These winds blow west in the spring and east in the autumn, which made Scotland a natural destination. Another attraction for these northerners was the remarkable similarity between the landscapes of Scotland and Norway. Both countries possessed offshore island chains, deep inlets or fjords, and rugged mountains. Perhaps the most important reason for the arrival of the raiders, however, was the opportunity for conquest and plunder. The remote monasteries and villages of Scotland were easy targets for the Norse rovers, who dominated the bloody northern seas for several hundred years. The monasteries were especially ripe for plunder, as they generally housed valuable religious artifacts and other treasures. The Scandinavian pirates launched raids on Scotland from the surrounding islands, and few monasteries or villages could hope to defend themselves from these attacks. In his play, Shakespeare depicts such an invasion when he portrays King Sweno of Norway attacking Scotland from the Hebrides island chain. The character Macbeth's defeat of Sweno's forces is the incident in the play that serves as the foundation of his rise to power.
As time passed, many of these hostile invaders found that, amid the rocky hills and bogs, Scotland offered some fertile land for farming.
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