page_title: Vikings in Iberia
section_title: Did Vikings prompt navy- and fortification-building in Iberia?
hierarchical_section_title: Vikings in Iberia / Did Vikings prompt navy- and fortification-building in Iberia?
caption_attribution_description: Galego: Dornas Faísca e Lercha
context_page_description: Viking activity in the Iberian peninsula seems to have begun around the mid-ninth century as an extension of Viking raids on and establishment of bases in Frankia in the earlier ninth century. While connections between the Norse and Eastern Islamic lands were well-established, particularly involving the Rus' along the Volga and around the Caspian Sea, relations with the Western edge of Islam were more sporadic and haphazard. Although Vikings may have over-wintered in Iberia, no evidence has been found for trading or settlement. Indeed, the Iberian peninsula may not have offered particularly wealthy targets, in the ninth to tenth centuries. Sporadic raiding continued until the end of the Viking Age.
  Our knowledge of Vikings in Iberia is mainly based on written accounts. There are archaeological findings of what may have been anchors of Viking ships, and some shapes of mounds by riversides look similar to the Norse longphorts in Ireland. These may have been ports or docks for Viking longships.
context_section_description: Various historians have suggested that the well evidenced development of naval forces and fortifications across the Iberian peninsula during the tenth and eleventh centuries can be partly attributed to Viking activity. For example, it has also been suggested that the first navy of the Emirate of Córdoba was built in response to the raid of 844, and according to Fletcher "Alfonso III was sufficiently worried by the threat of Viking attack to establish fortified strong points near his coastline, as other rulers were doing elsewhere". It is clear, however, that a wide range of factors were encouraging these developments, and that key stages do not correlate with known Viking activity.
caption: Dornas from Galicia: clinker-built boats to which is popularly attributed a Viking origin
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-ZS1", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.2", "Image DateTime": "2018:02:19 17:14:03", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2318", "Image XPKeywords": "[80, 0, 101, 0, 100, 0, 114, 0, 97, 0, 115, 0, 59, 0, 100, 0, 111, 0, 114, 0, 110, 0, 97, 0, 115, 0, 0, 0]", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "14504", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11702", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "22/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:11:22 15:45:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:11:22 15:45:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Cloudy weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "39/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3432", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1983", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13928", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "119", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Soft", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "25F45D5385C44D9A97AB96CAF1B658B8", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "3768"}