Icelandic_History

= Icelandic History! =

The first people believed to have inhabited Iceland were [|Irish monks] or [|hermits] who came in the [|8th century], but left with the arrival of [|Norsemen], who systematically settled Iceland in the period circa AD 870-930. No archaeological finds have been found to support this theory about these monks known as Papar in Iceland. The first known permanent Norse settler was [|Ingólfur Arnarson], who built his homestead in [|Reykjavík], traditionally in the year 874. Ingólfur was followed by many other emigrant settlers, largely Norsemen and their Irish [|slaves]. By 930, most [|arable] land had been claimed and the [|Althing], a legislative and judiciary parliament, was founded as the political hub of the [|Icelandic Commonwealth]. [|Christianity was adopted] 999-1000. The Commonwealth lasted until 1262 when the political system devised by the original settlers proved unable to cope with the increasing power of Icelandic chieftains.