Explore the real-world places that appear in The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Skåne (Scania), Southern Sweden, Hedeby (Haithabu), Denmark, Jelling, Jutland, Denmark, Al-Andalus — Córdoba, Spain, The Straits of Gibraltar and 8 more.
Red Orm's birthplace and home farm
Skåne is the home of Red Orm's family — his father Toste, his mother, and his brothers. As a boy, Orm watches Viking longships beach near their farm, and in a fateful moment of bravado he joins the crew led by the fierce chieftain Krok, not fully understanding that this means leaving his home behind. This departure sets the entire novel in motion. Much later, Orm returns here a wealthy man, marries Ylva, and settles on his ancestral land at Gröning, where he must navigate blood feuds with neighboring clans.
Scania (Skåne) was the heartland of Viking-Age Denmark — during the 10th century it was Danish territory, not yet Swedish. It was densely settled by Norse farmers and seafarers, with rich agricultural land around the Öresund strait. The region was central to Scandinavian politics and trade.
Skåne is now Sweden's southernmost county, known for its fertile farmland, medieval churches, and Viking-era runestones. The town of Lund, founded around 990 AD, preserves significant Viking heritage. The region is easily accessible and dotted with open-air museums.
Visit: Foteviken Viking Reserve (historic site)
Major Viking trading hub — near modern Schleswig, Germany
Hedeby is the great Viking emporium through which Orm and his companions pass as they trade, recruit, and resupply. It represents the Norse world's commercial heart — the place where the freebooters of the north interact with merchants from the Frankish empire, the Baltic, and the east. Bengtsson uses it to anchor the reader in the vivid, polyglot reality of Viking commerce and the hierarchies of Norse society.
Hedeby was one of the most important trading centers of the Viking Age, flourishing from roughly 800 to 1050 AD. Located at the base of the Jutland Peninsula, it connected the North Sea and Baltic trade routes. Archaeological excavations have revealed a densely populated town with workshops, merchant houses, and a harbor.
The archaeological site of Haithabu (Hedeby) is located near Schleswig in northern Germany and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The adjacent Viking Museum Haithabu houses thousands of artifacts from the site and reconstructs daily life in the Viking Age.
Visit: Viking Museum Haithabu (museum)
Seat of Harald Bluetooth — royal court of Denmark
The court of Harald Bluetooth, King of Denmark, plays a significant role in Orm's career. After returning from Spain and Ireland laden with Moorish silver and a great bell, Orm comes before Harald and navigates the treacherous politics of the Danish court. Harald, who converted Denmark to Christianity, is a larger-than-life figure in the novel — proud, cunning, and unpredictable. Orm's dealings with him showcase Bengtsson's gift for political comedy and Viking-era court intrigue.
Jelling was the ceremonial and political center of the Danish kingdom under Gorm the Old and his son Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century. The famous Jelling Stones — two massive runic stones erected by these kings — are considered Denmark's birth certificate. Harald's stone explicitly records the Christianization of Denmark.
The Jelling Monuments — including the two runestones, two burial mounds, and a church — are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The nearby Kongernes Jelling museum opened in 2015 and provides an immersive account of Viking-Age Denmark and the Jelling dynasty.
Visit: Kongernes Jelling (museum)
Capital of the Umayyad Caliphate — Orm's captivity
After Krok's longship is captured by Moorish forces off the Spanish coast, the surviving Vikings including Orm are enslaved and put to rowing galleys and later serving the Caliph of Córdoba. Orm spends years here, learning Arabic, converting superficially to Islam, and fighting in the Caliph's armies. He befriends the Welsh monk Brother Willibald and acquires a legendary sword called Blue-Tongue. The Córdoba section is one of the novel's richest and most colorful, depicting the splendor and sophistication of the Moorish world with Bengtsson's characteristic wit.
In the 10th century, Córdoba was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus and one of the largest, most cultured cities in Europe, with a population of perhaps 100,000. Under Caliph Abd al-Rahman III and his successor Al-Hakam II, it was a center of learning, philosophy, medicine, and architecture. The Great Mosque of Córdoba (Mezquita) was expanded repeatedly during this period.
Córdoba is a major city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and a UNESCO World Heritage city. The Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba — the Great Mosque converted to a cathedral — is one of the most visited monuments in Spain. The Medina Azahara palace-city nearby, built by Abd al-Rahman III, has been partially excavated and opened to visitors.
Visit: Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba (historic site)
Pillars of Hercules — Norse entry point into the Mediterranean
It is near the Straits of Gibraltar — the Norse 'Norvasund' — that Krok's fleet is ambushed by Moorish ships after raiding along the Andalusian coast. The battle is swift and catastrophic for the Vikings: Krok is killed, most of the crew are slaughtered or captured, and young Orm finds himself a slave. This pivotal defeat transforms Orm from a raider into a captive, launching the entire Iberian section of the novel.
