North Germanic Peoples Or Nordic People
North Germanic peoples , commonly called Scandinavians ,[1] Nordic peoples [2] and in
a medieval context Norsemen ,[1] were a Germanic linguistic group originating from the Scandinavian
Peninsula.[3] They are identified by their cultural similarities, common ancestry and common use of
the Proto-Norse language from around 200 AD, a language that around 800 AD became the Old
Norse language, which in turn later became the North Germanic languages of today.[4]
The North Germanic peoples are thought to have emerged as a distinct people in what is now
southern Sweden in the early centuries AD.[5] Several North Germanic tribes are mentioned
by classical writers in antiquity, in particular the Swedes, Danes, Geats, Gutes and Rugii. During the
subsequent Viking Age, seafaring North Germanic adventurers, commonly referred to as Vikings, raided
and settled territories throughout Europe and beyond, founding several important political entities and
exploring the North Atlantic as far as North America. Groups that arose from this expansion include
the Normans, the Norse–Gaels and the Rus' people. The North Germanic peoples of the Viking Age went
by various names among the cultures they encountered, but are generally referred to as Norsemen .[6]
With the end of the Viking Age in the 11th century, the North Germanic peoples were converted from
their native Norse paganism to Christianity, while their previously tribal societies were centralized into
the modern kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.[7][8][6]
Modern linguistic groups that descended from the North Germanic peoples are
the Danes, Icelanders, Norwegians, Swedes, and Faroese.[1][9][10][11] These groups are often collectively
referred to as Scandinavians ,[1][9][11] although Icelanders and the Faroese[12] are sometimes excluded
from that definition.[13][3]
History
Depiction of ancient rituals at the Rock Carvings in Tanum, Nordic
Bronze Age
See also: History of Scandinavia
Prehistory
See also: Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer, Archaeology of Northern Europe, Scandinavian
prehistory, Nordic Stone Age, and Pitted Ware culture
The Battle Axe culture, a local variant of the Corded Ware culture, which was itself an offshoot of
the Yamnaya culture, emerged in southern Scandinavia in the early 3rd millennium BC. Modern-day
Scandinavians have been found to carry more ancestry from the Yamnaya culture than any other
population in Europe.[40] While previous inhabitants of Scandinavia have been found to be mostly