geography

Scandinavia How did the Vikings Become Peaceful?

Cultural Geography

Dr. Wright

Learning Objectives

• Seven factors that explain why the Vikings became peaceful

– Do these factors explain other countries?

“Peace” • How do you define this?

Global Peace Index (GPI) Criteria (which are biased and how?)

• Number of conflicts fought: 2001-2013

• Number deaths in conflicts (external)

• Number of deaths from conflicts (internal)

• Level of internal conflict

• Relations with neighboring countries

• Distrust in other citizens

• Number displaced

• Political instability

• Human rights record

• Terrorism

• Homicide rate

• Violent crime rate

• Jailed as percent

GPI Criteria

• Military expenditure as percent of GDP

• Military per 100,000 people

• Weapons imports

• Weapons exports

• UN deployments

• Non-UN deployments

• Heavy weapons per 100,000 people

• Ease of access to small arms by citizens

• Military capability

Bias – every ranking system has it

• Military deployments are “anti-peace?”

• Military capability is “anti-peace?”

• Citizen access to guns is a bad thing?

• 60% “Internal Measures?”

• 40% “External Measures?”

• Violence against women and kids left out

• Factors weighted by a panel of “experts?”

USA Ranked 100th out of 162 countries

• USA ranked low because of… – Military size

– Deployments and wars

– High violent crime rate

– Terrorist attacks

– Largest % of pop in jail in the world (1%)

– Easy access to hand guns

Top Ten most “peaceful” countries

• #1: Iceland

– No standing army

• #2: Denmark

– “Happiest people on Earth”

• #3: New Zealand

– Isolationist, low corruption

• #4: Austria

– Sheds its Nazi past

• #5: Switzerland

– Neutral, banking wealth

• #6: Japan

– No offensive military

• #7: Finland

– Post WWII peace

• #8: Canada

– Low crime, human rights

• #9: Sweden

– Anti-war, wealthy

• #10: Norway

– Oil wealth, low crime

Next 10 Most “Peaceful” Countries

• #11: Belgium – Manufacturing wealth

• #12: Ireland – High tech jobs – No religious violence

• #13: Slovenia – Post-Yugoslavia peace

• #14: Czech Republic – Post-USSR peace

• #15: Germany – Safe, wealthy society – Post-Nazi pacifism

• #16: Australia and Singapore – Wealth, business

• #18: Portugal – Post-colonial peace

• #19: Qatar – Oil wealth – Moderate Islam

• #20: Bhutan – Remote Buddhist kingdom

Most Peaceful Countries Forbes Magazine

• #1: Iceland

• #2: Denmark

• #3: New Zealand

• #4: Austria

• #5: Switzerland

• #6: Japan

• #7: Finland

• #8: Canada

• #9: Sweden

• #10: Norway

Most Peaceful Countries

• Most of these countries depend on the United States or another major military power for their national defense

– This factor skews the data

• But, the Least Peaceful Countries are pretty obvious in the Global Peace Index (GPI)

Least “Peaceful” Countries

• #162 of 162: Afghanistan – War, Taliban, al Qaeda – Drug trade

• #161: Somalia – Chaos, warlords – A failing state

• #160: Syria – A complex civil war

• #159: Iraq – Sectarian violence

• #158: Sudan – Ethnic/religious violence

• #157: Pakistan – Jihadists, repression

• #156: Dem Rep Congo – Gangs, civil war

• #155: Russia (2.8 score) – Corruption, crime – Gangs, oligarchs, thugs – Chechnya – Ukraine – Putin

• #154: North Korea – Madness, repression

• #153: Lebanon – Hezbollah terrorists – Syrian civil war spillover

• #152: Yemen – Al Qaeda on the Arabian

Peninsula

Some Noteworthy Countries What to you think of these rankings?

