ABSTRACT
The expansion of the Norse peoples is striking illustrations of the influence of geography upon history, in this instance the seas being the conditioning factor. Wherever they colonized, and particularly in France and England, the Norse speedily adopted the language, the manners, and the institutions of the people among whom they settled. But for the most part the Norse was content with establishing themselves in the bays and estuaries of the coast, as at Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and Wexford. The Swedes, who like all the Norse peoples were eager traders, soon began to extend their way into the interior. During this period of Norse expansion three new Norse kingdoms were established in the homelands. In England and in France the influence of the Norse was like an alloy with gold; they hardened the nascent feudal institutions which they found there, and gave them edge and efficiency.
