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Iceland is Europes westernmost country, the second largest island in the North-Atlantic Ocean. ... Environmentally, Iceland is unique. ... To those who have never visited the island, the name “Iceland” conjures up images of a backward, cold, unfriendly country. ... ” In this paper I will discuss how the Vikings came to Iceland and the reasons they elected to settle there. In addition, I will look at how the Vikings documented their history, the government they established and other aspects of Viking life in a newly colonized land.
Those who have been fortunate enough to visit Iceland have been able to see that it has a variety of landscapes and people and many are amazed to find that even in the winter, much of Iceland’s average temperature is similar to New York City. In the beginning, Iceland was an unknown entity; a country where settlers from Europe and Scandinavia left their homelands to set up lives for themselves and their families. ... History has shown that the Vikings were the first to establish permanent settlements on this island.
The Vikings were fearsome warriors who combined their lust for trade and warfare with the search for new lands that they explored, settled and ruled. ... The Swedes moved into the Baltic area to what is now Russia and proceeded to the areas around Constantinople; the Danes explored the British Isles, the Frankish Empire and the Mediterranean islands; and the Norse voyaged along the Atlantic seacoast to the Faroe Islands and eventually to what is now known as Iceland.
I think it is important to briefly discuss where we get most of the historical information about Iceland and her people. ... For from Iceland comes the precious legacy of the Sagas…a narrative constructed according to a peculiar literary convention, a special treatment of which the Icelander alone had won the secret.” (Kendrick, 354) The main source of information about the settlement of Iceland comes from these Icelandic writings. ... Most important, the saga had to be credible; that is, the story had to be portrayed as possible, plausible, and therefore useful within the context of Iceland’s particular rules of social order and feud. ... ” (Byock, 37) Another “important source of information on the settlement of Iceland in the late ninth and early tenth centuries is the famous Icelandic Landnámabók (the book of the taking of the land), which dates from shortly after 1200. ... ” (Brøndsted, 62)
The Vikings were not the first people to live in Iceland. ... There are many theories about how the Vikings and other Norsemen came to Iceland. ... As an actual descendent of Egil, Snorri was able to describe in great detail the circumstances by which Egil’s forefathers left Norway under Harold’s rule and settled in Iceland:
“Once King Harald had taken over the kingdoms he had recently won, he kept a close watch on the landholders and powerful farmers and everyone else he suspected would be likely to rebel, and gave them the options of entering his service or leaving the country, or a third choice of suffering hardship or paying with their lives; some had their arms and legs maimed. ...
Many people fled the country to escape this tyranny and settled various uninhabited parts of many places…And at this time, Iceland was discovered. ... ” (Brøndsted, 65) Icelandic history has given Ingolf Arnarson and Hjorleif Hrodmundarson the distinction of being the first Norwegian settlers in Iceland around A. ... Brøndsted also tells us that Ingolf found that his “high-seat pillar had drifted ashore on the south-west coast of Iceland, at a spot where there were warm steaming springs. He settled there, naming the place Reykjavík, which means ‘bay of smoke’, and today is the capital of Iceland. ...
In Egil’s Saga, Snorri relates the trip to Iceland by a man called Ketil Haeng who was a man of good reputation and noble birth. ...
A few years previously Ingolf and Hjorleif had gone to settle in Iceland.
Approximate Word count = 3281
Approximate Pages = 13.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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