Long after man had spread to every corner of Europe, Iceland remained out of his reach. Early navigators may have drifted there and even lived to tell the tale; some such memory may lie behind the "Island of Thule", shown by ancient geographers. The first certain discoverers of Iceland were Irish monks who, in the style of St. Brendan, tested their faith by undertaking perilous ocean voyages. Perhaps the conspicuous migrations of Icelandic nesting birds across Ireland suggested to them the existence of land across the ocean. At the beginning of the "Viking Age," c. 800 AD, the Irish knew how to get to Iceland and back and some monks had spent considerable time in that empty country. There is no evidence of any permanent settlement, however, or family migration from Ireland to Iceland, nor did Irish strains of sheep or other farm animals survive in Iceland. Its settlement was left to the Norse.

During the 9th century, Scandinavian seaborne warriors - the Vikings - preyed upon much of Western Europe, especially the British Isles. In places they also settled down as war lords, traders, or simply peasants. Norwegian Vikings extended their activities southwards from earlier settlements in Shetland and Orkney, temporarily controlling parts of Scotland and Ireland. They also ventured further into the ocean and settled the Faroes.

Perhaps the Norwegian seafarers learnt from the Irish about the existence of Iceland. They may also, as later Icelandic tradition maintains, have stumbled upon it while accidentally by-passing the Faroes. Their navigational skills depended on landmarks or such signs as sea birds, whales and high clouds which might indicate the presence of land far beyond the horizon. On the high seas the sun was their compass, its height at noon indicating the latitude. Once lost they had no means of establishing how far west they had gone. Navigation to the Faroes, therefore, was bound to result in the discovery of Iceland, as, in turn, the Icelanders could not help discovering Greenland, and sailing to Greenland naturally involved the discovery of the American mainland. These navigational limitations made it simpler to follow a straight east-west route between Iceland (or Greenland) and Norway than the shorter but more oblique route between Iceland and the British Isles.

Once discovered, a country larger than Ireland or Scotland, rich in fish, seals and birds and with half of its area covered with vegetation, could not remain empty for long. The archaeological record shows that Iceland was being rapidly settled around 900. The flora adapted to the sudden impact of man and his grazing animals. Dwellings, graves and artefacts were of Scandinavian or Norwegian types, also known from Norse settlements in the British Isles. Two to four centuries later, Icelandic scholars and saga writers recorded a rich tradition about the settlement of the country. Families were traced to a Scandinavian, mainly Norwegian, origin, and the length of recorded genealogies would in most cases fit a settlement period centred on c. 900. Often the emigration of a Norwegian ancestor is explained in terms of a conflict with King Harald Finehair, who reportedly subdued all of Norway and established a national dynasty over the heads of a variety of regional petty rulers. The tendency of the historical tradition to exaggerate the wealth, power and high birth of the original settlers would require correspondingly potent reasons for such important people to emigrate, thus making the "royal conflict" a plausible standard explanation.

A number of settlers reportedly came from Norse colonies in the British Isles - Ireland, Scotland and the Scottish islands - where the Vikings, significantly, were suffering serious setbacks at the time. These Norsemen would have mixed with the Celtic and Pictish population, taking local wives, hiring local servants, acquiring slaves of local origin. Thus the Celts and Picts presumably made up a significant part of the ancestry of the Icelanders. That element, however, would have been more or less integrated with the Norse before the emigration to Iceland. It has thus left few traces in the archaeological record, nor has it contributed more than a handful of words to the Icelandic language, which was a Scandinavian dialect, more or less identical with the Viking Age Norse spoken in Western Norway, the Faroes, Shetland, Orkney, etc.

Europe's Hard Shadow
The early independence of Iceland was overshadowed by King Olaf Tryggvason, who brought Christianity by threats of the sword in the year 999. Afterwards, however, Iceland was mostly ignored by the Norwegian Kings, and a Golden Age lasted from1030-1163. Many sagas were written down in Norse at this time, beginning a literary flowering that would culminate with the sagas of Snorri Sturluson in the early 13th century. Much of Sturluson’s writing documents the end of the Golden Age, which declined into the “Sturlung Age” or the “Age of Stone Throwing”(1230-64), when the unenforceable authority of the Althing collapsed into warfare between rival clans. The infighting left Iceland vulnerable to Norwegian King Haakon, who managed to assert control over the island in 1262. Haakon instituted a debilitating tax in the form of wool, and the island began a long decline into abysmal poverty. 

