 The Viking invasion of Britain and Ireland is one of the most famous and fascinating events in the history of these isles, but what if it didn't happen? How would our world of today be different if there was no Viking invasion of these isles? History is not a foregone conclusion, although it may seem that way from our vantage point of the present day. First up, and perhaps not what some of you would be expecting, is that the English language would be very different today if it wasn't for the Vikings. Numerous everyday words in the English language come from Old Norse from the Vikings, stemming from Viking raids in the period of the Danelaw, when Danes settled parts of modern-day England in the 9th and 10th century. Words such as egg, husband, anger, bag and slaughter are from Old Norse, a legacy of the Viking invasions. Without the Vikings, we might be confusing our eggs with our eyes, as the Old English word for egg was actually I, before it was replaced by the Old Norse word egg, perhaps to help save some confusion over our eggs and our eyes. Egg comes from the Old Norse word eggja, meaning to go down or in sight. Interestingly, to egg someone on is still an expression in English today, meaning to encourage or to incite. There are so many words in the English language that are connected to Old Norse, you can literally go berserk, get it? The Vikings also had a notable impact on many place names in these islands. For instance, Thames or cities end with By, by such as Derby, as usually a signal of some sort of Viking influence, as By by meant some sort of farmstead to the Vikings. Also place names that end with Thorpe, such as Skunthorpe, are probably connected to the Vikings in some way. The Scottish town of Wick gets its name from the Old Norse, Vic, meaning Bay. We could literally be here all day with place names, but I think you get the point. Secondly, some people would have a different sense of their own identity if the Vikings didn't invade. History, after all, informs how we see ourselves today. The Northern Isles of Ortony and Shetland are prime examples of this, and there is a growing independence movement in both countries, as both want a greater sense of autonomy over their own affairs. This was quite prominent during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum as well. After all, it was only in 1472 that Ortony and Shetland were absorbed into Scotland, and were previously under Norwegian control and Norse control prior to that. Modern politics obviously have a significant influence on this as well, but it is interesting the connections between Norway and these Northern Isles of Ortony and Shetland. Shetland still celebrates its Viking heritage, with his uphealier festival to mark the end of the Yule season. Earlier this year, Ortony's council voted 15-6 for a proposal which includes examining the archipelagos Nordic connections and looking into adopting models similar to crime dependencies such as Jersey. This leads nicely onto my third point, genetics. The Vikings had a pretty profound impact on the genetics of these Isles, and this is seen no more so than in Shetland and Ortony. In Ortony, there is a dramatic genetic legacy. In fact, the people of the British Isles study found that Ortony was the most genetically distinct part of the UK, with around 25% of Ortony's DNA coming from Norwegian ancestors, showing the clear significance of the Viking presence there. The Vikings didn't completely replace the indigenous Pictish population however, and intermarried with them. Shetland also has a significant Viking influence, and with around 20-25% of its population considered to be descendants of the Vikings. More broadly, the people of the British Isles study, which looked at the UK population as a whole, found that there was a notable Norwegian signal in all Scottish and Northern Irish samples they studied. However, this was less pronounced in Northern England, and even less so in Wales. A 2017 study that looked at Ireland more broadly, found that there was a surprisingly high level of Norwegian ancestry in Ireland, with Norwegian ancestry used as a proxy for the Vikings, and it's a way to separate or try and separate any noise in the data between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons. So if you used Danish DNA for instance, you would have introduced potentially Anglo-Saxon influences, particularly when you study in England as well, but all these studies essentially used Norway as a proxy for the Vikings. In fact, this Irish DNA Atlas study found that Ireland had the second highest Norwegian signal in their analysis, second only to Orkney, which had the strongest Norse Viking ancestry. Although highly influential militarily, politically, linguistically and culturally, there is no obvious genetic signature in England from the Dame Law period, which is quite surprising, according to the people of the British Isles study at least. Without Viking raids and invasions over the centuries, many people in these Isles would look differently, speak differently and think differently. Just small changes then. But what factors have I missed out? How else would the world be different without the Viking invasions in these Isles? Please let me know in the comments below. Speaking of the Vikings, what did the Vikings actually look like? To find out, please click here. Thanks for watching. For ways to support, I'll be in the description below. Thanks for everyone who does support this work, and thanks again for watching, and I'll see you next time.