While Vikings were primarily Norse people from regions now known as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, their expansive trade routes and interactions with other cultures meant that they encountered and sometimes integrated with people from various backgrounds. Norse societies were relatively homogeneous in appearance, but extensive travel and trading connections with regions like the British Isles, the Middle East, and parts of Africa suggest that the Vikings interacted with diverse cultures. Though the core Viking communities remained Scandinavian, some individuals of varied ethnicities could have joined Viking expeditions through trading partnerships, hired roles, or allied relationships. Therefore, while ‘Viking’ primarily refers to a cultural and geographic identity of Scandinavian seafarers, historical interactions show that Viking expeditions occasionally included individuals from broader backgrounds due to the era’s dynamic trading systems.