6 ms·
I still find it an arch historical irony that the descendants of Vikings have built some of the most robust welfare states in the West.
by lordleft 6y ago
I still find it an arch historical irony that the descendants of Vikings have built some of the most robust welfare states in the West.
- staticautomatic 6y agoMost Norse in the 8th to 12th centuries were not Vikings. The word Viking comes from the word “wicing”, meaning “pirate”. It was obviously not an entire civilization of pirates.
- forinti 6y agoFunny you should say that, because some Vikings became Normans and occupied England which later became the British Empire.
- staticautomatic 6y agoSure. It's true that some Vikings settled, including in Normandy (in exchange for guarding the Seine against other Vikings, just like in the TV show). And yeah, they also settled pretty large swaths of England, beginning with York, and founded Dublin, among other cities. The whole of England very nearly became run by the Norse but for a single battle at the end of a very long war of attrition. The TV show was actually extremely historically accurate in terms of specific events (like jumping out of the coffin and murdering the priest). It was just also extremely inaccurate in terms of the characters, time periods, and geographic locations in which those events occurred.
- garmaine 6y agoEngland did get conquered by people of Viking descent much later: the Normans.
- acephal 6y agoOf whom Queen Elizabeth is a descendant
- ithkuil 6y agoAnd, by now, the rest of the population as well: https://youtu.be/Fm0hOex4psA https://youtu.be/Fm0hOex4psA
- staticautomatic 6y agoTo be fair, only some of them were of Viking descent. Although the Viking settlers were granted control over Normandy, the people who previously lived there weren't all expelled. It would be more accurate to say that England was later conquered by people who were a mix of Norse and Frankish descent.
- EdwardDiego 6y agoThey also founded the Kingdom of Sicily.
- ethor 6y agoFrom what I’ve read the word viking derivates from the word vik which basically means ’bay’ - viking is hence one that travels by the bay.
- staticautomatic 6y agoThe best answer anyone seems to have about that is "maybe." Yes, there was an Old Norse word "vic" meaning "bay". There was also an Old Norse word "vig" meaning "battle". Is that why they're called "vikings"? Nobody seems to know. Did vikings call themselves "vikings" at all prior to the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon word "wicing"? No one seems to know that either.
- tephra 6y agoThe Swedish Academy Word Book gives the "wicing" etymology from old Frisian and old English, but also says that the etymology has "disputed origin".
- peter303 6y ago"Road trip" a labspring break
- chrisco255 6y agoThe descendants of Vikings are scattered all over the western world, including millions of people in the UK and the US.
- acephal 6y agoAnd Russia and Ukraine
- WalterBright 6y agoIt's easy to be robust when 20% of the GDP is simply pumped out of the ground and is used to fund the government.
- duopixel 6y agoActually, resource rich countries tend to have worse developmental outcomes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse
- arcosdev 6y agoYou're just thinking of Norway. Sweden, Denmark and Finland do not have the same oil riches
- speedgoose 6y agoThe world first economy also pump oil and gaz from the ground, and it contributes to a significant part of its GDP.
- phaemon 6y agoExcept it isn't. I assume you're referring to the Norway Oil Fund, but literally the entire point is that it wasn't simply spent in country, to avoid the "Dutch Disease". You can read the McCrone report to see the principles. It was written for Scotland but Norway actually followed the principles. Also, you're ignoring Sweden and Denmark. Many countries have discovered oil - the USA is a massive producer, far more than Norway - they just didn't create a fund with it, preferring to give the profits to the few.
- WalterBright 6y ago> Norway Oil Fund Used to fund the government pension system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Nor... It doesn't detract at all from the point that it's oil revenue supporting it, not economic activity. It's currently worth $195,000 per Norwegian. > the USA is a massive producer, far more than Norway Not remotely 20% of the GDP. > preferring to give the profits to the few. The US government, in contrast, is mostly funded by taxes on wealthy people: "the top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of all individual income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 3 percent." https://taxfoundation.org/summary-of-the-latest-federal-income-tax-data-2020-update/ https://taxfoundation.org/summary-of-the-latest-federal-inco... Norway is quite a bit wealthier than Sweden, pretty much entirely due to the oil: https://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/compare/norway.sweden/economy https://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/compare/norway.sweden/ec...
- renewiltord 6y agoI read a theory of that that posited that when the New World opened up, all the individualists left for opportunity, shifting society in the Old World to collectivism https://www.ehs.org.uk/press/long-term-cultural-impact-of-international-migration-evidence-of-migrants-as-drivers-of-new-world-individualism-and-old-world-collectivism https://www.ehs.org.uk/press/long-term-cultural-impact-of-in...