The Sea Routes to Birka and Sigtuna: The Maritime Cultural Landscape of East Middle Sweden as Reflected in the Place-Name Evidence

The Viking-age town of Birka and its successor Sigtuna in East Middle Sweden were demonstrably heavily involved in maritime long-distance trade. Although research into their maritime infrastructure remains incomplete, it is even more lacking when turning to the surrounding maritime hinterland, without which none of these ports could have operated successfully—or, for that matter, can ever become fully understood. Taking the current state of Danish research as a starting point and applying Westerdahl’s concept of the “maritime cultural landscape”, various categories of place-names along the southern fairway Södertäljeleden, the eastern Stockholm Archipelago and Lake Mälaren are scrutinised. By drawing on toponyms indicating landing sites, naval defences, portages, navigation marks and beacons, this study provides a general insight into the highly sophisticated Viking-age (Current Era [CE] 750–1050) and early-medieval (CE 1050–1250) maritime cultural landscape of East Middle Sweden as well as into the final approach of the sea routes towards Birka and Sigtuna.