Were the Vikings and the Danes the same people?

Question

Did the Danes come from Denmark(or is that too obvious) and the Vikings from Norway and Sweden or are they synonymous?

Do you mean "All Danes were Vikings?"

Answer 1

The Danes and the Vikings are two separate groups of northern Germanic folk.

The Vikings came mainly from Norway and Sweden. The Danes from Danmark [Danemark].

DANES
The Danish Kings of England (1013-1066). 2001. The Encyclopedia of ...The Danish Kings of England (1013-1066). 2001. The Encyclopedia of World History.
http://www.bartleby.com/67/englan02.html

VIKINGS
BBC - History - VikingsMore than the raiders of tradition, the Vikings were also traders and colonists who left an enduring mark on Britain.Overview: The Vikings, 800 to 1066 by ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings

Edit: no evidence so far has been found of any Viking or Danish raids or settlement[s] in Wales. The people of Wales are mostly of British [Celtic] descent and unconnected to the Vikings/Danes/English etc.

Answer 2

The term VIKING simply means Pirate or Raider, as other people have correctly pointed out.

For the people of England, Scotland, Ireland and to a lesser degree Wales the term VIKING would have been applied to any Scandinavian raiders or invaders. So this would have included Danes, Jutes and Norwegians. The British isles were never raided by Swedes, but if they had been they would have been labelled vikings also.

So yes all nordic raiders and invaders were termed vikings, however, once they became settled this changed, hence the establishment of "Danelaw" in eastern England in the early middle ages, the settled vikings, most of whom were danes, were then called Danes.

Answer 3

Some Danes were Vikings but not all Vikings were Danes. Others came from Norway and Sweden.

Answer 4

"Vikings" is technically the word for pirates and raiders in the medieval times hailing from Scandinavia. Some people of Denmark were Vikings, but most were Danes.

Answer 5

I remember that my European history professor in college went over the way the terms (essentially synonymous) are differentiated, though I have forgotten what he said! I seem to remember that it somehow related to the direction in which they migrated. For example, the Danes would have migrated (and plundered) say West, and the Vikings East or South. I'm going to search for clarification on this, but I'm pretty sure that the premise is right.

Answer 6

Danes are from Denmark, yes.
Vikings came from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and lots of other Baltic countries. Mostly known from Sweden though.

Answer 7

Vikings are from Scandinavia, which includes Denmark. However, they were different groups and and did fight amongst each other. Keep your eye on the newspapers, a ship is being sailed from Roskilde in Denmark to Ireland. Trade routes covered from the Volga to Ireland and Iceland, also as far as Canada, which makes their trading empire one of the largest before the industrial age.

A coupe of decent websites below - there are others.

Answer 8

Vikings came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. However, where they came from determined where they raided.e.g. it was the ones from Norway who travelled to Northern Ireland and to Scotland.

Answer 9

The Vikings were Norse people from Scandinavia who lived during the Viking Age (eighth century to the twelfth .

Answer 10

They are not synonymous. I have a hand disease called Dupuytreyns Disease that apparently stretches far back hundreds of years to a Viking clan that exhibited a shared recessive gene charecteristic. So if a recdessive gene can be traced to a single original group, then surely this group must stand as independent of any other?