1.3. Farming and trade

Question 1

What did the Vikings rely on for their food?

Answer 1

The Vikings relied on farming, fishing and hunting for their food.

Question 2

What did the Viking traders travel far for?

Answer 2

Viking traders travelled far and wide selling some of the food and other goods from farming and hunting.

Question 3

What food did the Viking farmers grow?

Answer 3

Viking farmers grew most of their food. They grew oats, barley and wheat to make flour and porridge.

Question 4

What vegetables did the Vikings eat?

Answer 4

They ate vegetables such as carrots, onions, beans and cabbages - vegetables that grew well in cool climates.

Question 5

What farm animals did the Vikings keep?

Answer 5

They kept farm animals, including sheep, goats, cattle and chickens.

Question 6

What did the farmers do in autumn to feed their families through the winter?

Answer 6

In autumn, farmers killed some animals to provide enough food to feed their families through the winter.

Question 7

What did the Vikings decide to do as Scandinavia became more overcrowded?

Answer 7

Much of the farmland in Scandinavia was poor and, as the land became more overcrowded, some Vikings decided to move to faraway lands in search of fertile soil and bigger farms.

Question 8

Where did most of the vikings build their settlements?

Answer 8

Many Vikings built their settlements near to the coast or rivers.

Question 9

What and how did the fishermen fish?

Answer 9

Fishermen used nets to catch sea fish such as cod and herring or river fish such as salmon and trout.

Question 10

What did the do with the seabirds?

Answer 10

They caught seabirds to eat and took eggs from the nests.

Question 11

What animals did the vikings hunt?

Answer 11

The Vikings hunted wild animals such as seals, deers, foxes, wolves and bears.

Question 12

Why did they hunt the animals?

Answer 12

They ate the meat and used the fur to make warm clothes or to trade for other goods.

Question 13

What did the vikings use to trade before they had coins?

Answer 13

Before they had coins, Viking traders often bought and sold using pieces of silver.

Question 14

How did the vikings buy and sell using pieces of silver?

Answer 14

They carried a set of folding scales, which they used to weigh the silver to make sure they got a fair deal.

Question 15

What did the viking merchants do?

Answer 15

Viking merchants travelled thousands of miles buying and selling a wide range of goods.

Question 16

What did the vikings take from Scandinavia to buy, sell and trade?

Answer 16

They took honey, wool, timber, iron, weapons and fur from Scandinavia to sell or trade. They also took dried fish, whale bones and walrus ivory.

Question 17

What was one of the biggest exports that the Vikings did?

Answer 17

One of the biggest exports was amber, a yellow-orange precious stone.

Question 18

Where did the Viking merchants and traders travel?

Answer 18

Some Viking traders travelled by sea to Britain or Iceland.
Other traders travelled over land through Russia, reaching as far south as Constantinople. Some merchants travelled further east to Baghdad in modern-day Iraq.

Question 19

What did the Viking merchants return home with?

Answer 19

The Viking merchants returned home with wheat, woollen cloth and silver from Britain and pottery and glass from France and Germany. They traded for jewellery in Russia and spices and silks in the Middle East.

Question 20

What is the thing that the Vikings bought and sold everywhere they went?

Answer 20

Everywhere they went, the Vikings bought and sold slaves.