Today's Uppsala was called Östra Aros (East Aros) during the time of Vikings, the main pagan centre of Sweden. As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre. The Thing of all Swedes was the governing assembly held from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages at Old Uppsala. One of the episode in Vikings on HBO is taken place on the Thing in Uppsala.

The Vikings also settled in the Russian town of Novgorod. As time went by their influence on the economic and political life grew and became decisive. According to a chronicle written in the 12th century AD, the Swedish Vikings were the founders of Russia. Although this is not very likely, the influence of the Vikings is still visible. The name Russia for instance, probably originates from one of the names of the Swedish Vikings, "ruser".

Uppsala is the site of the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477 where Carl von Linné, one of the renowned scholars of Uppsala University, lived for many years; both his house and garden can still be visited. I took my Phd at Uppsala University (MSc at KTH, Stockholm).

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