The many Viking expeditions in the West are well known and documented, but what is less well known is the Viking expeditions in the East.

The vikings from Sweden, led by Ingvar den Vittfarne, made it all the way into the Caspian Sea and then inland to plunder, proven by both Gobustan's ancient petroglyphs, carved by vikings in Azerbaijan, and the Gripsholm Runestone in Mariefred, Sweden.

Most people do not realize that jungle/ subtropical and temperate rainforests exist along the southwest mountainous coasts of the Caspian Sea. This is unusual because the Caspian Sea is landlocked in the middle of Asia, where nearly all of the terrain is desert or grassy plains.

Azerbaijan is mostly an arid mountainous country, and Iran is mostly desert, but both countries contain pockets of humid forest. In Iran the jungles are found in Mazandaran and Gilan provinces.

Lerik in Azerbaijan
http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikiped...rbaijan_03.JPG

Northern Iran
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7307702...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10671201@N05/2912027699
http://www.naturehills.com/images/ra...han_(40)_4.jpg
http://svr225.stepx.com:3388/caspian-sea/file/72490.jpg
http://persia1.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/gilan-3.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YlIZN7o7rb.../kaboodval.jpg



Another coincidence, the Iranians (Persians) refer to themselves as "Aryans". Many of the people of Persia historically descend from a group of people that migrated from the north. In historical documents, many persians were described as having blue eyes, but this genetic trait has almost entirely disappeared today. During the spread of Islam, many arab people migrated into Iran, although Iranians do not consider themselves an arab people. In India also, the lighter skinned Aryans migrated from Turkmenistan. (Hindu scriptures tell of Aryans who came from the North, it also describes soma* which was commonly used by the ancient people in Turkmenistan) In a few remote mountain tribes in Afghanistan, the people could easily be mistaken for germans (blonde har/blue eyes), which is evidence that the region was once inhabited by ligher skinned people before other darker skinned people came. Some of this was the basis for the Nazi ideological theory that an ancient "Aryan race" once inhabited a vast area, and that the germanic peoples are the purest descendants of the Aryans. While there may be some truth to this hypothesis, it is in many ways not correct. It is not known with certainty where the original Aryans originated. The Aryans from India seemed to have come from present day Turkmenistan, whereas in Iran there is evidence that the northern settlers came from the caucasus region (Georgia and Azerbaijan). However, the people in Turkmenistan today are Turks who have more mongoloid/asian features. The people on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea have historically been Khazars, from whom the ashkenazic jews probably descended from (more irony). As for the Caucasus region, there have been countless migrations of many ethnicities into and through the region throughout history, wiping out whatever legacy there might have been of a "original caucasian race" or "aryan people" who once lived there.

While the people of Europe almost certainly have strong ancestry from the Caucasus region, and while the northern people known as Aryans had much lighter skin, there is lack of evidence that the "Ayans" of Nazi theory are the historical Aryans that migrated into India and Iran.

*Soma was a a hallucinogenic drink (tea) made from ephedra, cannabis, and crushed opium poppy seeds