Ingólfr Arnarson

Ingólfr Arnarson (modern Icelandic Ingólfur Arnarson) is recognized as the first permanent Nordic settler of Iceland. According to Landnáma he built his homestead in Reykjavík in 874. Although recent archaeological finds in Iceland suggest settlement may have started a little earlier, the date is probably not too far off.

Ari Thorgilsson also claims Ingólfr was the first Nordic settler in Iceland but mentions that "Papar" - i.e. Irish monks and hermits - had been in the country before the Norsemen but left because they did not want to live amongst the newly-arrived pagans.

Landnáma (written three to four centuries after the settlement) contains a long and obviously legendary story about Ingólfr's settlement. The book claims he left Norway after becoming involved in a blood feud. He had heard about a new island which Garðarr Svavarsson, Flóki Vilgerðarson and others had found in the Atlantic Ocean and with his close friend Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson, he sailed for Iceland. When land was in sight he threw overboard his high seat pillars (a sign of his being a chieftain) and promised to settle where the gods decided to bring them ashore. Two of his slaves then searched the coasts for three years before finding the pillars in the small bay which eventually became Reykjavík.

In the meantime, Hjörleifr had been murdered by his Irish slaves because of his ill-treatment and they in turn had been killed by Ingólfr in the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar).

Ingólfr is said to settled a large part of the south-western part of Iceland but after his settlement nothing is known about him. His son, Þorsteinn Ingólfsson, was a major chieftain and is said to have founded the first "þing / thing," or parliament, in Iceland, which became a forerunner of the Althingi.