship parts. The Vikings had three types of ships: longships, merchant ships that carried heavy goods, and merchant ships that carried light goods. For starters, there are longships, which are the most popular among the Vikings. Longships were used in Europe for more than 1,500 years because they were believed to be vital to European history. Longships are 45 to 75 feet (14 to 23 meters) long, worked from clinker (with covered planks), and carry a single square sail, the longship was unusually durable in larger oceans. Longships had three ship types: Snekke, Drekkar and Skeid. The snekke (or snekkja), meaning "scanty and protruding", was normally the smallest longship used in fighting and was called a ship with no fewer than 20 seats. Skeids are the largest warships, seating over 30 people. Boats of this arrangement are by far the largest longships ever found. According to Wikipedia the Drekkar ships are described as very unusual, elegant, richly decorated and used by those who went out to raid and plunder. This means that they were really strong ships that helped the Vikings a lot. These boats were probably slides that varied only in carvings of menacing mammoths, such as serpents and mythical serpents, carried on the bow of the ship. Those were the capital ships, the longships, now with the merchant ships. Merchant ships, these ships were used for travel and trade. Merchant ships carrying heavy cargo and merchant ships carrying light cargo are two types of ships. The knarr or merchant ships for carrying heavy goods had the utilazega and for taking on board merchants, however they were different from the longships because they were wider. According to thevikingsships.com Knarr were usually made of pine rather than oak, were around 16.5 meters long and could hold up to 40 tons of cargo. These boats were more subject to chords than rowing. Knarr ships had fewer oars that came essentiallyused to help manage the ship. On the other side of the merchant ship for carrying light cargo, these ships were more maneuverable than the Knarr ships. These types of ships were fairly easy vessels to tow ashore. The Vikings didn't just build their ships for decoration, they had a purpose. The Vikings had ships that served the purpose of war, travel and trade. To begin with, at the beginning of the 8th century AD and continuing until the 11th century, the Vikings, aboard elegant and fast ships, landed on the coasts of France, England, Spain, in the Mediterranean and along the rivers of the West and Eastern Europe. Whatever the reason, targets of opportunity were numerous and the Vikings took advantage of every one. Their raids were effective thanks to their means of transportation, the Viking longship. Built with a shallow draft and wide beam, these ships were powered by both sails and oars. They were seaworthy, but with a shallow enough draft to allow them to land on any flat stretch of beach. The ports were not needed, so the Vikings were able to arrive without warning, attack before a defense could be mounted, and retreat before reinforcements could arrive. Since their compensation was booty, it was the city population that experienced these invasions the most. The plea "God deliver us from the wrath of the Northmen" was often uttered in the 9th and 10th centuries. Without a doubt, the best way to save a city from sacking was to pay, and the Danegeld (assessment or tribute) was collected in gigantic sums. Normally this amounted to hundreds if not a huge number of pounds of silver. For the most part he obtained an immediate, but temporary, guarantee, because other Viking groups could land within a few months. Eventually the ships actually came in handy because they helped the Vikings privilege, invade, and win battles with their ships. The Vikings had many purposes for boats, but knowing why they built them is also important. The Vikings used their ships a lot, one of the most used is the Gokstad ship, also they had others that were really useful and had its purposes. The best safeguarded are the Norwegian ships Oseberg and Gokstad. Both are thin and refined vessels, light but incredibly solid. The Gokstad dispatch had 32 shields on each side, on the other hand painted yellow and dark. A complete reproduction was made on a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Chicago in 1893. It demonstrated how safe the authentic ship was. The substantial pole was lowered into a depression in the keelson and held in place by the corner of the pole. The deck tarpaulins were free, so sailors could store their belongings under them. A mass of everyday objects were buried in the Gokstad ship. These included the dead man's clothes, a cauldron, six wooden cups, a bucket, six beds, three boats, a sleigh, tent frames, as well as the skeletons of 12 horses, six dogs and a peacock. One of the beds had two posts carved with animal heads. The dead man wanted to take all his things with him to Valhalla, the Viking paradise. Furthermore, the Gokstad tiller is decorated with a carved animal head. The Gokstad control paddle is 3.3 m (10 feet 9 inches) long. The control paddle was permanently attached to the starboard side of the vessel, near the stern. In English, the starboard side of a ship is still called the starboard, from the Old Norse word styra (to steer). The Gokstad vessel is symmetrical, the bow is indistinguishable from the stern, then again, it doesn't actually have a control paddle. The other ships that were not used like the Gokstad ship are the Orberg ship, the Roskilde and the William ship. The Oseberg delivery ship was once considered more..