How old is Iceland as a settled country?

The first permanent Norse settlers arrived in Iceland around 870 CE. The world's oldest parliament, the Alþing, was established at Þingvellir in 930 CE. Iceland remained a self-governing commonwealth until 1262, when it came under Norwegian and later Danish control. Full independence was achieved in 1944.

Icelandic history overview: settlement to modern Iceland

The settlement period — 870 to 930 CE

Iceland was one of the last large land masses in the world to be permanently settled by humans. The island was known to Irish monks — papar, as the Norse called them — who came to Iceland in the 8th century seeking isolated places for contemplation. When the Norse settlers arrived, they found a virtually empty island.

The first permanent Norse settler is traditionally named as Ingólfur Arnarson, who built his farm at Reykjavík (Smoky Bay, named for the geothermal steam) around 874 CE. The Settlement Exhibition under modern Reykjavík contains the excavated remains of a farmhouse from this era, dated to approximately 870–930 CE.

The following decades saw a sustained wave of settlement, mostly from western Norway but also from Norse settlers in the British Isles who brought Celtic slaves and thralls with them. Iceland’s population is genetically mixed Norse-Celtic as a result — modern genetic studies show roughly equal paternal Norwegian and maternal Celtic (Irish and Scottish) ancestry.

The settlement was not a state action but a private land grab. Families and clan groups sailed west, claimed land (in a process called landnám — the land-taking), and established farms. There was no king, no central authority.

The Commonwealth — 930 to 1262

Iceland’s most distinctive political achievement was the establishment of the Alþing (Althing) — the world’s oldest still-functioning parliament — at Þingvellir in 930 CE. The site was chosen for its natural amphitheatre: a great plain between the rift valley walls of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, accessible from most of Iceland within two weeks’ ride.

The Alþing met for two weeks each summer. It was not a parliament in the modern legislative sense — it had no executive power to enforce its decisions. It was more a combination of supreme court and annual national gathering. The Law Speaker (lögmaðr) recited the entire law from memory from the Law Rock (Lögberg) — Iceland had no written law until after Christianisation.

The Sagas of Icelanders document this period in remarkable detail. They describe a society governed by honour culture and legal procedure rather than monarchy. Disputes were settled through negotiation, arbitration, or regulated violence. The feud — carefully managed, with specific rules about what constituted legitimate revenge — was the primary mechanism for maintaining social order in the absence of an executive authority.

Christianisation — 999–1000 CE

Iceland converted to Christianity in 999 or 1000 CE — a decision made at the Alþing rather than imposed by a foreign power or king. The process is described in detail in Njáls saga.

The decision was pragmatic. Norwegian King Óláfr Tryggvason was pressuring Iceland to convert, threatening to harm Icelandic merchants in Norwegian ports. Two factions formed at the Alþing — Christian and pagan. The assembly deadlocked and delegated the decision to the Law Speaker, Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, a pagan chieftain.

Þorgeir spent a day and night under his cloak in contemplation and emerged to declare that Iceland would adopt Christianity to maintain social unity, while permitting private practice of pagan customs. The story is told as an example of pragmatic, consensus-based political decision making — remarkable as historical procedure regardless of the religious content.

The physical site of this decision — the Law Rock at Þingvellir — is still visible today.

Medieval Iceland — 11th to 13th centuries

After Christianisation, Icelandic society developed through a period of relative stability followed by civil conflict. The church establishment grew wealthy and powerful. The major sagas were written during the 13th century, documenting events of the 10th and 11th centuries with what scholars believe is considerable historical accuracy alongside narrative shaping.

The 13th century Sturlungaöld (Age of the Sturlungs) was a period of destructive civil conflict between powerful chieftain families, particularly the Sturlungar clan. The conflict weakened Icelandic institutions and created conditions for Norwegian intervention.

Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) — author of Heimskringla, the Prose Edda, and possibly Egils saga — was the most significant literary and political figure of this period. He was twice elected Law Speaker and visited the Norwegian court. He was killed at his farm at Reykholt in 1241 during the factional violence.

Norwegian and Danish rule — 1262 to 1944

In 1262, Iceland submitted to Norwegian sovereignty under an agreement that preserved Icelandic law and the Alþing as an institution. This was presented as a political choice rather than conquest.

When Norway came under Danish control in 1397, Iceland passed to Denmark as part of the same arrangement. Danish rule intensified over the following centuries, with restrictions on Icelandic trade, the establishment of Danish monopolies, and increasing centralisation. The Alþing was reduced from its Commonwealth status to an advisory role and eventually abolished in 1800.

A series of catastrophic events in the 16th through 18th centuries significantly reduced Iceland’s population:

The Black Death (mid-14th century) killed an estimated 30–40% of the population
Barbary pirate raids (1627): Turkish pirates raided Iceland, taking around 400 captives to North Africa
The Laki eruption (1783–84): A volcanic event of exceptional scale, lasting eight months, releasing toxic gases that killed most of Iceland’s livestock and caused the Haze Famine — a quarter of Iceland’s population died
Smallpox epidemics in the 18th century

Iceland’s population at its lowest point in the 18th century was around 35,000–40,000 people.

