The Gotlandic merchants were called Varangians. In the Baltic Sea and on the Russian rivers there were no Vikings. In Eastern Europe, the Arabs have thus had time to peacefully get acquainted with the Gotlandic merchants, and for them make two Gotlandic words, al-Rus’ and Warang, the Old Norse Vaeringi.
This linguistic usage tells us already a lot. On the Russian rivers in the 800s there were rowing Gotlandic merchants, Varangians, who the Arabic writers accordingly called al-Rus’. Sven Ekbo (1981) convincingly connects the word to Old Norse ro∂r meaning ‘expedition of rowing ships’. Many scholars have wrongly maintained that the word al-Rus’ must be identical with the Finnish word Ruotsi and Estonian Rootsi. The etymology of the name al-Rus’/Rhos needs clarification. The Byzantine Patriarch Photius, in a circular letter 867, calls the Gotlandic merchants Rhos. We know from Arabic writers in the 800s that al- Rus’ were merchants from the island in the Baltic Sea region, who came rowing on the Russian rivers. Gotland only became part of Sweden in 1679. The Gotlandic history is misleading and difficult to understand if it is bundled with the Swedish history, that so far has been done. Already 800- 500 BCE Gotlandic merchants had a large trading emporium in Achmulova on the Volga. To understand the history of the Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches, one must fully realize that Gotland was an independent Merchant Republic, and the hub of the Baltic Sea region, which from time immemorial had its relations mainly east and south and controlled trade on the Russian rivers from time to time.
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