Population and Settlement |
Today, Iceland is an influential European country located on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. It has a current population of about 333,00 and thousands of daily travelers and visitors flock to this intriguing country (“Iceland Population” 2017). How did this country become settled and why? What kind of people initially travelled to Iceland and what resources were available to them? These kinds of questions are significant when understanding how Iceland functions as a country in this day and age.
It is uncertain whether who first discovered Iceland but most people know it as a Viking nation because Iceland was named after the Vikings first settled there around 874 (“History of Iceland”, 2017). However, before the 870’s, Irish Christians, known as Papar or monks, may have came to Iceland by boat, and some archeological evidence of their buildings were found there. There is also evidence of Roman coins from the 3rd century found in Iceland, and Roman jewelry from the 9th century, but it can not be concluded that any romans actually settled in Iceland (Short, 2017). The first man to have discovered Island was Naddoddr, who was planning to sail to the Faroe Islands, but washed up ashore on Iceland by accident. The second man who also sailed to Iceland by accident was a Swedish man named Garðar Svavarsson, and he called the island Garðarshólmi (Garðar´s Islet), but he only stayed for a few months (“History of Iceland”, 2017). Flóki Vilgerðarson was the third discoverer of the island, who was a Viking from Norway, and gave Iceland it’s name after he saw some drift ice in a deep sea inlet while climbing Hornatær (Lambert, 2015). Unfortunately, due to the harsh climate in the winter season, his livestock died and he sailed back home.
In the Landnámabók (Book of Settlement), it says that Ingólfur Arnarson was the first settler around 870, but he also had his brother and slaves who came with him. He threw wooden pillars out of his boat to say that he would settle wherever the pillars washed ashore. The pillars were eventually found three years later in 874 at a place where Ingólfur would settle down and call Reykjavik, which would later be the capital of Iceland. If you are wondering what happened to Hjörleifur, Ingólfur brother, he ended up building two houses and started farming, but his slaves killed him in a revolt (Short, 2017). Some archeological evidence for this includes a house buried in one of Reykjavik’s layers of volcanic ash dating back to about 872.
It is uncertain whether who first discovered Iceland but most people know it as a Viking nation because Iceland was named after the Vikings first settled there around 874 (“History of Iceland”, 2017). However, before the 870’s, Irish Christians, known as Papar or monks, may have came to Iceland by boat, and some archeological evidence of their buildings were found there. There is also evidence of Roman coins from the 3rd century found in Iceland, and Roman jewelry from the 9th century, but it can not be concluded that any romans actually settled in Iceland (Short, 2017). The first man to have discovered Island was Naddoddr, who was planning to sail to the Faroe Islands, but washed up ashore on Iceland by accident. The second man who also sailed to Iceland by accident was a Swedish man named Garðar Svavarsson, and he called the island Garðarshólmi (Garðar´s Islet), but he only stayed for a few months (“History of Iceland”, 2017). Flóki Vilgerðarson was the third discoverer of the island, who was a Viking from Norway, and gave Iceland it’s name after he saw some drift ice in a deep sea inlet while climbing Hornatær (Lambert, 2015). Unfortunately, due to the harsh climate in the winter season, his livestock died and he sailed back home.
In the Landnámabók (Book of Settlement), it says that Ingólfur Arnarson was the first settler around 870, but he also had his brother and slaves who came with him. He threw wooden pillars out of his boat to say that he would settle wherever the pillars washed ashore. The pillars were eventually found three years later in 874 at a place where Ingólfur would settle down and call Reykjavik, which would later be the capital of Iceland. If you are wondering what happened to Hjörleifur, Ingólfur brother, he ended up building two houses and started farming, but his slaves killed him in a revolt (Short, 2017). Some archeological evidence for this includes a house buried in one of Reykjavik’s layers of volcanic ash dating back to about 872.
