Viken (region)

Viken (Old Norse: Vík or Víkin), or Vika, was the historical name during the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages for an area of Scandinavia that originally surrounded the Oslofjord and included the coast of Bohuslän. Its definition changed over time, and from the Middle Ages, Viken included only Bohuslän.^[1]

During the Viking Age, Viken was defined as the strait running between Norway and the northwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. It is located in what is now southeastern Norway and the northwestern Swedish province of Bohuslän. During the Viking Age, Viken was the northernmost Danish province. Control over Viken shifted between Danish and Norwegian kings in the Middle Ages, and Denmark continued to claim Viken until 1241.

Viken was also controversially chosen as a neologistic name for the administrative region consisting of a merger of the counties of Akershus, Buskerud, and Østfold.^[2]