840 CE: Trade between Viking Scandinavia and the Arab World


	840 CE: Trade between Viking Scandinavia and the Arab World

ouyangwulong

4-9-2008 10:39 AM

560 views

tags:

arabs, vikings, coins, archeology, national geographic, clash of civilizations, international, globalism

ouyangwulong says:

We take for granted that our world is more international today than it ever was before in history. Though our speed of trans-national communications, commerce and travel is truly staggering, ancient civilizations were not necessarily isolated islands.

Understanding that the Arabs and Vikings, Romans and Chinese were all part of a single international system, not monolithic bastions of "clashing" civilizations is the first step towards understanding how we can live peacefully with each other today.

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Hundreds of ancient coins unearthed last week close to Sweden's main international airport suggests the Vikings were bringing home foreign currency earlier than previously thought, archaeologists say.
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Buried some 1,150 years ago, the treasure trove is made up mainly of Arabic coins and represents the largest early Viking hoard ever discovered in <A href="http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_sweden.html" linkindex="42">Sweden</A>.
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"That coins were so important to the Vikings at such an early date is very interesting" and suggests they may have engaged in intensive overseas trade earlier than previously believed, he said.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080408-viking-hoard.html"><P>
Most of the coins were minted in Arab locations such as Baghdad in modern-day <A href="http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_iraq.html" linkindex="55">Iraq</A> and Damascus in <A href=" http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_syria.html" linkindex="56">Syria</A>. The youngest coin dates to the A.D. 840s
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But the oldest coins came from Persia, said dig team member Karin Beckman-Thoor.
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These Persian coins must have been in circulation for centuries before being buried and "were very high quality," she said. 
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