The bad times that followed over the next 600 years are legendary: Hekla erupted in 1389, devastating much of the surrounding land. Trade worsened. Norway passed a law forbidding Iceland to trade with other nations, and because Iceland had no merchant fleet of its own, it sometimes had to wait years for Norwegian ships to arrive. The law was upheld by rulers in Denmark when the Scandinavian countries formed the Union of Kalmar in 1397. To survive, Icelanders began a covert Cod trade with Britain, only to have the British decide it would be easier to fish Icelandic waters themselves - an act that led to war between England and Denmark in 1469. In 1627, three thousand Barbary pirates wreaked havoc on the island, kidnapping 242 people. In 1662, Denmark forbade trade not only between Iceland and other nations, but also between the regions of Iceland. In 1783, Mount Laki erupted, killing tens of thousand of cattle and horses and hundreds of thousands of sheep. In the smallpox that ensued, one third of the population perished. To top it off, in 1800 Denmark decided to abolish Iceland’s most cherished institution, The Althing. 

Independence
After so many centuries of hard times, the independence movement that began in the early19th century probably seemed long overdue. The movement reached full force under the outspoken leadership of a nationalist named Jon Sigurdsson. His efforts helped end the trade monopoly in 1854, and domestic autonomy was established in 1874, followed by home rule in 1904 and sovereignty in 1918. Ties to the Danish crown were not fully broken until 1944, after large numbers of British and American troops stationed on the island bolstered the economy. Since then, the development of an American airbase on the island and a booming cod industry have transformed Iceland into one of the most prosperous nations on Earth. It has the both the longest life expectancy and the highest standard of living. 

Calendar of Historical Events

874-930: Iceland is settled, mainly from Norway but also from the Viking areas of the British Isles.

930: The Althing is established - now the world's oldest existing national assembly - at Thingvellir. Iceland's republican system of government was unique in its day.

930-1030: "Saga Age".

982: Erik ("The Red") Thorvaldsson discovers Greenland.

1000: Christianity is adopted peacefully by a decision of the Althing at Thingvellir. The Icelander Leif ("The Lucky") Eiriksson becomes the first European to set foot in America.

The Saga of Eric the Red  (Link)

1003: Birth of Snorri Thorfinnsson on the East coast of North America, the first European-American. He was the son of the Icelandic immigrants Thorfinnur Karlsefni Thordarson (Leif Eiriksson’s brother-in law) and his wife Gudridur Thorbjornsdottir.

1030-1120: "Age of Peace".

1120-1230: "Age of Writing".

1230-1264: "Sturlung Age".

1241: Snorri Sturluson is killed.

13th Century: "Golden Age" when the Icelandic Sagas are written. The Sagas include some of the classics of world medieval literature and are written in the ancient Viking language which is still spoken in Iceland today.

1262: Iceland becomes part of the Norwegian crown.

1380: Iceland, with Norway, becomes part of the Danish crown.

1402-1404: Black Death plague.

1537: Norway is dissolved as a state (until 1814) and becomes part of Denmark. Iceland comes directly under the King of Denmark.

1540-1550: The Reformation.

1602: Royal trade monopoly.

1783-1785: The disastrous Lakagigar eruption.

1787: Trade monopoly is extended to all Danish subjects.

1800: The Althing is dissolved.

1818: The National Library is founded.

1843: The Althing is re-established as a consultative body.

1854: Monopoly on foreign trade is entirely removed.

1863: The National Museum is founded.

1874: Millennium of the settlement of Iceland is celebrated at Thingvellir. A Constitution is granted by the King of Denmark.

1879: Jon Sigurdsson, the leader of the independence movement, dies.

1904: Home rule. Appointment of the first Icelandic government minister, Hannes Hafstein.

1911: The University of Iceland is founded.

1918: Act of Crown Union with Denmark, Iceland becomes an independent, sovereign state, with the Danish King as head of state.

1920: The Supreme Court is founded.

1930: Millennium of the establishment of the Althing Parliament is celebrated at Thingvellir.

1940: Iceland is occupied by British forces.

1941: US forces take over the defense of Iceland. Iceland becomes the first foreign country where US troops are deployed before Pearl Harbor during the Second World War.

1944: June 17. The Republic of Iceland is established at Thingvellir, following a referendum in which 97% of the population voted in favor of cutting ties with the Danish Crown.

1945: The first international flight by an Icelandic aircraft.

1946: Iceland joins the United Nations.

1947: Iceland becomes a founding member of the OEEC (forerunner of OECD).

1949: Iceland joins NATO.

1950: Iceland joins Council of Europe. National Theater and Symphony Orchestra founded.

1951: A defense agreement is concluded between Iceland and the US.

1952: Iceland joins the Nordic Council. Fishery limits are extended to 4 miles.

1958: Fishery limits are extended to 12 miles.

1970: Iceland joins EFTA.

1971: Arrival of the first Icelandic manuscripts from Copenhagen.

1972: Fishery limits are extended to 50 miles.

1973: A volcanic eruption in Heimaey, the only inhabited island in the Westmann Islands.

1974: 1100th anniversary of the settlement of Iceland is celebrated at Thingvellir.

1975: Fishery limits are extended to 200 miles.

1986: Reykjavik celebrates its bicentenary. Reagan-Gorbachev Summit held in Reykjavik.