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The Ostvik Vikings are based out of Virginia Beach, VA. Contact email is: ostvikvikings@gmail.com.
In the year 950 AD, Birka was an important trading center in the Viking world. Located on the island of Björkö, in Lake Mälaren, (roughly 19 miles west of modern day Stockholm, Sweden) Birka facilitated trade between the Scandinavians, and much of Europe and western Asia. The people of Birka offered furs, iron goods, finely crafted products and materials in exchange for foreign goods of high quality, such as, glass and metal ware, pottery, Byzantine embroidery with fine gold thread, brocades with gold posament, Chinese silk, and silver dirham coins from the Abbasid Caliphate. For a time Birka was the Baltic link in the trade route through Ladoga and Novgorod, to the Byzantine Empire and Abbasid Caliphate. However, things were changing. The island of Gotland to the southeast is rising in prestige and notoriety as a place of flourishing mercantile activity, and there are even rumors amongst the nobles and men of the King, Erik Ringsson, that many want to found a new Christian town some miles to the northeast. The chieftain of Birka, Munólfr Sæbjornson, is all too aware of this tonal shift in regional politics.
The Chieftain proposes to establish a camp to the southeast on the bay at a place known as Ostvik, and build a village, aiding to solidify Birka’s power in the region by controlling the waterway. The new village would conduct trade and bring revenue to the village and Birka, build all the necessary buildings a village needs, and most importantly, to provide trained, able bodied warriors to bolster Birka’s garrison.
This is Ostvik, come to find a place to settle with family and build our homes. We are tradesmen and merchants looking to become “landed”. We are building the foundation of a new town and we look forward to sharing our story with you.