Towards independence — 19th and 20th centuries

The romantic nationalism of the 19th century — which produced independence movements across Europe — came to Iceland as a cultural revival centred on the sagas, the Old Norse language, and the Commonwealth-era political tradition. Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879) was the central political figure of this movement, campaigning for Icelandic self-governance within the Danish crown.

The Alþing was restored in 1845 as an advisory body. Iceland received home rule in 1904. By the early 20th century, most administrative functions had been returned to Icelandic authorities.

The German occupation of Denmark in 1940 severed the operational link between Copenhagen and Reykjavík. British forces occupied Iceland in May 1940 (a pre-emptive action to prevent German use of the island), followed by American forces in 1941. The Keflavík base remained a significant US military presence until 2006.

Iceland declared independence from Denmark on June 17, 1944 — a date chosen to coincide with Jón Sigurðsson’s birthday — at Þingvellir, the historical site of the Alþing. The republic was established peacefully while Denmark was still under German occupation.

The Skálholt and Hólar bishoprics

Iceland’s two medieval bishoprics played a central role in the country’s cultural history for 700 years. The Catholic Church established:

Skálholt (south Iceland, near the Golden Circle): The episcopal see from 1056. Site of a cathedral school that educated Iceland’s intellectual leaders through the medieval period. At its peak, the largest settlement in Iceland. The current church (1963, Romanesque revival) stands on the site. The medieval foundations of the cathedral and the bishop’s palace have been excavated. A summer school, concert series, and cultural centre now operate at Skálholt.

Hólar í Hjaltadal (north Iceland, near Akureyri): The northern bishopric from 1106. The current stone cathedral (1763) is the oldest stone church in Iceland. Hólar was where Iceland’s first printing press operated in 1530. The site is now an agricultural university with a museum.

The Reformation reached Iceland in 1550 — traumatically. The last Catholic bishop, Jón Arason at Hólar, was captured and executed (the last Catholic bishop in Scandinavia to be executed). The Lutheran church then controlled both bishoprics.

These sites are accessible and undervisited. Skálholt in particular is on the southern Golden Circle route — a 15-minute detour from the main circuit adds substantial historical depth.

The 1783 Laki eruption — Iceland’s greatest catastrophe

The 1783–84 Laki eruption was one of the most significant geological events in historical time. The Laki fissure in south Iceland opened along an 8 km length and erupted for eight months, releasing toxic fluorine and sulphur dioxide gases that killed 75% of Iceland’s livestock. The resulting famine — Móðuharðindin (the Haze Famine) — killed approximately 25% of Iceland’s population.

The effects extended far beyond Iceland. The Laki aerosols caused failed harvests across Europe and North Africa. The summer of 1783 was the coldest since records began in many European countries. Some historians link Laki to the conditions that contributed to the French Revolutionary period.

In Iceland, the crisis nearly led to the complete evacuation of the island — Danish authorities discussed relocating the entire Icelandic population to mainland Denmark. This did not happen, and Iceland’s population eventually recovered, but the Laki eruption remains the closest the country came to demographic collapse.

The Laki fissure (Lakagígar) is now an accessible hiking site in Vatnajökull National Park. It is one of Iceland’s most historically significant landscape features, though it requires an F-road and is not on the main tourist circuit.

Post-war Iceland

Post-war Iceland industrialised rapidly, primarily through the fishing industry. The mid-20th century saw the construction of hydroelectric infrastructure, urban growth in Reykjavík, and the development of a welfare state comparable to Scandinavian models.

The Cod Wars (1958–1976) — a series of disputes with Britain over Iceland’s progressive extension of its fishing limits — were formative in modern Icelandic national identity. Iceland extended its limit from 4 to 200 nautical miles, the British objected forcefully (both diplomatically and by sending Royal Navy vessels), and Iceland threatened to leave NATO. Iceland won.

The 2008 financial crisis hit Iceland with unusual severity. The country’s three main banks, having expanded internationally far beyond Iceland’s GDP, collapsed simultaneously, creating the largest economic failure relative to an economy’s size in modern history. The subsequent recovery — through currency devaluation, debt restructuring, and growth in tourism — was unusually swift.

Iceland today

Iceland has a population of approximately 380,000, over 60% of whom live in the Reykjavík capital region. Its economy is based on fisheries, tourism (which grew from 500,000 visitors per year in 2010 to over 2 million by 2018), energy (aluminium smelting using geothermal and hydroelectric power), and technology.

The language has changed remarkably little since the Commonwealth period. Modern Icelanders can read 13th-century sagas with the same linguistic difficulty that English speakers experience with Chaucer. The deliberate policy of avoiding loanwords — creating new Icelandic compounds for concepts like telephone (sími, from an old word for “thread”) and computer (tölva, from tala “number” and völva “oracle”) — has preserved the language’s distinctiveness.

