How did the Vikings survive in Iceland?

The people known as the Vikings lived across several Scandinavian countries and led raids all along the coast of Western Europe. The ones that raided east mostly came from Norway and Denmark, but it wasn’t until the year 793 AD that they finally arrived in England. They spent the next few decades raiding the British Isles until around 100 years later when they made the discovery of Iceland.

(One of the many stunning sites in Iceland, however the farmland isn’t quite as impressive)

No one knows the exact date they arrived, as the Vikings didn’t have their own universal written language at this point, but the oldest source we have is a book called Íslendingabók which means “The Book of the Icelanders” and was written in the year 1130. The book mentions that the main Viking years of settlement in the country were about 30 years on either side of 900 AD.

Iceland before the Vikings

One thing people don’t realize about the Vikings is that they usually only fought because they thought they had to. Often when Vikings would acquire a new area of land to live on, they would hang up their weapons and live a relatively peaceful life of farming and fishing. Iceland was one of the very few large islands in the world that was completely unoccupied and had no pre-history, leading to settlers arriving and simply building their homes.

(Wood was the only heat source and decent building material, so enormous forests were cut down by the Vikings leaving the landscape barren)

There have been no signs of any kind of Neanderthals, ancient tribes, or humans of any kind until the Vikings arrived, though some argue an expedition by Scottish monks made a landing before the Vikings did, but if this is true there was no attempt to settle there. Iceland would likely have been seperated from the rest of Europe long before humans made it into the area, and due to its distance from occupied countries and settlements, it wouldn’t have been likely for anyone to sail the distance until the Vikings came along with their longboats.

How did they survive there?

The first settlers had the hardest jobs because there is very little farmland in Iceland so food production is very heavily animal-based. They would raise herds of cattle, sheep, and goats, but the main source of food would always come from the sea, along with supply shipments from their home countries.

(A classic Viking Longhouse, but buildings of this size and construction were far from the tiny stone and wooden huts they would have lived in)

When they first arrived, most of the non-mountainous southern areas of the country were covered in thick forest, which the Vikings wasted no time in cutting down to make their homes and burn as fuel. The biggest prize for someone living in Iceland would be to catch a whale or several large seals because the blubber can be used to provide enough lamp and cooking oil to last for months, and the amount of food from a whale could feed an entire village for several weeks.

Women in Iceland

Within Viking traditions, women have always been treated well and held in higher regard than in any other country on earth, at the time of the Viking era. Viking women were allowed to own property and initiate a divorce from their husbands and were often seen in positions of power or religious authority. This Viking view of women continued in Iceland and led to many women owning their own homes and farms, and playing essential roles in their religion, such as the “völva”, which was a staff bearer who made magical charms and brought good luck in battles. They were often well protected when accompanying an army and were buried in elaborate graves to show the level of respect they held.

(A reconstruction of the type of boat they would have sat in for about 6 weeks between Norway and Iceland)

An interesting point about modern women in Iceland is that many of them can trace their heritage back to the British Isles, mostly Ireland and Scotland. Vikings often took slaves and used them for labor and wives, and this would include leaving their home country and raiding a small village on the coast to steal the women before carrying on to Iceland. It is estimated that over half the population of Iceland has DNA that derives from either Ireland or Scotland.

Icelandic Viking wars and history

The Christianization of Iceland began in 999 AD when missionaries from England went to spread the word of their religion. This went on for over 100 years and Iceland entered its medieval period during this time. It didn’t suffer any major wars or invasions but did have numerous smaller disagreements between villages, though these were rare. The people of Iceland continued on until they formed a treaty with the other Scandinavian countries called the Kalmar Union which lasted from 1397 – 1523. Before this, Iceland officially belonged to Norway, due to most of its population coming from there, but upon the fall of the Kalmar Union and the political treaties that followed, Iceland fell into the ownership of Denmark. An independence movement began in the 1700s, but it didn’t become successful until after WWI when Iceland officially gained independence and became the Kingdom of Iceland on 1 December 1918, and it remains an independent country to this day.