![Picture](/uploads/9/9/4/5/99459066/iceland_1_orig.jpg)
This map shows the voyages of the first three men who discovered Iceland, Naddoddr, Garoar Svavarsson and Floki, whom the island is named after. This took place in the 9th century, where two of the men were vikings and Garoar was from Sweden. All of these men only stayed in Iceland for a short amount of time. The first settler would be Inogolfur.
![Map 1](/uploads/9/9/4/5/99459066/editor/east-west.gif?1485592969)
After 874, hundreds of settlers came by boat to Iceland from Norway. These settlers were Norwegian, Irish and Scottish, where “the Irish and Scots being mainly slaves and servants of the Norse chiefs according to the Icelandic sagas and Landnámabók and other documents” (History of Iceland, 2017). A lot of women came from the British isles because Nordic men came to find their lovers, wives, or companions on the way to Iceland. By 930 the population rose to about 60,000, and all of the desirable land was claimed (Lambert, 2015). This is where government assemblies started forming, which will be discussed in future website pages.
There are a variety of geographic and resource based reasons that people decided to leave their homes in Norway and move to Iceland. From 870 to 930, arable land was readily available in Iceland, and men or women could essentially claim it for free (Lambert, 2015). The land in Iceland features coastal regions, inland valleys, and meadows that are well suited for farming and for farm animals. Iceland also has few predators besides the artic fox, which makes it safe for livestock (Short, 2017). Some parts of the land was covered in trees, which helped settlers develop infrastructure and provided a fuel source. Iceland has efficient types of mud and clay to use as raw materials in buildings and iron production. The warm geothermal springs that people used to bath in was good for health and hygiene.
As a result of these factors, settlements were founded near open meadowlands that were close to water and lands that provided food for livestock, known as fodder, or near areas with many birds and fish for hunting. In fact, “fishing grounds have provided a near-inexhaustible resource to the Icelanders for the first couple hundreds of years” (“Natural Resources”, n.d). Sailors such as Flóki said that “every blade of grass dripped with butter” which indicated that Iceland has a huge potential for milk, cheese and butter production (Short, 2017). Thus, Vikings brought farm animals, such as flocks of sheep, to Iceland (Lambert 2015).
Political reasons for why people settled in Iceland stemmed from the issue that people were fed up with the rule of Norwegian king, Haraldur Harfagri (Harald the Fair-haired), who was trying to unify the country (“History of Iceland” 2017). Harald took control from rulers known as earls and chieftains in their own districts, and had his own men lead the districts, while giving out taxes and enforcing laws to support his rule (Short, 2017). As a result, many previous leaders wanted to get away from the districts they were losing control of and conquer new lands. They planned expeditions and gathered food and supplies to settle in Iceland. Many of the first settlers were rich and had many resources including a wealth of labor, as they brought their own slaves and other people who were willing to follow their rule. Some people also just left Norway for a better future, and some believed that parts of Norway like the deep-sea inlets of the west were too crowded.
Despite the harsh cold climate, the people who settled in Iceland thrived. Today, Iceland is the twenty-third richest country in terms of gross domestic product, which is striking because of its tiny population compared to the other world superpowers, such as the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, or Germany which all rank close to Iceland! (Pasquali, 2015). Jared Diamond who wrote the book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, explained the theories to why countries were a success, became wealthier than most of the other countries in the world and where inequality stems from. The settlement pattern of Iceland supports most of Jared Diamond’s theories because Iceland took full advantage of its resources and geographic features that could help form powerful civilizations. Settlers in Iceland immediately formed permanent farms rather than temporary hunter-gatherer societies; agricultural food production is what Diamond discusses as a key factor for societal advancement. The people in Iceland were eventually able to grow a surplus of food. Some residents could begin to focus on other areas and occupations, rather than constantly growing food, so Iceland’s “farms were largely self-sufficient.”("Settlement", n.d) . This led to specialists forming in the community, which Diamond believes causes civilizations to develop further and grow.
