A Viking Odyssey: Around the World 1,000 Years Ago

by John Man

The world was first unified 1,000 years ago. When Leif the Lucky and his Viking explorers linked Europe and America with their settlement at Vinland it marked a profound change in the world. Suddenly, almost every region on earth was in touch with its neighbours, spanning continents and oceans. For a few years, it was in theory possible to send a message all the way round the world. At the time, no one could possibly have known this, or what it would lead to. But in hindsight the early 11th century gives us a brief hint of today’s global unity. But what was the world like 1,000 years ago? What would a traveller have seen as they ventured across the continents? John Man circles the globe at the turn of the millennium to explore its major cultures, revealing many surprises. Islam was confident and curious, Europe was just awakening after its dark-age slumber, and Asia was home to the world’s most refined civilizations, while some aboriginal peoples were modifying age-old ways in Australia, Africa and the Americas. A Viking Odyssey is a fascinating and sumptuous account of the world in the year 1,000, bringing to life the diversity of human cultures, from hunter-gatherers to sophisticated city-dwellers, and the links between them. This book is a revised edition of Atlas of the Year 1,000, with new contributions from John Man. “A splendidly conceived and executed idea.” Dr. John Roberts, The New Penguin History of the World. “Just brilliant. A real contribution to world history.” Prof. Robert Moore, University of Newcastle. “A splendid accomplishment.” Dean R. Snow, Professor and Head of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University. “A wealth of fascinating information.” Ray Inskeep, formerly Professor of Archaeology, University of Cape Town. “A fascinating snapshot of all corners of the world at the dawn of the global age” David Northrup, Dept of History, Boston College, USA. “A fresh look at the world at the dawn of the past millennium”. Science News. “The most original of all the spate of books that came out during the millennium.” Michael Palin. JOHN MAN is a bestselling historian and traveller specializing in Central Asia (in particular Mongolia). Genghis Life, Death and Resurrection is a best-seller in 21 languages. His other books include Attila the Hun, Kublai Khan, The Terracotta Army, and The Great Wall. In 2014, Xanadu was published in the US as Marco Polo, to accompany the Netflix TV series. His most recent book, Saladin, appeared in April 2015.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World History, Travel

227 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2015

About the author

John Anthony Garnet Man is a British historian and travel writer. His special interests are China, Mongolia and the history of written communication. He takes particular pleasure in combining historical narrative with personal experience.

He studied German and French at Keble College, Oxford, before doing two postgraduate courses, a diploma in the History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford and Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, completing the latter in 1968. After working in journalism with Reuters and in publishing with Time-Life Books, he turned to writing, with occasional forays into film, TV and radio.

In the 1990s, he began a trilogy on the three major revolutions in writing: writing itself, the alphabet and printing with movable type. This has so far resulted in two books, Alpha Beta and The Gutenberg Revolution, both republished in 2009. The third, on the origin of writing, is on hold, because it depends on access to Iraq.

He returned to the subject of Mongolia with Gobi: Tracking the Desert, the first book on the region since the 1920s. Work in Mongolia led to Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection, which has so far appeared in 18 languages. Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan: The Mongol King Who Remade China completed a trilogy on Asian leaders. A revised edition of his book on Genghis Khan, with the results of an expedition up the mountain on which he is supposed to be buried, was upcoming in autumn 2010.

The Terracotta Army coincided with the British Museum exhibition (September 2007- April 2008). This was followed by The Great Wall. The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan combines history and leadership theory. Xanadu: Marco Polo and the Discovery of the East was published in autumn 2009, and Samurai: The Last Warrior, the story of Saigō Takamori's doomed 1877 rebellion against the Japanese emperor, was published in February 2011.

In 2007 John Man was awarded Mongolia's Friendship Medal for his contributions to UK-Mongolian relations.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who doesn't like a good Viking story. This isn't it though, not exactly, the name's confusing. What it is exactly is the second part of the title. The comprehensive continent by continent guide to the world circa 1000 years ago. Lacking any sort of pictures or humorous anecdotal quality to narrative, sticking strictly to facts, this reads much like a textbook for the most part, a well written, accessible, quite dense textbook. Nevertheless, for a fairly small book, there is tons of information here that any amateur historian can appreciate. Recommended.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book with a lot of information. The author covers every part of the world to show what was happening in and around 1,000 AD. Since most books focus on a specific ruler or area this is a welcome change from the usual history books. Most of the histories are very much to the point and topical giving a very good over view of the people or area. A couple times the book bogs down in areas that didn't have good records and little archaeological study but these are not often.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I assumed Fromm the title that this was a book about the Viking diaspora, and for the first third of the book my expectation was met. I found it enlightening. My knowledge of Medieval History is mostly limited to Britain and Ireland, and the chapters extending the Scandinavian invasion story throughout Europe were what I had been hoping for.

I was not, however, prepared for the extension from the Viking story to the story of the spread of peoples across the world. As interesting as this is, it was not quite what I expected or wanted - and rather more than I was prepared to take on at this point in time.

It is a limitation of electronic readers that skimming, handling the covers and checking where the narrative is heading, is not easy. I would have understood the problem had I been reading a paper copy.

I have awarded three stars on the strength of the Viking component, which I really enjoyed. It had a lot of relevance to modern movements of people seeking more productive land and means of support.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Viking Odyssey: Around the world 1000 years ago.

I found this book to be very interesting because it traced the rise and fall of some many different nations around the world. There was different cultures that had a lot of influence on the people and the inhabitants of the area. Wars were common many of the people with poor leadership. The nations of the world were often opened up by explorers looking for things which they never discovered.

[Darrell Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of the Vikings and other civilizations of the world around 1000 CE

The way this is titled, I expected it to be all about the Vikings and their exploits. The first 80 pages or so are. The rest covers the rest of the world. It's a good book for covering the 1000 CE world in quick summation. It does cover normally + - 200 years from that and sometimes more.

[Evander · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book being called "A Viking Odyssey" is a misnomer based on an idea that by the year 1000, trade links were established so that theoretically a missive from the Vikings could have travelled the world. The original title of the 1999 edition "An Atlas of the Year 1000" makes a lot more sense. I didn't particularly choose to read it for the Vikings so it doesn't bother me too much.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK book

Book was detailed in all the parts of the world it covered. It was almost too much but gave an overall picture of what was happening at the same time period. Interesting.

[Cozy Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Viking Odyssey by John Man is a pentium historical novel of the Viking time in history. It is exquisite in detail
Clear and concise in facts, this is a fascinating look at the Vikings and how they linked the world to other cultures for all time. As one who is a Viking descendant I found it a excellent enjoyable read for my home history library. The Vikings were ground breaking for their time and much of todays global history and cultures can be attributed to their own culture and travels. this is a enjoyable read for those interested in Viking history. Thank you for the advance reading copy.

[Ron Camp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book filled with information about the world around the year 1000. It starts out with the Vikings and moves thru North America, South America and into Europe and Asia. This is a quick but clear study that is full of information about the world.

[Chris Passingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit like those lessons at school that promised experiments, excitement, enjoyment and fun, but rapidly deteriorated into a full facts and figures fest.

[Carolyn S. Medlin]

still working on it, misleading name so it's not what I was looking for.