Strandhogg in

old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

was a Viking tactic consisting of a coastal raid with the intention of capturing livestock and indigenous peoples for the slave trade. This tactic was enhanced by Viking

longship Longships, a type of specialised Viking ship, Scandinavian warships, have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by th ...

s' shallow draft. The Vikings had already developed spy networks from their many commercial encounters with

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

. These spies informed them of the local customs, the dates of religious feasts, helped with translation and indicated places to plunder and personalities to be removed and held for ransom. It happened that Vikings made these raids against their own countrymen as well. Harald I, known as

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

, prohibited strandhögg on the Norwegian territory.

Later uses

The term remains in use in Iceland. With the rise of

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

, free-market ideology in the country in the 1990s, it came to be used of

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...

s and other aggressive business practices by Icelandic businessmen. This term now also refers to two specific Android exploits.

References

Pierre Barthélemy « les Vikings » Albin Michel éditions Viking warfare {{mil-hist-stub