The Vikings - Assignment Example

The Vikings Vikings were part of the Norseman seafaring warriors who raided and controlled large areas in Europe between the 9th and 11th century. The Polynesians were a group of people who inhabited the Pacific Islands of Polynesia, and spoke Polynesian languages. The Vikings and Polynesians were minority groups whose expansion was considered equal. However, the expansion of the Polynesian culture is much less understood compared to Vikings because Polynesians lacked historical writings or literate members who could document and verify their history.

When European historians reached Polynesia in the 16th century, the ability of Polynesians to carry out distant voyages had already been lost and they had been widely isolated on scattered islands. This, coupled with the lack of literate persons to record their history, led to little being known about their culture and expansion (Hadley 19). This led to the eventual decline of both groups. The main reasons for exploration were trade and colonization.The case is the same with the Vikings, but, a bit more is known about their expansion since they are said to have explored places such as North Africa, North Atlantic, Middle East, and Russia, mostly raiding, pillaging and engaging in trade.

Vikings built very sophisticated ships for various uses, mainly raiding and trading, and their ship craftsmanship was superb. The Polynesians mostly relied on outrigger canoe construction techniques to build their vessels and had navigators at various islands. Trade was more developed among the Vikings compared to the Polynesians (Hadley 33). Both cultures were non-literate and had no literary heritage.Work CitedHadley, Dawn. The Vikings in England: Settlement, Society and Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006.