The National Museum and Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavík are the primary institutional resources for the history described in this guide.

The language as historical record

Icelandic’s conservatism as a language is not accidental — it reflects a deliberate policy that began with the 19th-century nationalist cultural revival and continues as institutional language policy today. The Icelandic Language Institute (Íslenska máltæknifélagið) maintains the language’s purity by creating new Icelandic words for modern concepts rather than adopting loanwords.

Examples of Icelandic neologisms:

Sími (telephone): from the old Norse word for thread or string
Tölva (computer): from tala (number) + völva (seeress, oracle)
Þota (jet aircraft): from the verb meaning to rush or dart
Sjónvarp (television): from sjón (sight) + varp (throwing)

This active maintenance is unusual globally. The practical result: texts written in Iceland 700 years ago are readable, with some difficulty, by contemporary Icelanders. The sagas remain accessible in their original language in ways that English speakers cannot access Middle English without training.

Women in Icelandic history

Iceland’s claim to a progressive gender history is more complex than tourist promotional materials suggest, but some specific facts are notable:

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir: Elected President of Iceland in 1980, she was the world’s first democratically elected female head of state. She served four terms until 1996. Her image appeared on Icelandic currency.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir: Prime Minister of Iceland 2009–2013 during the financial crisis, she was the world’s first openly gay head of government.

Settlement era women: The sagas document several women who made significant independent decisions — land claims, property transactions, and in some cases acts of personal revenge within the honour culture framework. Women in the Commonwealth period had more formal legal rights than in many contemporary European societies.

Kvenfélagasambandið (Women’s Association of Iceland): Founded in 1894, it organised Iceland’s first women’s suffrage campaign. Women’s right to vote was achieved in 1915 (for women over 40, extended to all women in 1920).

The cod wars in context

The three cod wars with Britain (1958, 1972–73, 1975–76) were genuinely formative in modern Icelandic national identity. Iceland extended its fishing limit from 4 miles to 12 miles (1958), then 50 miles (1972), then 200 miles (1975–76). Britain challenged each extension with fishing vessels protected by Royal Navy frigates.

Iceland’s position was economically existential — fish products represented 70–80% of export earnings, and overfishing by foreign fleets was genuinely depleting stocks. The confrontations at sea, which included ramming incidents, were genuine territorial disputes.

Iceland’s threat to leave NATO — made credibly in 1975–76 during the last cod war — carried weight because of the Keflavík air base’s strategic importance during the Cold War. The US pressure on Britain to settle was decisive. Iceland won all three cod wars.

The 200-mile exclusive economic zone that Iceland established became the model for the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which established 200-mile EEZs as international standard. Iceland’s fish war produced law that now governs all ocean boundaries.

Economic history — from fish to finance to tourism

Iceland’s economic trajectory is unusual:

1900–1960s: Fishing-based economy. Iceland went from one of Europe’s poorest countries to one of its wealthiest in a generation through the mechanisation of fishing and the post-war herring boom.

1970s–2000s: Diversification into aluminium smelting (using cheap geothermal electricity), fisheries processing, and financial services. The financial sector expanded aggressively in the 2000s.

2008: The crash. Iceland’s three banks — Landsbanki, Kaupthing, and Glitnir — had grown to approximately 10 times Iceland’s GDP through aggressive international expansion. All three collapsed in October 2008 in the space of days, in what was proportionally the largest banking collapse in history. The UK and Netherlands demanded repayment of deposits guaranteed by Iceland; Icelanders voted in referendum to refuse. Legal proceedings lasted years.

2010–present: Recovery driven partly by tourism growth (from 500,000 visitors in 2010 to over 2 million by 2018), tech sector development, and fisheries. Tourism now represents a significant share of GDP.

Frequently asked questions about Icelandic history

When was Iceland first settled?

The first permanent Norse settlement is dated to approximately 874 CE based on archaeological evidence and historical sources. The settlement period lasted roughly from 870 to 930 CE.

What is the Alþing and why is it significant?

The Alþing, established at Þingvellir in 930 CE, is the world’s oldest continuously functioning parliament. It met annually through the Commonwealth period, was suppressed under Danish rule, restored in 1845, and remains Iceland’s national parliament today in its Reykjavík location.

Was Iceland ever Viking?

Yes — the settlers were Norse (Viking) in culture and origin, though “Viking” technically describes a raiding activity rather than an ethnicity. The sagas describe a society with strong Norse cultural characteristics: honour culture, family feuds, seafaring, and the legal tradition. Iceland was not a trading or raiding base but a settled agrarian society from the beginning.

How did Iceland get its name?

According to saga tradition, an early Norwegian settler named Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson climbed a mountain and saw a fjord full of drift ice — hence Ísland (Ice Land). This is the traditional story; whether it is historically accurate is not confirmed.