 The Vikings raided and besieged lands from ancient Scotland to Georgia, France to Russia, but what factors caused Scandinavians to Viking? Various theories have been proposed as to why this happened, including environmental change over population and also advances in sailing technology. Others argue that the Vikings raided other lands to prevent the advance of Christianity against their pagan heritage. In line with this school of thought, some argue that the Vikings raided other lands in response and in revenge against Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, who was punishing Saxons who did not convert to Christianity and killed many who refused to be baptised. Perhaps the most obvious explanation for why the Vikings raided other lands was wealth and wealth alone. In the words of the scholar Janet Nelson, the Vikings were lured by movable wealth. Early Viking raids then motivated future Viking raids, with an example of an early Viking raid being on Lindisfarne, which is just off the coast of modern England today. A place I did visit and make a video on myself. Yet others have argued that agricultural issues and parts of Scandinavia forced many to look for new fertile lands. Many Vikings settled in foreign lands, with the dame law in ancient England being just one example. A 2017 paper, however, has a very fascinating insight and angle on why the Vikings raided other lands which is worth highlighting. The paper is titled, Male Biased Operational Sex Ratios and the Viking Phenomenon, An Evolutionary Anthropological Perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian Raiding. In this paper, the authors, led by Ben Raffield, argued that the early Vikings of the 8th century were driven to raid due to an imbalance in the operational sex ratio in parts of Scandinavia, which is the ratio of males to females in a society who are ready to mate at a given time. The authors propose that a combination of two practices, Pelogony and Concubinage, and the increase in social inequality that occurred in Scandinavia during the Late Iron Age resulted in a male-biased operational sex ratio. This operational male-biased sex ratio created an environment where many low status males increasingly engaged in riskier and riskier behaviour to enter the marriage market. Say for instance, engaging in behaviour such as going on voyages across the oceans to raid foreign lands. According to the authors, high status men further encouraged these raids by funding expeditions overseas to increase their wealth and status domestically, as many looked to develop their position as war leaders. Thus, it was mutually beneficial for both high status males and low status males to raid overseas to go into a little more detail. The authors' contention is that during the Late Iron Age, from around 400 to 1050 AD, Scandinavian operational sex ratios were biased towards males by Pelogony and Concubinage, and that this bias was magnified by an increase in social stratification that occurred during the period. The bias increased male-to-male competition, and this in turn led to a volatile social-political environment in which men sought to distinguish themselves by obtaining wealth, status and female slaves. To be clear, this paper focuses on the early Viking Age, when most Vikings were still pagan, before Christianity took hold in Scandinavia. This is certainly a fascinating theory, and I hope you think so too. Factors obviously also compounded as well. The advance in sailing technology made going Viking or raiding overseas more practical. Another aspect that makes this theory so interesting is that it echoes a theory, one of the oldest theories, on why the Vikings invaded foreign lands, made around a thousand years ago. Dudo Saint Quentin, a French historian, argued in the 11th century AD in the history of the Normans, the Viking raids were caused by a surplus of unmarried Scandinavian men. We shouldn't forget as well that not all Vikings were men and some were women, although it does seem the majority, the vast majority, were men. The factors that motivated the Vikings to raid are obviously numerous, and the real answer is probably a synergy and combination of numerous factors. The motivations of one Viking may have been different from the Vikings standing next to them as well, just as today, in any army or any force that invades foreign lands, motivations are different within the army, within the group itself. The reasons why Vikings invaded foreign lands are obviously numerous, but I hope I've covered some of the main factors today. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for watching, if you would like to support this work through Patreon, buymeacoffee.com, or donate through PayPal, all the links will be in the description below. Thanks again for watching and I'll speak to you next time.