Vikings and Polynesians

When reading about the Vikings and Polynesians, it became rather interesting to me how both groups were not as history has perceived them. Vikings were not always barbaric as we'd like to thing they are with their weapons and brutal attack tactics; the Polynesians are a group that I'd never heard, but it so happens that they share some common ground with their European counterparts.

In the past, historians had difficulty uncovering what life as a viking was all about. They usually depended on some form of written records, describing the ways of the culture, and the impact it had on its neighbors and enemies. Most of the time, what was written usaully was pretty biased as they were scribed by people, who were literate and quite dispassioniate of those they portrayed as illiterate savages. Western Europeans referred to the Vikings as Normans, men who came from the north. This is one of many names given to the Vikings as much of the old world didn't know what to make of them. Thus was written the narrow perception that Vikings were nothing more than vicious savages. Thankfully, we've soon found that archeological remains and other studies have helped to clear up any questions historians had (and still have) about the Viking way of life. Vikings were, for the most part, a 'material culture" that made siginificant technologies to allow themselves access to trade, commerce, and to travel the world they eventually conquered. They expanded not just all over Europe, but in parts of North America from Greenland to the icy lands of Canada. This makes them the first whites to step foot on the North America continent and before Columbus in 1492. However, this move was only partial compared to the large expansion the Vikings made from the Caspian Sea to the Labrador, the eastern part of Canada. Originally, the Vikings were all from Scandinavia, a region established by people from the late Roman times. This region consist of Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians - Germanic people of different nationalities, but shared a common language. Their lifestyle limited them to a strain of crops that grew rarely during the harsh cold seasons. Though Vikings were not farmers, they engaged in herding, hunting, and trapping prey for their survival. In a sense, they were free men, with the exception that there were regional lords or Jarls, as they were called, who ruled the small, individual propteries of land. It soon came time when the Vikings needed to expand on their daily supply of food and to enhance their way of life. The most interesting aspect of the Viking culture was their use of transport to conquer other lands. Known as "longboats", these sea crafts were put into effect before the Viking Age with unique characteristics. Each one was tall, matching, and large with a curved bow and stern  to allow for a great number of men to board. The sail and mast came much later as the Vikings realized the need to power through a storm or be pushed swiftly by the wind. Once the Vikings had their longboats, they set out to gain power and wealth. With each land they conquered and colonized, the trade market boomed throughout every Viking held city and commerce vastly expanded. It all but collapsed when Knut the Great of Denmark nearly succeeded in bringing the Vikings together as one great northern empire until he died. Not only that, but many local groups became more independent and some converted to Christianity, thus depriving each other of their common language and identity.

The Polynesians had no writting system to be preserved for our eyes, nor were they most understood culture to have ever existed. The European discovery of these people didn't occur until the sixteenth century and by that time, most Polynesians had lost their identity and memory of their actual origins. They spoke a language somewhat close to the Austronesian tongue and made pottery, which symbolize much of what their culture once was. Polynesians grew fruits and plants, but were not farmers. They had their share of domesticated animals, but similar to the Vikings' situations, none of it was enough. Their people made use of canoes to travel back and forth between near by islands, but these crafts were not meant for long journeys out into the Pacific. Polynesians switched their canoes with their newly developed vessels to counter the problem of long ocean voyages. These vessels were much like true ships, with platforms, wide decks, huge sails and masts for the strong winds to carry them for long distances. Many were well settled in the lands they dwelled in, but from east to west, each Polynesian group had its own religious practice and worship, distinctive in a number of ways. None in this culture had any grudges towards one another, as they were all dependent on each other and way too far to reach in the case of war-like strageties. Much like the Vikings, though, the Polynesians went into decline and Peruvian slavers came to destroy their way of life. No one lived to keep the memories of this culture alive.