Settlement of Iceland

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.

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.

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).

It is thought to have been a hunting and fishing outpost only inhabited part of the year, but it is not known whether it was built by people from Scandinavia, Ireland or Scotland.

Bjarni F. Einarsson, the head of the archaeological team which excavated the site, believes that the older longhouse was used as a summer outpost by Scandinavians.

[6] The Íslendingabók of Ari Thorgilsson claims that the Norse settlers encountered Gaelic monks, called papar by the Norsemen, from a Hiberno-Scottish mission when they arrived in Iceland.

Sediment deposits indicate people lived there around 800, and crosses consistent with the Hiberno-Scottish style were carved in the wall of a nearby cave.

There is a possible early mention of Iceland in the book De mensura orbis terrae by the Irish monk Dicuil, dating to 825.

Archaeological evidence shows that extensive human settlement of the island indeed began at this time, and "that the whole country was occupied within a couple of decades towards the end of the ninth century.

Correspondingly, Landnámabók suggests that within about sixty years, all the usable land had been taken; it mentions 1,500 farm and place names, and more than 3,500 people, arranged in a geographical fashion.

A harsh winter caused all of Flóki's cattle to die—he cursed this cold country, and when he spotted a drift ice in the fjord he decided to name it "Ísland" (Iceland).

Despite difficulties in finding food, he and his men stayed another year, this time in Borgarfjörður, but they headed back to Norway the following summer.

When they approached the island, Ingólfur cast his high seat pillars overboard and swore that he would settle where they drifted to shore.

This in turn led to a shift in Viking mentality towards a community minded society using alternative methods of conflict resolution, rather than just manslaughter.

Sources say this may be due in part to ideas of land ownership, but stated that the aspect of self-government led to a cohesive cultural identity and bond.

[19] As Iceland itself is small and isolated, the individualistic “us against them” mentality didn’t last long, and gave way to less violent forms of vendetta.

[19] This is a major shift in contrast to the raiding and pillaging going on in the rest of the Viking World and sets Viking-age Iceland apart from other Norse settlements.

[15] One study suggests that the primary motive for the deforestation was "clearance for pastures and home-fields", not the "settlers' requirements for fuel and building material".