<P> Geographically , a Viking Age may be assigned not only to Scandinavian lands ( modern Denmark , Norway and Sweden ) , but also to territories under North Germanic dominance , mainly the Danelaw , including Scandinavian York , the administrative centre of the remains of the Kingdom of Northumbria , parts of Mercia , and East Anglia . Viking navigators opened the road to new lands to the north , west and east , resulting in the foundation of independent settlements in the Shetland , Orkney , and Faroe Islands ; Iceland ; Greenland ; and L'Anse aux Meadows , a short - lived settlement in Newfoundland , circa 1000 . The Greenland settlement was established around 980 , during the Medieval Warm Period , and its demise by the mid-15th century may have been partly due to climate change . The Viking Rurik dynasty took control of territories in Slavic and Finno - Ugric - dominated areas of Eastern Europe ; they annexed Kiev in 882 to serve as the capital of the Kievan Rus ' . </P>
what part of scandinavia did the vikings come from
Denmark Norway Sweden Danelaw Scandinavian York the administrative centre of the remains of the Kingdom of Northumbria parts of Mercia Northumbria