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While the Vikings are perhaps best known for accumulating wealth through plunder, tribute, and conquest, they were also successful traders. The Vikings developed several trading centres and long-distance trade routes during the Viking Age (c. C8th AD to C11th AD). The Vikings also established a "bullion economy" in which weighed silver, and to a lesser extent gold, was used as a means of exchange.
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Trade routes
The Vikings had a very vast, expansive, and planned out trade network. Trade took place on a gold level and over short distances. The majority of trade was conducted among the several ports that lined the Scandinavian coasts. The Vikings also engaged in trade with merchants throughout Europe, Asia and the Far East. The Volga and Dnieper Trade Routes were the two main trade routes that connected Northern Europe with Constantinople, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and the Caspian Sea. Several trade routes also ran through central Europe that connected Scandinavia with the Mediterranean. The Vikings are also believed to have sent merchants as far west as Greenland.
Trading towns
At the beginning of the Viking Age, the first proper trading towns developed in Scandinavia. These appeared in central locations along Scandinavia’s coasts near natural harbors or fjords. Trading centers varied in size, character, and significance. Only a select few developed into international trading posts. Every town was ruled by a king who imposed taxes on imported and exported goods in exchange for military protection of the town’s citizens.
The largest trading centers during the Viking Age were Ribe (Denmark), Kaupang (Norway), Hedeby (Denmark), and Birka (Sweden).
Hedeby was the largest and most important trading center. Located along the southern border of Denmark in the inner part of the Schlei Fjord, Hedeby controlled both the north/south trade routes (between Europe and Scandinavia) and the east/west routes (between the Baltic and the North Seas). At its peak Hedeby’s population was around 1000 people.
Ribe, located on the east coast of Denmark, was established in the early 8th century as the eastern end of a trading and monetary network that stretched around the North Sea.
There were also several Viking trading centers located along several rivers in modern-day Russia including Gorodische, Gnezdovo, Cherigov, Novgorod, and Kiev. These towns became major trade destinations on the trading route from the Baltic Sea to Central Asia.
Imports
Silver, silk, spices, weapons, wine, glassware, quern stones (for grinding grain), fine textiles, pottery, slaves, both precious and non-precious weapons.
Exports
Honey, tin, wheat, wool, various types of fur and hides, feathers, falcons, whalebone, walrus ivory, and amber.
Slaves and furs were the most important trade items. The Vikings bought and sold slaves throughout their trade network. Viking slaves were known as thralls. The majority of imported slaves came from the Islamic world.
Most of the trade during the Viking Age took place at the local level primarily involving agriculture products such as vegetables, grains, and cereals. Domestic animals were also traded among local peoples. These items were brought into town by farmers and traded for basic necessities, such as tools and clothes, and luxury items, such as glassware and jewelry.
Bullion economy
The Viking Age saw the development of a bullion economy. In this economic framework, traders and merchants exchanged goods for bullion (precious metals, primarily gold and silver). Trade was usually accomplished by barter. Bullion lacked the formal quality control linked with coinage and therefore provided a highly flexible system. The durability of silver and gold made them more suited for a monetary role than many other commodities. By the 9th century, silver had become the basis for the Viking economy. Most of the silver was acquired from the Islamic world. When the silver mines near Baghdad ran dry in the late 10th century, the Vikings began to tap central Europe, specifically the Hraz Mountains in Germany. Bullion took the form of coins, ingots, and jewelry. The value of bullion was determined by its purity and mass. Methods used to test the purity of the metal included “pricking" and “pecking” the surface to test the hardness of the alloy and reveal plating. Determining bullion’s mass required the use of weights and scales. Many of the bronze scales used by Viking traders folded on themselves making them compact and easy to carry for travel.
The two types of weights imported from foreign lands were cubo-octahedral weights (Dice weights) and oblate spheroids (barrel weights). Both were produced in various sizes with markings indicating the weights they represented. The majority of imported weights came from the Islamic world and contained Arabic inscriptions.
Vikings also produced their own weights for measuring quantities of silver and gold. These lead weights were decorated with enameling, insert coins, or cut up ornamental metalwork. Unlike the dice weights or barrel weights, each lead weight was unique so there was no danger of them being rearranged or switched during the course of an exchange.
Exchange rates
Estimated exchange rates at the beginning of the 11th century in Iceland were:
If the weight of a piece of jewelry was more than needed to complete a purchase, it was cut up into smaller bits until the correct weight needed for the transaction was reached. The term hack silver is used to describe these silver objects. Silver ingots were primarily used for large/high-value transactions. The largest found weights weigh more than 1 kilogram each.
Precious metals were also used to display personal wealth and status. For example, Rus traders symbolized their wealth through silver neck rings. Silver or gold gifts were often exchanged to secure social and political relationships.