Winter Travel in Ancient Scandinavia: 3000 BC - 1900 AD
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- čas přidán 20. 01. 2023
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The Scandinavian winter was a horrible time in the ancient eras. It heralded darkness, biting cold, and starving predators which wandered into human settlements, searching for food. But it was also a time of wonder. People got out to play on the ice and in the snow, as the aurora borealis reared itself over the mountainous horizon. Markets were hosted on the ice, as rivers, lakes and tracts of roadless lands were suddenly made...accessible.
Scandinavia is a land of mountains and forest. Travelling in winter, on the ice and through the snow, was lighter and faster in the eras before rail and motorways. Whilst the cold bit you to the bone, so too was it a time of trade, travel and industry. In this video we will explore just how the ancient Nordics exploited the seemingly biggest threat of their homeland: the winter wonderland.
Sources:
History of the Nordic Peoples - Olaus magnus
Armer and Expected. Traders and their ways in Viking Times - Vladas Zulkus
The Land of the Midnight Sun - Paul Belloni du Chaillu
Finlands Historia 1 - Torsten Edgren, Lena Törnblom
Den Långa Medeltiden - Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist
Eyrbyggja Saga
Gustav Vasa och hans folk - Göta Göransson
Gustav II Adolf och hans folk - Göta Göransson
Image sources:
By Valugi - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
#history #winter #balticempire
Lovely video, many thanks! We are an elderly couple who retired to Jamtland's lan over a year ago. Our first Swedish winter was amazing, and reminiscent of the snowy winters of my native Scottish Highlands, sadly no more since the snow vanished a couple of decades ago. Here though, I've bought my very first pair of skis (at sixtyone that may be overly optimistc but I'll give it a go) and it's wonderful to see so many skiers around us, including children who practice skiing all year long by, in the summer months, using wheeled skis. The beauty of Sweden is breathtaking, summer or winter. To walk in the forest through a blanket of snow with only natural silence, or the hoofbeats of retreating deer has made this old woman very happy indeed. 😊
Love your content! There's a famous quote that says ''Becoming an overnight success takes years'' I've seen many small channels blow up and I hope yours does as well, you deserve it.
The seasonal ice taverns are interesting because it seems like it would have been possible to make them on sturdy enough stilts to survive the thaw and become accessible by boat until next winter. I'm surprised they invested the time and materials to build structures that only had one season of use and had to be rebuilt every year.
Me too - here in Canada ice fishing shacks get moved on & off the ice in early & late winter. But, ice pushing on boat docks stilts in spring can break them.
Re the mention of reindeer skin on skis around 8:00 minutes: i guess using directional fur on skis comes and goes. My parents had CC skis from the 1970s that had strips of fur on the bottom for just this reason. They were called mo-hair or mole-hair, so i think they came from a tradition of using mole fur. But im pretty sure on these skis it was just polyester or something. It worked, but in certain types of snow it would clog up and slow you down a lot. In all the CC skis I've seen made in the 90's or later, they just have a scaley texture imprinted on the bottom that serves the same purpose but is much less likely to clog.
This is such fascinating and rare information, presented very well. It deserves much more attention. Thanks heaps for making these!
I’ve always loved winter, and coming from a place where -30 Celsius is a yearly occurrence I’ve wondered how people survived these regions through history. Great (but short) video! I’d love to see more resources and details about this. I’ll check out your sources a bit more too.
Thanks for this great video, interesting how there were ice taverns. Olaus Magnus is one of my favorite Swedes because of his texts, and beautiful maps. He really enlightened the past for us. There was also a winter when people could walk on the ice from Norway to Denmark during the medieval time. I think Olaus Magnus wrote that too :) ❄
Väldigt bra kanal, kommer säkert bli lika stor som Invicta.
I had my first skate on a frozen lake outside of Uppsala a few years ago. God I sucked . You Nords sure have it worked out 👏 ( I’m an Australian fyi)
Best content and narration, I have come across lately! And good sense of humor as well!
Loving the Dun Morogh background music :D
Good video, as always. Thanks.
Hell was winter before Dante make it fire lake
спасибо очень интересно
I love the dun morogoh music in the back ground. Works for narrative as well as commentarry.
I’m a cross-country skiing history nerd, crazy to think ancient tech is basically the same except the boot bindings! Reindeer skin rightly would act as grooves in same spot today on backcountry skis (maybe better? b/c hairs only in direction to catch us but smooth in other direction for gliding.) Plus, the full ski paired with 1/2 ski would be perfect for ‘skate skiing’ where one leg glides & other pushes out, may be more rare b/c need smooth compact snow. Did they use snow shoes at all?
not AFAIK afar from the three snow shoe implements I presented
Absolutely loved this topic!
Thank you.
Dude both your channels are great
An interesting overview of a special topic. Very interesting. Cheers! 🎿
Such an interesting video. Thank you
Cheers kompis!
What interestin content! I don't see why there are not more subscibers...
Is that vanilla World of Warcraft music in this intro? It sounds like Thousand Needles 😮
Why does this have such little views…
Were war sleds every a thing in Scandinavia?
for transporting supplies yes but i havent heard of sleds being used in battles themselves
Said the city-dweller
Skies, what the treadmill is to walking they are to the slip and slide...one step forward two back I suppose.
Still awful
BS. They had reindeer untill the roman occupation of England
Hey. Don’t you lie. Don’t lie! Are you in the hives or messhugah? Be honest. It’s ok. Can I see your papers?