The Strait of Gibraltar has been a strategic chokepoint since antiquity. During the Viking Age, Norse raiders did venture into the Mediterranean through this passage — historical records confirm Viking raids on Moorish Spain and even North Africa in the 9th century. Moorish naval forces actively patrolled these waters to protect against such incursions.
The Strait of Gibraltar is a busy international shipping lane. The Rock of Gibraltar on the northern side is a British Overseas Territory and a popular tourist destination, with nature reserves, war tunnels, and panoramic views of both Europe and Africa.
Visit: Rock of Gibraltar Nature Reserve (park)
Viking settlement on the Liffey — Orm's Irish sojourn
After escaping from Moorish captivity, Orm and his companions make their way to Ireland, then still partly under Viking influence. Bengtsson renders Orm's time among the Irish with sharp comic irony — Orm is bewildered by the Christian monks he encounters, describing them as 'epicene creatures' devoted to incomprehensible rituals. Ireland serves as a transitional space for Orm between his Mediterranean captivity and his return to the Norse world, and it is here that his skeptical, pragmatic relationship with Christianity begins to develop.
Viking Dublin — known as Dyflin or Dyflinarskíri — was founded as a longphort (ship fortress) around 841 AD and became one of the most important Norse settlements in the British Isles. By the 10th century it was a thriving slave-trading port and commercial hub. Norse kings ruled Dublin until the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.
Dublin is the capital of Ireland. The Viking heritage of the city is well documented at the Dublinia museum in Christchurch, which reconstructs Viking and medieval Dublin with interactive exhibits. The Wood Quay area where Vikings originally settled has been extensively excavated.
Visit: Dublinia — Experience Viking Dublin (museum)
Site of the Battle of Maldon, 991 AD
The Viking defeat of the English army at Maldon is one of the great historical set-pieces of the novel. Orm participates in the famous battle where the Viking forces — having been generously allowed to cross a causeway by the chivalrous Anglo-Saxon commander Byrhtnoth — slaughter the English host. Bengtsson narrates this with sardonic glee, treating Byrhtnoth's fatal gallantry as a magnificent piece of English foolishness. The battle yields enormous plunder and Danegeld, making Orm and his companions very rich men.
The Battle of Maldon (991 AD) is one of the most documented engagements of the Viking Age, preserved in an Old English poem and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A Viking fleet defeated the forces of Ealdorman Byrhtnoth of Essex after he allowed them to cross a tidal causeway — an act of aristocratic pride that proved fatal. The battle led directly to the payment of the first large Danegeld to buy off the Norse invaders.
Maldon is a market town in Essex. A bronze statue of the warrior Byrhtnoth stands on the promenade along the River Blackwater, erected in 2006. The tidal causeway to Northey Island, where the battle was fought, still exists and can be crossed at low tide.
Visit: Byrhtnoth Statue & Battle of Maldon Site (monument)
Legendary Viking fortress — brotherhood of the Jomsvikings
The Jomsvikings — an elite brotherhood of mercenary warriors bound by strict codes of conduct — appear as both allies and antagonists in Orm's story. The legendary fortress of Jomsborg, from which they operate, represents the pinnacle of Viking martial culture. Orm interacts with Jomsvikings during his Baltic and Scandinavian adventures, and their fierce reputation and internal politics add layers of danger and complexity to his dealings with the Norse world.
Jomsborg is a semi-legendary Viking stronghold described in the Jómsvíkinga saga, believed by most historians to correspond to the island of Wolin at the mouth of the Oder River in modern Poland. Archaeological excavations at Wolin have uncovered significant Viking-Age settlements consistent with the sagas. The Jomsvikings themselves were a real or semi-real elite mercenary force active in the late 10th century.
The town of Wolin in northwest Poland hosts an annual Viking Festival each August, one of the largest Viking Age reenactment events in the world, attracting thousands of participants from across Europe. A small archaeological museum on the island displays finds from the Viking settlement.
Visit: Wolin Viking Festival & Museum (museum)
Ring fortress of Harald Bluetooth
The great ring fortresses built by Harald Bluetooth — of which Trelleborg is the finest example — represent the kind of royal military infrastructure that frames Orm's dealings with the Danish crown. Harald's power to conscript warriors, demand loyalty, and project military force across Scandinavia creates the political gravity that pulls Orm into royal service, court intrigues, and dangerous obligations to a king who can be as threatening as any foreign enemy.
Trelleborg is one of six known Viking ring fortresses built in Denmark around 980 AD, all constructed to a precise geometric plan under King Harald Bluetooth. The fortress on Zealand housed hundreds of warriors in long barracks arranged within a perfect circular rampart. It represents one of the most ambitious military engineering projects of the Viking Age.
