Editing Vikings (section)

==Trade==
{{See also | Trade during the Viking Age | Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks | Volga trade route|Bukhara slave trade}}
[[File:Box and scales.jpg|thumb|The scales and weights of a Viking trader, used for measuring silver and sometimes gold (from the [[Sigtuna box]] found in Sweden)]]

The Vikings established and engaged in extensive trading networks throughout the known world and had a profound influence on the economic development of Europe and Scandinavia.<ref name = BBCMoney>Gareth Williams: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/money_01.shtml Viking Money] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210111850/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/money_01.shtml |date=10 February 2014 }} BBC History</ref><ref>[[James Graham-Campbell|Graham-Campbell, James]]: ''The Viking World'', Frances Lincoln Ltd, London (2013). Maps of trade routes.</ref>

Other than in such trading centres as [[Ribe]] [[Hedeby]] in Denmark, Scandinavia was unfamiliar with the use of coinage. Therefore, its economy was based on [[bullion]]; that is, the purity and weight of precious metals used in exchange. [[Silver]] was the precious metal most commonly used, although [[gold]] was also used. Traders carried small portable scales, enabling them to measure weight precisely, which allowed an accurate medium of exchange, even lacking a regular coinage.<ref name="Williams2011">{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Gareth |title=BBC – History – Ancient History in depth: Viking Money |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/money_01.shtml |website=www.bbc.co.uk |publisher=BBC |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226012532/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/money_01.shtml |archive-date=26 December 2022 |date=17 February 2011}}</ref>

