Ingólfr Arnarson

Ingólf Arnarson is reckoned the first permanent Norse settler of Iceland — the founder, traditionally of the year 874, with whom the whole history of the island begins. Driven from Norway by feud, he sailed west to the empty land and, as he neared the coast, cast the high-seat pillars of his hall into the sea, vowing to settle wherever the gods let them drift ashore. After three years searching the coast for them, his thralls found them in a bay of steaming hot springs, and there Ingólf made his home and named the place Reykjavík, 'Smoky Bay' — now the capital of Iceland. His founding gesture — trusting the drift of sacred wood to choose his home — sets the devout, fateful tone of the whole settlement. He is the first name in the Book of Settlements and the root of the entire saga world: the man who made the kingless island a home.