Iceland's Viking Heritage and History

Centuries after Greek and Roman explorers added a mysterious northern island they called Ultima Thule to the edges of their maps, Viking seafarers began to discover Iceland.

One of the last places on Earth to be settled by humans, about 20 million years after it came into existence, Iceland was first occupied in the 8th century by Irish monks seeking solitude.

Soon after, Norse settlers began to arrive, fleeing political strife in Scandinavia and claiming new lands in Iceland, Greenland, and beyond.

This was when the national character of Iceland was forged. 

Viking heritage and culture shaped the young Icelandic nation, whose people were fiercely independent, capable, and resilient to harsh weather, earthquakes, and frequent volcanic eruptions.

This is the thrilling story of a unique society founded on Viking values!

The Age of Settlement: 870-930 AD

The initial "Settlement" of Iceland is believed to have lasted about 60 years, from around 870 to 930 AD. 

Most of the first Norse settlers were farmers and traders looking for new lands, relocating from Scandinavia or the Viking settlements around the British Isles and Ireland.

The Norwegian Naddodd is generally credited with discovering Iceland first, around 850 AD. 

He drifted away from his intended port of call in the Faroes, landing on Iceland's Eastfjords around what is now known as Reyðarfjörður. 

It snowed during his short stay, so he named his discovery Snæland (Snowland) and returned to the Faroes.

The Swede Garðarr Svavarsson is thought to be the next Norseman to arrive, pushed there by a storm and sailing right around the country, the first sailor to establish that Iceland was actually an island.

After spending the winter in what's now known as Húsavík and naming Iceland Garðarshólmi after himself, he returned home, but it's thought some of his crew remained, becoming the first Icelandic residents.

In 868 AD, Flóki Vilgerðarsson was the first Norseman to intentionally sail to Iceland, giving the country yet another name and the one that stuck.

He liked to use three ravens to help him find land, earning the nickname Hrafna-Flóki (Raven-Flóki) as a result.

After a rough winter in the Westfjords, surrounded by snow and icebergs and losing his livestock, he returned home to Norway, having renamed the country Ísland (Iceland).

Despite that challenging first year, he decided to try again and lived in Skagafjörður, North Iceland, for the rest of his life.

These pioneers are often overlooked in favor of Ingólfr Arnarson, a Norwegian chieftain who sailed to Iceland around 874 AD.

The famous Icelandic Sagas and the country's early historians chose to record Ingólfr and his wife, Hallveig Fróðadóttir, as Iceland's first permanent settlers.

The story of Ingólfr's arrival in Iceland is told in the Íslendingabók (Book of Icelanders) and the Landnámabók (Book of Settlement), written a couple of hundred years later by Ari Þorgilsson and others.

Ingólfr left Norway after becoming caught up in a blood feud, seeking out this new land that Garðar Svavarsson, Hrafna-Flóki, and others had found in the far reaches of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Sailing with his family and his blood brother Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson, he followed a Norse tradition by casting his high seat pillars (ceremonial seat decorations) into the waters. 

He vowed to make his home wherever they washed ashore, taking them as a guiding sign from the gods.

Their first settlement was raised at Ingólfshöfði in southeast Iceland, but the seat pillars were not found ashore, so Ingólfr would not remain there permanently. 

In fact, it took three years of searching before the seat pillars were found some distance away in a large bay in southwest Iceland!

Ingólfr named this bay Reykjavík, which means Smoky Bay, a reference to the steam vapor rising from nearby hot springs.

Ingólfr and his plucky band of pioneers soon relocated there, claiming vast tracts of land between where Akranes and Selfoss stand today. 

According to the Book of Settlements, Ingólfr had traveled through the fertile southern lowlands, spending successive winters at Ingólfshöfði, Hjörleifshöfði, and next to Mount Ingólfsfjall.

Soon, many other settlers followed his trail, with hundreds escaping from high taxes and political instability in their native Norway.

As these new settlers arrived, he handed them sizable farmsteads across South Iceland, establishing the first flowering of organized Icelandic society.

His son Þorsteinn later began setting up the first political assembly, called a þing (pronounced 'thing'), at Kjalarnes.

The Icelandic Commonwealth: 930-1262 AD

This loose arrangement suited the settlers for a couple of generations until 930 AD, when Iceland's Viking parliament, the Alþingi, was founded at Þingvellir (Parliament Field).

By now, around thirty thousand settlers lived in a unique political society with no centralized power. They were led by local chieftains (goðar) and used regular "þings" to resolve their issues.

Alþingi is recognized as one of the world's oldest parliaments. Every summer from 930 AD until 1798, chieftains, bishops, farmers, and ordinary people came from all over Iceland for the annual two-week gathering.

The journey from the east could take more than two weeks, a test of endurance and loyalty to Iceland's chieftain leaders. 

They exchanged news, traded goods, enjoyed games and feasts, made laws, resolved disputes, celebrated marriages, and banished criminals. 

After establishing the Alþingi, Icelanders compiled an extensive body of law known as Grágás or the "Grey Goose Laws." 

For the first two centuries, Alþingi "Law Speakers" had to know all these laws by heart and recite them during their three-year term - a third each year.

The laws were finally written down in the winter of 1117-18, which considerably changed the Law Speakers' work!