• Vietnam: 41st

• South Korea: 47th

• Jordan: 52nd

• France: 53rd

• Cuba: 65th

• Brazil: 81st

• Haiti: 92nd

• Saudi Arabia: 97th

• USA: 100TH

• China: 101st

• Bangladesh: 105th

• Sri Lanka: 110th

• Tajikistan: 118th

• Mali: 125th

• Thailand: 130th

• Mexico: 133rd

• Colombia: 147

• Israel: 150th

Factors and Patterns

• Most Peaceful countries – 13 of 20 are European – Stable democracies common – Prosperity and education – Clean environments – Low crime – Secular or moderate religion – Racially homogeneous – Human rights – Women’s rights? – Not drug producers – Many are Post –

empire/war/colonialism/ occupation

• Least Peaceful countries – 9 of 11 are African or Middle East/Central Asia – Ethnic conflicts – Brown Colonialism – Poverty, lack of education – Pollution – Drug trade – Religious extremism – Military rule – Crime – Poor on human rights – Poor on women’s rights – Russia is a striking case study

French President de Gaulle German Chancellor Adenauer

1958

France and Germany

reach peaceful relations

Both were democracies

Trade dependence

Post-War mentalities

“Democratic Peace Theory”

• Philosopher Immanuel Kant: refined by others

• Democratically elected leaders are forced to explain war losses to public

• Trade replaces conquest

• As wealth grows, countries have more to lose by going to war

• KEY: Recent experience with destructive power of full-scale war

Democracy

• Free and fair elections

• Representative government

– Not kings or dictators

• Freedom of the press

• Freedom of religion

– Including, freedom from religion

• Are these ideas widely accepted in the world?

Factors in Peace

• Geographic distance between countries

• Geographic adjacency of countries

• Differences in military strength

• Nuclear deterrent

• Alliances

• Economic wealth reduces need for empires

• Economic interdependence of countries

• Globalization

• Political stability

• Religion?

Other World Peace Theories

• Capitalism and Trade • Mutually Assured Destruction • Reduce Nationalism • Globalization of Ideas and Values • Natural Resource Stewardship • “Peace Through Superior Firepower”

– Have such a large military force that no-one dares to attack you

– Is this possible now? • Terrorism: 911 attacks on the USA • Iraq and Afghanistan wars • Russia’s invasions of Georgia and Ukraine

The United Nations

• The UN Charter

– “To maintain international peace and security…”

– “To take collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace…”

– “To settle international disputes…”

– “To develop friendly relations…”

– “To achieve international co-operation

Has this worked?

How can we measure that?

One Last Theory • A complete military defeat changes a society

and turns it against making war

• World War II – Germany

– Japan

– Italy

In WWII, Russia lost 23 million people, but won.

They lost the Cold War and now seem to be out for lost territory and pride

Why did the Vikings become

peaceful?

LANGUAGES

Country Rankings Foreign Aid as Percent of GDP

• #1: Luxembourg – 1%

• #2: Sweden – .99%

– $5.25 billion per year

• #3: Norway - .93%

• #4: Denmark - .84%

• #5 Netherlands - .71%

• #6: UK - .56%

• #7: Finland - .53%

• #8: Ireland - .48%

• #9: Belgium - .47%

• #10: France - .45%

• #18: Iceland - .22%

• #19: USA - .19%

– $30 billion per year

World’s Happiest Countries Forbes Magazine Study

• #1: Norway

• #2: Denmark

• #3: Australia

• #4: New Zealand

• #5: Sweden

• #6: Canada

• #7: Finland

• #8: Switzerland

• #9: Netherlands

• #10: USA

• #12: Iceland

Lowest Murder Rates

• #1: Monaco • #2: Hong Kong • #3: Singapore • #4: Iceland

– 0 murders in many years

• #5: Japan

• #6: French Polynesia • #7: Brunei • #8: Bahrain • #9: Norway

– .6/100,000 people

• #10: Denmark • #18: Sweden • #28: Finland

– 2/100,000 people

• #?: USA – 5/100,000 people

Nobel Peace Prize • Given by Norway to someone each year for

their efforts in furthering peace

• Named for Alfred Nobel, a Norwegian, who invented dynamite

What happened to Viking violence?

Who were the Vikings?

• Norse people from Scandinavia

• Raiding and Trading in Europe and beyond

• Became known as Vikings

– Named for Viken, a fjord near Oslo, Norway

• “Viking” became synonymous with piracy, plundering, raping, but they were traders too

The Vikings

YouTube Videos

• Vikings European Raids (4:06)

• Vikings Attacking England (3:43)

PEAK OF VIKING CONTROL

Viking Conquest and Expansion – WHY?

