Page 40 - A History of the World in 25 Cities

Life in NuMbers
In
Height of the Roman defensive walls:
25
Number of times that Jórvík was invaded and changed hands:
13
Population of Jórvík in 940:
With the Vikings in charge, Jórvík grew quickly in size and importance.
The Vikings had an amazing trading network all over Europe, including places we know today as Russia, Iceland, Ireland and Turkey. Later on, they even sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Greenland and North America. Jórvík became
a thriving trading port where people spoke many different languages, while swapping and trading goods from all over the known world.
Population of York today:
Vikings were extremely skilful sailors and brilliant navigators. Later in the Viking age, their secret weapon was their Viking ‘longship’, some of which were more than 20 metres in length. Longships were slender, fast and surprisingly strong. They could travel either by sail power or by manned oars, meaning that they didn’t have to depend on the wind to get where they wanted to go. But the best thing about longships was the fact that they had shallow bottoms, so they could be sailed up small rivers and pulled up on beaches. This meant Vikings could launch sudden attacks against targets (like monasteries full of gold) on the coast without any warning.
There were no schools for Viking children. That might sound like good news, but
in Jórvík, children were expected to work! They might
help grown-ups in a family workshop. At home, they were expected to help with
cooking and making clothes. It wasn’t all work though. Viking kids had toys to play with, like
carved wooden animals, board games, and musical instruments, such as pipes and drums.
1O
OOO OOO
2OO