'Norðmaðr, Lofoten, Norway' - Emerging from the North Germanic tribes of Scandinavia, the Vikings are widely recognized for their unique influences in Medieval European history. From establishing the foundation of Russia, to the Atlantic Sagas, to their Byzantine settlements in Sicily, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, trading with exotic lands as far as Africa and the Middle East; the Vikings helped to shape the political and ethnographic foundation of the Europe we know today.