Settlement of Iceland

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History of Iceland
Timeline of Icelandic history
Middle ages Settlement of Iceland 870–930 Icelandic Commonwealth 930–1262      Farthings 965      Christianization 999–1118 Sturlung era 1180–1264      Staðamálin 1178–1297 Norwegian rule 1262–1380      Old Covenant 1262 Danish rule 1380–1918      Reformation 1536–1627      Danish trade monopoly 1602–1874 Eruption of Laki 1783–1785
Modern era Independence movement 1809–1847 Prohibition 1915–1989 Kingdom of Iceland 1918–1944      Act of Union World War II 1939–1944      British invasion of Iceland 1940      Allied occupation of Iceland 1940–1945           Invader relationships Founding of republic 1944 Iceland in the Cold War 1947–1991      Cod Wars 1948–1976      Anti-NATO riot 1949 Financial crisis 2008–2011 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–2022
Related topics Aristocracy Economic history Icelandic nationality Jewish history Military history Rulers
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The settlement of Iceland (Icelandic: landnámsöld [ˈlantˌnaumsˌœlt]) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icelanders themselves tended to cite civil strife brought about by the ambitions of the Norwegian king Harald I of Norway, but modern historians focus on deeper factors, such as a shortage of arable land in Scandinavia. Unlike Great Britain and Ireland, Iceland was unsettled land and could be claimed without conflict with existing inhabitants.

On the basis of Íslendingabók by Ari Þorgilsson, and Landnámabók, histories dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and providing a wealth of detail about the settlement, the years 870 and 874 have traditionally been considered the first years of settlement. However, these sources are largely unreliable in the details they provide about the settlement, and recent research focuses more heavily on archaeological and genetic evidence.^[1]

Traditionally, the Icelandic Age of Settlement is considered to have lasted from 874 to 930, at which point most of the island had been claimed and Alþingi (Althingi), the assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth, was founded at Þingvellir (Thingvellir). Iceland is thus the second-to-last major land mass to be permanently settled by humans (Madagascar and New Zealand being colonized in the mid-first millennium and thirteenth century, respectively).