Ingólfr Arnarson

Norseman Ingólfr Arnarson, his wife Hallveig Fróðadóttr and his brother Hjörleifr are commonly recognized as the first permanent Norse settlers of Iceland. According to tradition, they founded Reykjavík in 874.

History

Ingólfr Arnarson, came from Norway to Iceland to settle with his wife, Hallveig Fródadóttir, in the year 874. He chose to settle a place that he called Reykjavík (literally, the smoking bay). Tradition tells us the curious way in which he chose that place to make it his home. With his half-brother Hjörleifur Hróðmarsson, he sailed to Iceland looking for new lands in which to settle because they had to leave their lands in Norway, they had killed the sons of a chieftain. Ingólfur had heard of a new island in the Atlantic Ocean that Garðar Svavarsson, Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson had found and sailed there. Tradition tells us an amazing story about how Ingólfur decided which lands to settle. As he sailed along the rugged Icelandic coastline, he threw into the water the pillars of his chieftain's seat, wooden pillars carved with his surname and representations of the gods, and vowed that he would settle on the shoreline where his pillars were beached, leaving the decision in the hands of the gods. Meanwhile, winter came and temporarily settled on a cape that today is called Ingólfshöfði for his first winter. Ingólfur sent his two Celtic slaves to look for the pillars, and 3 years later (yes, you read that correctly, 3 years) they found them in a smoky bay in the Southwest of the island, that's how that smoky bay (nowadays Reykjavík) became the home of Ingólfur, the gods had made their decision.