The Age of Exploration

The Viking spirit of exploration and seafaring skills continued amongst the early Icelanders, with many settlers continuing their voyages west towards Greenland and North America.

Around 982 AD, Erik the Red (Erik Thorvaldsson) was banished from Iceland for three years after a series of violent disputes with his neighbors.

Sailing west, he found and settled in a land with similar conditions to Iceland. When he returned to Iceland, he talked up its qualities to attract others to join him, calling it Greenland, in contrast to his home country.

The new name stuck, and Erik's marketing trick of encouraging settlers with a "good name" continues to this day. 

The truth is that Greenland is really quite icy, and Iceland is quite green!

Just a few years later, in 1000 AD, Erik's son Leifur Eríkson went further, navigating by sun, stars, and seabirds all the way to the North American coast in a single-sail ship. 

His journey of discovery made him the first European to set foot on the American continent, nearly five hundred years before Christopher Columbus.

"Leif the Lucky" first found a rocky place he called Helluland (now Baffin Island) before landing at a more welcoming wooded area he named Markland (now Labrador).

Continuing south, Leifur discovered wild grapes and self-sown wheat. He and his crew set up a settlement in a land he called Vinland, which could simply mean "Wineland"!

Many historians now consider this the site of L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Climate change over the last thousand years might explain why grapes were growing at this latitude at the time.

The Arrival of Christianity

After a few generations of following pagan traditions, the Alþingi voted to adopt Christianity as the national religion in 1000 AD.

Mythic figures like Óðinn (Odin) and Þór (Thor) had been worshipped, following Norse traditions. 

A Norwegian missionary called Þangbrandr had been sent by the King of Norway to spread the word, which he did fiercely and armed with a sword. 

His activities divided the country, forcing the Alþing to restore unity by accepting Christianity as the national religion.

Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði was the Law Speaker at the time, and the story goes that he cast pagan statues into the waters at Goðafoss as a symbolic break with the past. Nowadays, many believe this story is a 19th-century myth.

Life in Viking Age Iceland

The early Icelanders lived and worked on farms, either as landowners or indentured servants, and there were no recognizable villages or towns.

Fishing and cereal cropping were small parts of the early Icelandic economy. The real focus was on cattle and sheep, producing meat, milk, and cheese to get them through the harsh Icelandic winters.

The Viking farmers also created skyr, the uniquely Icelandic high-protein, low-fat yogurt that so many enjoy today, a thousand years later.

Icelanders imported horses to get around and transport their wares to market, depending on these sturdy creatures for so much.

The breed's unique characteristics soon evolved, including the tölt, a fifth gait ideally adapted to riding across uneven lava fields.

Life was hard, though. Frequent volcanic eruptions made vast areas of the country uninhabitable for decades, and the wild weather made farming much more challenging than elsewhere.

The End of the Viking Age

The Viking Age in Iceland ended in 1262 AD, when Norway assumed direct rule over the country, with its people obliged to swear allegiance to King Haakon IV.

Clan warfare and power struggles amongst bickering chieftains came to a terrible conclusion with the Age of the Sturlungs.

There was a 40-year period of bitter conflicts and violent instability, including the bloodiest battle in Iceland's history, the Battle of Örlygsstaðir, and the only naval battle ever fought between Icelanders. 

The conflicts were caused by the Norwegian king's desire to establish greater control over the Icelandic Commonwealth and its goðar (chieftains).

The Norwegian King Haakon IV had hoped that Iceland's great poet-historian Snorri Sturluson would lead his people to accept Norway's rule.

However, Sturluson was more interested in increasing his own influence in Iceland, and the impasse led to his murder and the eventual end of Iceland's independence.

Twice elected as "Law Speaker" and author of Egil's Saga and the Prose Edda, Sturluson was also an essential character in Iceland's literary history, which peaked with the Icelandic Sagas.

The Sagas

Iceland is one of the most literary nations on Earth, with more books sold per capita than anywhere else, and it’s estimated that one in ten Icelanders publish a book of their own.

This storytelling tradition echoes through the ages, rooted in an older tradition of family histories retold around the fire and passed down the generations.

The Sagas, first written down by Snorri Sturluson and other Icelandic historians, are the cornerstone of Icelandic culture.

Like Shakespeare's canon, the Icelandic Sagas tell tales of centuries past rather than recording current events, so an element of imagination has to be added.

Featuring bitter blood feuds, battling families, doomed romances, and scheming villains, the Sagas are equal parts history, genealogy, and soap opera rolled into thrilling page-turning tales.  

There's nothing better to paint a picture of life in Iceland's early days. 

If you'd like to try one, start with Njáls Saga (feuding families, murder, arson, and revenge) or Egil's Saga (the story of warrior-poet Egil Skallagrímsson who killed his first victim at the tender age of seven).

If you're after a bit of romance, dip into the Laxdæla Saga, a tragic love triangle that will tug at your heartstrings.

If you want to learn more…

… several museums in Reykjavík tell the tale of Iceland's Viking heritage and history, including Perlan, The Settlement Exhibition, the National Museum, and the Saga Museum.

These museums showcase a treasure trove of weapons, jewelry, and clothing, offering a glimpse of a golden age and a society like no other that can take you on a journey through time to the Viking Age.