Naddodd ( or ; ; ; fl. c. 9th century) was a
Norse Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9 ...
who is credited with the discovery of
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
.
Biography
Naddodd was born in
Agder
Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...
in what is today southern
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. He was one of the earliest settlers on the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
after
Grímur Kamban became the first to settle there around 825.
''
Landnámabók
(, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
is divided into five parts and ov ...
'', a medieval Icelandic manuscript, describes in considerable detail the
settlement of Iceland
The settlement of Iceland ( ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norsemen, Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icel ...
(Icelandic: ''landnám'') by the
Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries. According to the ''Landnámabók'', Iceland was discovered by Naddodd, who was sailing from
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
to the Faroe Islands, but got lost and drifted to the east coast of Iceland. Naddodd came upon the shore of a land with a bay and mountains near what is today the Icelandic town of
Reyðarfjörður
Reyðarfjörður () is a town in Iceland. It has a population of 1,368 (2024) and is one of the most populated villages that constitute the municipality of Fjarðabyggð.
History
The town is at the bottom of the eponymous fjord
In physical g ...
.
Although he climbed a mountain to look for smoke rising from fireplaces, he saw no sign of human activity. Naddodd decided to continue his journey to the Faroe Islands, but as he returned to his boat, it started to snow, so he named the land Snowland (''Snæland''). The island was later known as Iceland (''Ísland'') following the settlement of
Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson.
Naddodd was the probable father of
Ann Naddodsdóttir from
Shetland
Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
. Naddodd was distantly related to
Erik the Red
Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland. Erik most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color o ...
and his son,
Leif Erikson
Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norsemen, Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental Americas, America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According ...
.
Naddoddur Ship
Faroes Ship of the same name https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naddoddur
See also
*
Ingólfr Arnarson
*
Settlement of Iceland
The settlement of Iceland ( ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norsemen, Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icel ...
References
Further reading
* John Haywood (2016). ''Northmen: The Viking Saga, AD 793–1241''. Macmillan. .
* .
* Byock, Jesse (1988). ''Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas and Power''. University of California Press. .
External links
History of Iceland
9th-century Faroese people
9th-century Icelandic people
Norwegian explorers
9th-century Vikings
9th-century explorers
{{Iceland-bio-stub