The Scandinavians of the Viking Age are often referred to as Vikings as well as Norsemen, although few of them were Vikings in the sense of being engaged in piracy. The Viking Age applies not only to their homeland of Scandinavia but also to any place significantly settled by Scandinavians during the period.
It followed the Migration Period and the Germanic Iron Age. The Viking Age (793–1066 CE) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America.
