Ohthere of Hålogaland was a Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 adventurer from Hålogaland

Hålogaland

Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the mediaeval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a petty kingdom extending between Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag and Lyngen in Troms.-Etymology:...

. Around 890 AD he travelled to England

History of Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...

, where Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

, king of Wessex

Wessex

The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

, had his tales written down.

Ohthere reported that he lived "north-most of all the Northmen", and that "no-one [lived] to the north of him". He spoke of his travels north to the White Sea

White Sea

The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...

, and south to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 and England

History of Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...

, describing his route. He also spoke of Sweoland, the Sami people

Sami people

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

 (Finnas), and of two peoples called the "Cwenas" living in Cwena land and the "Beormas". Ohthere reported that the Beormas spoke a language related to that of the Sami people, and lived in an area of the White Sea region. This is marked on the accompanying map as "Bjarmland

Bjarmaland

Bjarmaland was a territory mentioned in Norse sagas up to the Viking Age and - beyond - in geographical accounts until the 16th century. The term is usually seen to have referred to the southern shores of the White Sea and the basin of the Northern Dvina River and - presumably - some of the...

", and has been seen by some as a reference to people of the Old Permic culture.

Ohthere's story is the earliest known written source for the terms "Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

" (Norðweg) and "Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

" (Denamearc). The regular opinion is that the place where Ohthere lived was somewhere in the Malangen

Malangen

Malangen is a fjord and a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The fjord is located between the islands of Kvaløya and Senja and the area today is divided between the municipalities of Balsfjord, Lenvik, Tromsø, and Målselv...

-area of southern Troms

Troms

or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...

.

Modern trivia

Ohthere and his journey appear in the novel The Lost Dragon of Wessex (1957) by Gwendolyn Bowers

Gwendolyn Bowers

Gwendolyn Bowers is an American author, mostly of juvenile historical fiction.Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, she is a graduate of the Boston University School of Education, studying creative writing, drama and the fine arts there. She taught in the English department of the Rhode Island School...

.

In January, 2009, Othere fra Hålogaland [sic] was portrayed by Stephen John Mouat in the Lerwick Up-Helly-Aa, a fire festival in Shetland, Scotland. A partly fictional version of the saga was retold as part of the festival.

See also

• Varangians
  Varangians
  The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were people from the Baltic region, most often associated with Vikings, who from the 9th to 11th centuries ventured eastwards and southwards along the rivers of Eastern Europe, through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.According...
  
  
• Bjarmland