===Goods===
Organised trade covered everything from ordinary items in bulk to exotic luxury products. The Viking ship designs, like that of the ''knarr'', were an important factor in their success as merchants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/raiders-or-traders-52803648/?all |title=Raiders or Traders? |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |author=Andrew Curry |date=July 2008 |access-date=24 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227062342/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/raiders-or-traders-52803648/?all |archive-date=27 February 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> Imported goods from other cultures included:<ref name=Teachers>[http://www.rmg.co.uk/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Teachers_notes5.pdf Vikings as traders] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228035955/http://www.rmg.co.uk/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Teachers_notes5.pdf |date=28 February 2014 }}, Teachers' notes 5. Royal Museums Greenwich</ref>
* [[Spice]]s were obtained from Chinese and Persian traders, who met with the Viking traders in Russia. Vikings used homegrown spices and herbs like [[caraway]], [[thyme]], [[horseradish]] and [[Mustard seed|mustard]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/food/herbs-spices-and-vegetables/|title=Herbs, spices and vegetables in the Viking period|publisher=National Museum of Denmark|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318163411/http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/food/herbs-spices-and-vegetables/|archive-date=18 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> but imported [[cinnamon]].
* [[Glass]] was much prized by the Norse. The imported glass was often made into beads for decoration and these have been found in the thousands. [[Åhus]] in Scania and the old market town of Ribe were major centres of glass bead production.<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SrvncTWI5UC&q=bead+AND+glass+AND+viking+AND+Ribe&pg=PA254
|title=Barbarians come to Market: The Emporia of Western Eurasia from 500 BC to AD 1000
|author=Heidi Michelle Sherman
|pages=250–55
|year=2008
|access-date=24 February 2014
|isbn=978-0549718161
}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>HL Renart of Berwick: [http://dragonslaire.org/articles/Viking_Beads_research.pdf Glass Beads of the Viking Age] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310201722/http://dragonslaire.org/articles/Viking_Beads_research.pdf |date=10 March 2014 }}. An inquiry into the glass beads of the Vikings. Sourced information and pictures.</ref><ref>[http://www.regia.org/glass.htm Glass and Amber] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604201036/http://www.regia.org/glass.htm |date=4 June 2014 }} Regia Anglorum. Sourced information and pictures.</ref>
* [[Silk]] was a very important commodity obtained from [[Byzantium]] (modern day [[Istanbul]]) and China. It was valued by many European cultures of the time, and the Vikings used it to indicate status such as wealth and nobility. Many of the archaeological finds in Scandinavia include silk.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.apollon.uio.no/english/vikings.html
|title=Norwegian Vikings purchased silk from Persia
|magazine=Apollon – research magazine
|publisher=University of Oslo
|author=Yngve Vogt
|date=1 November 2013
|access-date=24 February 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527151252/http://www.apollon.uio.no/english/vikings.html
|archive-date=27 May 2014
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>Marianne Vedeler: [http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/silk-for-the-vikings.html ''Silk for The Vikings''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307004019/http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/silk-for-the-vikings.html |date=7 March 2014 }}, Oxbow 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1426&context=tsaconf
|title=Irish Viking Age silks and their place in Hiberno-Norse society
|journal=Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings
|author=Elizabeth Wincott Heckett
|department=Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, NUI Cork, Ireland.
|year=2002
|access-date=28 February 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228165207/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1426&context=tsaconf
|archive-date=28 February 2014
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
* [[Wine]] was imported from France and Germany as a drink of the wealthy, augmenting the regular [[mead]] and [[beer]].
To counter these valuable imports, the Vikings exported a large variety of goods. These goods included:<ref name=Teachers/>
[[File:S. V. Ivanov. Trade negotiations in the country of Eastern Slavs. Pictures of Russian history. (1909).jpg|thumb|The Rus' trading slaves with the [[Khazars]]]]
[[File:Torshammare av bärnsten.jpg|thumb|[[Mjölnir]], hammer of Thor, made of [[amber]] (found in Sweden]]
* [[Amber]]—the fossilised resin of the pine tree—was frequently found on the [[North Sea]] and [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coastline. It was worked into beads and ornamental objects, before being traded. (See also the [[Amber Road]]).
* Fur was also exported as it provided warmth. This included the furs of [[pine marten]]s, [[fox]]es, [[bear]]s, [[otter]]s and [[beaver]]s.
* Cloth and [[wool]]. The Vikings were skilled spinners and weavers and exported woollen cloth of a high quality.
* [[Down feather|Down]] was collected and exported. The Norwegian west coast supplied eiderdowns and sometimes feathers were bought from the [[Samis]]. Down was used for bedding and quilted clothing. [[Fowling]] on the steep slopes and cliffs was dangerous work and was often lethal.<ref name=Lise>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWYhnTuI2NoC&q=oxen+jutland |title=The Scandinavians – from the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century |chapter=Rural Economy: Ecology, Hunting, Pastoralism, Agricultural and Nutritional Aspects |first1=Lise Bender |last1=Jørgensen |first2=Judith |last2=Jesch |publisher=Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress |year=2002 |pages=131–37 |isbn=978-0851158679 |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202165827/https://books.google.com/books?id=gWYhnTuI2NoC&q=oxen+jutland |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Slaves]]. The Muslim writer [[Ahmad ibn Rustah]] described how the Viking Rus' had "no cultivated fields and lived by pillaging alone". They were ruthless in their enslaving of many people. Most of the slaves were taken to Scandinavia, but others were sold in the markets of [[Atil]] that fed the demand in many cities of Asia and North Africa. The surge in the slave trade of the 9th century is reflected in the amount of coins minted in Central Asia,  that have been unearthed in Scandinavia.{{sfn|Frankopan|2015|pages=117-118}}{{sfn|Metcalf|1997|pages= 295–335}}

Other exports included weapons, [[walrus ivory]], [[wax]], [[salt]] and [[cod]]. As one of the more exotic exports, [[Falconry|hunting birds]] were sometimes provided from Norway to the European aristocracy, from the 10th century.<ref name=Lise/>

Many of these goods were also traded within the Viking world itself, as well as goods such as [[soapstone]] and [[Sharpening stone|whetstone]]. Soapstone was traded with the Norse on [[Iceland]] and in [[Jutland]], who used it for pottery. Whetstones were traded and used for sharpening weapons, tools and knives.<ref name=Teachers/> There are indications from Ribe and surrounding areas, that the extensive medieval trade with oxen and cattle from Jutland (see [[Hærvejen|Ox Road]]), reach as far back as c. 720 AD. This trade satisfied the Vikings' need for leather and meat to some extent, and perhaps hides for [[parchment]] production on the European mainland. Wool was also very important as a domestic product for the Vikings, to produce warm clothing for the cold Scandinavian and Nordic climate, and for sails. Sails for Viking ships required large amounts of wool, as evidenced by experimental archaeology. There are archaeological signs of organised textile productions in Scandinavia, reaching as far back as the early [[Nordic Iron Age|Iron Ages]]. Artisans and craftsmen in the larger towns were supplied with [[antlers]] from organised hunting with large-scale reindeer traps in the far north. They were used as raw material for making everyday utensils like combs.<ref name=Lise/>