Birka, located on the island of Björkö in present-day Sweden, was an important trading center and strongly fortified town in the Viking Age which flourished from the 8th through the 10th centuries CE. Along with the town of Hedeby which is located in present-day Denmark, Birka was the most important Viking trading center in Europe. Due to its prime location on Lake Mälaren, which provided sailing access to the Baltic Sea through the Södertälje Canal, Birka attained great wealth as a mercantile settlement and entrepôt with extensive trading ties to Western Europe, Scandinavia, the Slavic and Byzantine east, as well as the Arab World. Birka was also the location where the Frankish missionary St. Ansgar (801-865 CE) first introduced the Swedes to Christianity c. 829-831 CE. UNESCO recognized Birka's importance in early medieval European history, declaring its archaeological site a World Heritage Site in 1993 CE, together with the neighboring site of Hovgården on the island of Adelsö.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 750 - c. 800The presumed founding of the important Viking trading center of Birka in Sweden.
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c. 790 - c. 1100The Viking Age.
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c. 829 - c. 831The Frankish missionary St. Ansgar (801-865 CE) first introduces the Swedes to Christianity in the Viking trading town of Birka.
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c. 950The Viking trading center of Birka in present-day Sweden goes into abrupt decline around the mid-10th century CE.
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1993UNESCO declares the Viking trading center of Birka in present-day Sweden a World Heritage Site, together with the neighboring site of Hovgården.
