Editing Polygyny (section)

===Enslavement of women===
Researchers have suggested that [[Vikings]] may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hrala |first1=Josh |title=Vikings Might Have Started Raiding Because There Was a Shortage of Single Women |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/vikings-might-have-raided-because-there-was-a-shortage-of-single-women |work=ScienceAlert |date=18 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Choi |first1=Charles Q. |title=The Real Reason for Viking Raids: Shortage of Eligible Women? |url=https://www.livescience.com/56786-vikings-raided-to-find-love.html |work=Live Science |date=8 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/iceland-founded-viking-slaves|title=Sex Slaves – The Dirty Secret Behind The Founding Of Iceland|date=2018-01-16|website=All That's Interesting|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722043846/https://allthatsinteresting.com/iceland-founded-viking-slaves|archive-date=22 July 2019|access-date=2019-07-22}}</ref><ref name=":01">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/12/151228-vikings-slaves-thralls-norse-scandinavia-archaeology/|title=Kinder, Gentler Vikings? Not According to Their Slaves|date=2015-12-28|website=National Geographic News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802035726/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/12/151228-vikings-slaves-thralls-norse-scandinavia-archaeology/|archive-date=2 August 2019|access-date=2019-08-02}}</ref> The concept was expressed in the 11th century by historian [[Dudo of Saint-Quentin]] in his semi-imaginary ''History of The Normans''.<ref name="Wyatt2009">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWJGynaKSkkC&pg=PA124|title=Slaves and Warriors in Medieval Britain and Ireland: 800–1200|author=David R. Wyatt|publisher=Brill|date=2009|isbn=978-90-04-17533-4|page=124}}</ref> Rich and powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines, and these polygynous relationships might have led to a shortage of eligible women for the average Viking male. Due to this, the average Viking man could have been forced to perform riskier actions to gain wealth and power to be able to find suitable women.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Viegas |first1=Jennifer |title=Viking Age triggered by shortage of wives? |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26755692 |work=NBC News |date=17 September 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Knapton |first1=Sarah |title=Viking raiders were only trying to win their future wives' hearts |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/05/viking-raiders-were-only-trying-to-win-their-future-wives-hearts/ |work=The Telegraph |date=5 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/10/22/vikings-invasions/|title=New Viking Study Points to "Love and Marriage" as the Main Reason for their Raids|date=2018-10-22|website=The Vintage News|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802035734/https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/10/22/vikings-invasions/|archive-date=2 August 2019|access-date=2019-08-02}}</ref> Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Karras|first=Ruth Mazo|date=1990|journal=Scandinavian Studies|volume=62|issue=2|pages=141–162 |jstor=40919117|title=Concubinage and Slavery in the Viking Age}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Poser|first=Charles M.|date=1994|title=The dissemination of multiple sclerosis: A Viking saga? A historical essay|journal=Annals of Neurology|language=en|volume=36|issue=S2|pages=S231–S243|doi=10.1002/ana.410360810|pmid=7998792|s2cid=36410898 }}</ref> The [[Annals of Ulster]] states that in 821 the Vikings plundered an Irish village and "carried off a great number of women into captivity".<ref name="DolfiniCrellin2018">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8e1lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA349|title=Prehistoric Warfare and Violence: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches|author1=Andrea Dolfini|author2=Rachel J. Crellin|author3=Christian Horn|author4=Marion Uckelmann|publisher=Springer|date=2018|isbn=978-3-319-78828-9|page=349}}</ref>

Polygyny in West Africa, the region of the world where the practice is most common, exists in a societal context where historical factors, such as the slave trade, and the local religion, Islam, interact creating a culture where polygyny is widespread. The slave trade's impact on the male-to-female sex ratio has been cited as a key factor in the high prevalence of polygynous practices in this region of Africa.<ref name="dalton" />