10 Facts About Viking Longships

The Viking longship was a marvel of early medieval naval engineering, perfectly suited for both open-sea voyages and shallow river navigation. Developed between the 8th and 11th centuries, these ships enabled the Norse expansion across vast territories—from the coasts of North America and Greenland to the rivers of Russia and the heart of continental Europe. Longships were typically constructed from oak using the clinker (or lapstrake) method, where overlapping planks were fastened with iron riv