Flóki Vilgerðarson
Encyclopedia
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. His story is documented in the Landnámabók
Landnámabók
Landnámabók , often shortened to Landnáma, is a medieval Icelandic written work describing in considerable detail the settlement of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries AD.-Landnáma:...
manuscript. He heard good news of a new land to the west, then known as Garðarshólmi
Names of Iceland
There are numerous different names for Iceland, which have over the years appeared in poetry or literature.- In Icelandic :Many names have been used to refer to Iceland in the Icelandic language. These names include colloquial, formal, and poetic forms:...
.
He wanted to settle in this new land and so he took his family and livestock with him. From Western Norway he set sail to the Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
where it is said his daughter drowned. He continued his journey and landed in the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
where another of his daughters was wed. There he took three ravens
Common Raven
The Common Raven , also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine bird. Found across the northern hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids...
to help him find his way to Iceland, and thus, he was nicknamed Raven-Floki (Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
and Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
; Hrafna-Flóki) and he is commonly remembered by that name.
A few of the people Floki was accompanied by on his journey were a farmer named Thorolf (Þórólfr) and two men named Herjolf and Faxe (Herjólfr and Faxi). After sailing for a while from the Faroes, Floki set one of the ravens free. The first raven flew back to the Faroes, later the second flew up in the air and back on board, but the third flew northwest and did not return. Floki now knew they were close to land, and so they followed the third raven.
After sailing west past Reykjanes
Reykjanes
Reykjanes or Reykjanesskagi is a peninsula and a volcanic system situated at the south-western end of Iceland, near the capital of Reykjavík....
they spotted a large bay. The man named Faxe remarked: “This seems to be a great land that we have discovered here.” Since then, the bay has been called Faxaflói
Faxaflói
Faxaflói , formerly known in English as Faxa Bay and Faxe Bay, is a bay in Southwest-Iceland between the peninsulas of Snæfellsnes and Reykjanes.The capital of the island, Reykjavík, is situated on its southern shore...
(—lit. Faxi's bay) in his name.
Floki set up a winter camp in Vatnsfjörður
Vatnsfjörður
Vatnsfjordur is a nature reserve located north-west of Breiðafjörður on the Hjarðarnes coast of north-western Iceland.Vatnsfjörður was legally declared a nature reserve in 1975 and is part of the land owned by the of the head estate Brjánslækur...
at Barðaströnd
Barðaströnd
Barðaströnd is an area of historical interest in northwestern Iceland. It is the coast between Vatnsfjörður and Sigluneshlíðar in southern Vestfirðir region. This is the place where Flóki Vilgerðarson first set up winter camp....
. The summer was very good, so Floki was ill-prepared for the cold winter that followed. Waiting for the spring, Floki hiked up the highest mountain above his camp, now believed to be Nónfell. From there, he spotted a large fjord; Ísafjörður
Ísafjarðardjúp
Ísafjarðardjúp is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates as Ice fjord deep.Ísafjörður, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp....
, then full of drift ice. Thus, he named the entire land Ísland (—Iceland).
When Floki and the other men returned to Norway, they were asked about the newly found land. Floki believed it to be worthless. Herjolf believed that the land had both good and bad qualities. Thorolf claimed that butter was smeared on every straw on the land that they had found. Thorolf was then nicknamed Thorolf Butter (Icelandic; Þórólfur smjör). Despite speaking ill of the land he later returned and settled to live there to his death. His wife was named Gró and his sons Oddleif and Kothran.
See also
- Settlement of IcelandSettlement of IcelandThe settlement of Iceland is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the 9th century, when Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration may be traced to a shortage of arable land in Scandinavia, and civil strife brought about by the ambitions of...
- Timeline of Icelandic historyTimeline of Icelandic historyThis is a timeline of Icelandic history. To read about the background to these events, see History of Iceland.This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing...
- Naddoddur — (the first Scandinavian to discover Iceland, though accidental)
- Garðar Svavarsson — (second, also accidental)