The Trelleborg fortress site near Slagelse is open to the public and managed by the National Museum of Denmark. A reconstructed Viking longhouse stands within the original earthwork ramparts. The adjacent Trelleborg museum explains the fortress's construction, function, and the archaeology of Harald Bluetooth's reign.
Visit: Trelleborg Viking Fortress (historic site)
Premier Scandinavian trading town — Norse merchant world
The great trading networks of the Viking world — through which Orm's plundered wealth circulates — were centered on towns like Birka. Bengtsson evokes this mercantile dimension of Norse life as Orm transforms from a raider into a wealthy landowner, trading Moorish silver and English Danegeld for influence and property. The commercialism of the Viking world, which Bengtsson renders without romanticization, is exemplified by such trading centers.
Birka, on the island of Björkö in Lake Mälaren, was the most important trading town in Scandinavia from approximately 750 to 975 AD. It connected Scandinavian furs and iron with luxury goods from the Frankish Empire, Byzantium, and the Islamic world. The town was abandoned around 975 AD, possibly due to the silting of its harbor.
Birka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site accessible by boat from Stockholm. The island contains extensive Viking-Age burial mounds and the remains of the town's earthwork defenses. A museum on the island displays artifacts including Arabic silver coins, Frankish glass, and Byzantine silk found in the graves.
Visit: Birka Viking Town — UNESCO World Heritage Site (historic site)
Orm's home farm — the novel's domestic heart
After all his wandering, Orm returns to settle at Gröning, a farm in Skåne, with his wife Ylva — daughter of the Swedish chieftain Styrbjörn — and raises his family. The farm becomes the stage for the novel's rich final sections, where Viking adventure gives way to the comedies and dangers of domestic life: blood feuds with neighbors, the awkward arrival of Christianity, arguments about a church bell Orm has dragged from Spain, and the challenges of ruling a household with wit rather than brute force.
The Skåne countryside in the Viking Age was dotted with prosperous farms whose owners were simultaneously farmers and warriors. Land tenure, inheritance disputes, and the obligation to participate in raids or military service created a social fabric of constant negotiation and occasional violence. The conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity during this period brought new tensions to established customs.
The area around Ljungbyhed and Klippan in northern Skåne is the likely region Bengtsson had in mind for Gröning — his own ancestral territory. The landscape of beech forests, farms, and stone churches retains a quietly medieval quality. No specific site marks the fictional Gröning, but the region is accessible to visitors.
Viking approach to England — raids and Danegeld negotiations
The Viking fleet sails up the Thames toward London during the campaigns that culminate at Maldon. Orm takes part in the intimidating spectacle of longships massing on England's greatest river — the strategic and psychological pressure that compelled the English to pay enormous sums of Danegeld. Bengtsson depicts the English court's agonized decision to buy off the Norse host with characteristic ironic relish, treating the bureaucratic humiliation of a great kingdom with cheerful Nordic contempt.
Viking raids on London and the Thames estuary were a recurring feature of late Anglo-Saxon history, particularly during the reign of Æthelred the Unready (978–1016). The payment of Danegeld — tribute in silver to buy off Norse armies — became a devastating financial burden on the English kingdom. The 991 campaign that ended at Maldon began with Viking raids along the Thames estuary.
The Thames remains London's iconic river. The Museum of London Docklands near Canary Wharf contains exhibits on Viking-Age London and the waterfront's ancient history. The Tower of London on the north bank stands near the site of the Viking-Age Lundenwic waterfront.
Visit: Museum of London Docklands (museum)
Moorish shore — Krok's fleet raids and is ambushed
It is along the southeastern coast of Moorish Spain that Krok leads his longships in a series of bold but ultimately fatal raids. The Moorish coastline, rich with towns and monasteries, proves too well-defended and too far from Viking resupply lines. The ambush that follows — Moorish warships intercepting the Viking fleet as it attempts to withdraw — ends Krok's life and Orm's freedom simultaneously. Bengtsson renders the battle with visceral energy and dark humor, showing the Vikings as dangerously out of their depth in an alien sea.
Historical records confirm that Norse fleets raided the Iberian coast multiple times in the 9th and 10th centuries. The Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba maintained a significant naval force specifically to counter these incursions. The southeastern coast of Al-Andalus — modern Almería and Murcia — was a prosperous agricultural and commercial region that would have attracted Viking raiders.
Almería is a city in southeastern Andalusia known for its Moorish Alcazaba fortress, one of the largest in Spain, built by Abd al-Rahman III in the 10th century — exactly the period Bengtsson depicts. The Alcazaba is open to visitors and overlooks the Mediterranean coast that Krok's fictional fleet would have raided.
Visit: Alcazaba de Almería (historic site)
More by Frans G. Bengtsson: All Frans G. Bengtsson books