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Viking merchant ship (knarr)
The knarr was a broad-bodied Scandinavian sailing ship from the sixth century through the Viking Age, with a deep draft and large cargo hold for grai…
Timeline
- 501–600Southwestern coast of Norway · NorwayIn the sixth century Scandinavian shipwrights developed the broad-bodied, single-masted knarr on the basis of the clinker lapstrake method, built for cargo rather than oared warfare, suited to North Atlantic waves and fjord navigation.
- c. 550–600Baltic Sea · Baltic SeaKnarrs carried furs, amber, and ironware between the Danish straits and Baltic coastal settlements, connecting inland Northern European resources with coastal exchange nodes and laying the foundation for trade routes of the later Viking expansion.
Sources
- The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings — Peter Sawyer (1997)