• Revenge – Against continental Europeans for raids into Viking lands – Against French and others because of their forced conversion to

Christianity – those Vikings who resisted were killed

• Slaves – Enslaved Christians, very profitable

• Resources – Farmland, timber, metal

• “Wives” – Shortage of women, rapes common

• Trade – Created trade routes, settlements, outposts over a vast area

• After fall of Roman Empire, trade eventually shifted to Islamic Empire and the Silk Road

• Vikings opened new trade routes in Arab lands

Viking Raids

• Groups of men in boats raided after their crops were planted back home in Scandinavia

• Vikings were Pagans

• Pillaged churches and town for wealth and food

– Lindisfarne Monastery

in Northern England

• Killed Christian monks

• Vikings were seen as terrorists

Ruins of Lindisfarne Monastery

Viking Influence was Great

• Viking DNA in Great Britain, Ireland, France and beyond beginning in 700 AD – Attacked Muslim Andalusia in 844, captured

Seville, sacked Lisbon, then were defeated

– 966 attacked Lisbon and sacked Lisbon again

– Traded in Baghdad in 900s (Ibn-Fadlan account)

• “Vikings” were Norse, Swedish, Danish as we recognize these ethnicities today

• Huge navies – fleets of 120 ships

• “Merchant-Warriors”

Iceland • Vikings arrived in 874 AD

• Island was unoccupied, no indigenous people

• Icelandic Commonwealth created

– 435 male settlers

– Women came later

“The Viking Deception”

• Were Viking explorations of Vinland (North America) real or imagined?

• “Vinland Map” is believed to show Newfoundland

NEWFOUNDLAND

VIKING VOYAGES

Icelandic Sagas

• Written accounts of history, war, conquest, kings, battles, customs, ancestry, family stories

• Written down in 13th century, but covering oral history going back 400 years

• Give us much of what we know about Viking history

– Icelandic is the closest language to what the Vikings spoke

Iceland Saga Documents

40,000 square miles 300,000 people

Gulf Stream warmth

Middle Atlantic Ridge Iceland

“Foss” means waterfall

“Icelandic Horse”

Salmon fishing

Gullfoss

“Geyser” Origin of the name

Reykjavik

• Cosmopolitan

isolated

city

North from Reykjavik Into “Arctic” Iceland

Sweden A wealthy Scandinavian Social Democracy

Stockholm

World Nordic Skiing Championship – March 2012

Norway The most respected country on Earth?

Oslo

Why the Vikings Became Peaceful

• #1: Christianity – Scandinavian Kings converted to Christianity and

banned the enslaving of Christians which was the largest source of income in many Viking raids

– Christianity made it easier for Vikings to trade with other regions of Europe

– Now, nominally Lutheran, but very low church attendance

Why the Vikings Became Peaceful

• #2: Military Losses – Vikings from Norway were defeated by the

English in 1066, BUT, war continued inside Scandinavia for centuries more

• Norway had a civil war that last a century

• Sweden had religious wars and built an empire that included Finland and Norway

• Denmark fought with Norway and captured Iceland

• Prussians invaded in 1860s – more war

• Nazis invaded and captured Denmark and Norway

• Scandinavia grew tired of war

Why the Vikings Became Peaceful

• #3: NATO Protection – Scandinavian countries have small militaries

because they are protect by the USA and NATO

Why the Vikings Became Peaceful

• #4: 20th Century Wealth – Scandinavian countries are wealthy

– High Tech industry, oil and gas, trade, banking

– High Per Capita GDP • Norway: $56,000, 10th highest

• Denmark, Finland, Iceland: $40,000

• USA: $53,000, 13th highest

Why the Vikings Became Peaceful

• #5: Democratically Elected Governments

– Kings and Queens still exist but have little power

Why the Vikings Became Peaceful

• #6: Education and Social Change – Scandinavia has excellent schools, a culture of

learning, honest government

– World Education Rankings (Pearson study)

• #1: Norway

• #2: South Korea

• #3: Japan

• #4: Singapore

• #12: Denmark

• #17: USA

• Sweden, Finland, Iceland – all in top 30

Why the Vikings Became Peaceful

• #7: Internationalism – Scandinavians are hooked into the international

flow of information, trade, ideas, Internet

– Strong supporters of the United Nations

– Negotiate peace treaties

– Give large amounts of foreign aid with no geo-political strings attached

– Immigration is now creating tensions

• From Iraq, Poland, Iran, former Yugoslavia, Turkey

• An increase in nationalist political candidates

List of Factors

• #1: Christianity

• #2: Military Losses

• #3: NATO Protection

• #4: 20th Century Wealth

• #5: Democratically Elected Gov’ts

• #6: Education and Social Change

• #7: Internationalism

Learning Objectives

• Seven factors that explain why the Vikings became peaceful

– Do these factors explain other countries?