Although there were not many animals available for domestication within Iceland itself, the settlers coming to the island brought domesticated animals from Norway. According the Diamond, Norway was located in Eurasia, a combination of Europe and Asia, which became one of the most dominant world powers because of the availability of more species of animals that could be domesticated, and crops such a cereal grains that were easier to store as food and grow larger yields. Iceland’s official information site, discusses early settlement life writing:
“The average temperature in Iceland was warmer in the settlement period, before the onset of the Little Ice Age in the late medieval period, and it was possible to cultivate cereals such as barley, oats and rye” ("Settlement", n.d).
This quote about Iceland directly supports Diamond’s theory of diffusion because settlers who came to Iceland brought seeds and farm animals that were originally used and discovered in the Fertile Crescent, but are now being spread or diffused to Iceland. Early Icelandic settlers used their farm animals to help plow and fertilize their fields, make dairy products, and use as meat when the animals were killed.
Further, the settlers who traveled to Iceland followed more of a route that was on a East-West axis than a North-South axis, as you can see on the map above. From Norway to Iceland, is a straight east to west direction. This matters because Diamond believes that humans traveling on an east-west axis have an easier time adjusting to the climates, as well as their plants and animals. This is because the latitudes are similar, and so are the climates between Norway and Iceland. It would be harder for people to migrate from Spain to Iceland, for example, since the climate varies more. The crops from Eurasia had an easier time adjusting and farmers could take the cereal grains to their settlements in Iceland.
Lastly, Icelandic people had a technological advantage over other countries that did not live nearby herds of farm animals. The settlers had a resistance to epidemic diseases, such as the measles, small pox, and influenza, which began when they lived close to farm animals, and the microbes from the animals evolved to take root and live in humans. Jared Diamond explains how this is an advantage when people who are not used to living in close quarters with animals, writing, “Eurasian farmers were exposed to these germs from a very early time, thus many developing immunities to the diseases” (Elwell, 2013). Thus, if one of these groups of people came to try to conquer Iceland, they would probably fall too ill from the epidemic diseases to fight. Iceland was able to become a wealthy country, despite its small size and remote location, because of Jared’s diamond diffusion theory, east-west axis theory and geographic and technological advantages. In the future, Icelandic people will harness more of their countries natural resources, such as the geothermal energy and hydroelectric power, that Icelanders rely on today.
Additional Information
This is a great article about how Iceland is using its natural resources to make energy. Most of the energy is from renewable sources and Iceland is a leading country for specialists on geothermal and hydroelectric energy:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/iceland-geothermal-power/
2. This video goes into great detail about the history of settlement of Iceland. This is useful to watch because it shows how the vestmen islands were founded, more resources Iceland has, such as green fields and salmon, and pictures of the houses formed in the 9th century as well as what the people probably looked like.
![Picture](/uploads/9/9/4/5/99459066/published/screen-shot-2017-03-02-at-10-02-09-am.png?1488474400)
Sources
Elwell , F. (2013). Diamonds Ecological-Evolutionary Theory. Retrieved January 25, 2017, from http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Essays/Diamond1.html
History of Iceland. (2017, January). Retrieved January 26, 2017, from http://www.iceland4you.is/eng/History_of_Iceland/
Iceland Population (LIVE). (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2017, from http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/iceland-population/
Lambert, T. (2015 ). A Brief History of Iceland. Retrieved January 27, 2017, from http://www.localhistories.org/iceland.html
Natural resources. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2017, from http://www.iceland.is/the-big-picture/nature-environment/natural-resources
Pasqueli, V. (2015). The Richest Countries in the World. Retrieved January 25, 2017, from https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/richest-countries-in-the-world?page=12
Settlement and Early History . (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.visiticeland.com/discovericeland/about-iceland/history-and-heritage
Short , W. R. (2017). Hurstwic: Settlement of Iceland. Retrieved January 26, 2017, from http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/society/text/settlement_of_iceland.htm
Map Sources
Early Settlement History of Iceland. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2017, from http://slideplayer.com/slide/4956271/
Map of Northern Europe. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2017, from https://www.welt-atlas.de/map_of_northern_europe_0-9004