<P> Anglo - Scandinavian is an academic term referring to the people, and archaeological and historical periods during the 8th to 13th centuries in which there was migration to--and occupation of--the British Isles by Scandinavian peoples generally known in English as Vikings . It is used in distinction from Anglo - Saxon . Similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno - Norse for Ireland and Scotland . </P> <P> The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history . Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south . The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France--the Duchy of Normandy--in the 10th century . In that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe . Likewise, King Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo - Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors . Two Vikings even ascended to the throne of England, with Sweyn Forkbeard claiming the English throne in 1013--1014 and his son Cnut the Great becoming king of England 1016--1035 . </P> <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> <P> As early as 839, when Swedish emissaries are first known to have visited Byzantium, Scandinavians served as mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine Empire . In the late 10th century, a new unit of the imperial bodyguard formed . Traditionally containing large numbers of Scandinavians, it was known as the Varangian Guard . The word Varangian may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks . The most eminent Scandinavian to serve in the Varangian Guard was Harald Hardrada, who subsequently established himself as king of Norway (1047--1066). </P>

What part of scandinavia did the vikings come from