Editing Icelanders (section)

=== Initial migration and settlement ===
{{main|Settlement of Iceland}}
[[Image:Iceland in Europe.svg|220px|right|thumb|Map showing Iceland in northern Europe]]
The first Viking to sight Iceland was [[Gardar Svavarsson]], who went off course due to harsh conditions when sailing from Norway to the [[Faroe Islands]]. His reports led to the first efforts to settle the island. [[Flóki Vilgerðarson]] (b. 9th century) was the first Norseman to sail to Iceland intentionally. His story is documented in the {{Lang|is|[[Landnámabók]]}} manuscript, and he is said to have named the island Ísland ([[Iceland]]). The first permanent settler in Iceland is usually considered to have been a [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[Germanic chieftain|chieftain]] named [[Ingólfur Arnarson]]. He settled with his family in around 874, at a place he named "Bay of Smokes", or [[Reykjavík]] in Icelandic.<ref>Þórðarson, c. 1200</ref>

Following Ingólfur, and also in 874, another group of Norwegians set sail across the [[North Atlantic Ocean]] with their families, livestock, slaves, and possessions, escaping the domination of the first [[Hereditary Kingdom of Norway|King of Norway]], [[Harald Fairhair]]. They traveled {{convert|1,000|km|mi|abbr=on}} in their [[Viking]] [[longship]]s to the island of Iceland. These people were primarily of Norwegian, [[Irish People|Irish]] or Gaelic Scottish origin. The Irish and the Scottish Gaels were either slaves or servants of the Norse chiefs, according to the [[Icelandic sagas]], or descendants of a "[[Norse-Gaels|group of Norsemen]] who had settled in [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland]] and intermarried with Gaelic-speaking people".<ref>Fiske ''et al.'', 1972, p. 4</ref> Genetic evidence suggests that approximately 62% of the Icelandic maternal gene pool is derived from Ireland and Scotland, which is much higher than other Scandinavian countries, although comparable to the [[Faroe Islands|Faroese]], while 37% is of Nordic origin.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/iceland/icelandic_women.htm |title=Icelandic Women are of Scots descent |publisher=Electricscotland.lcom |date=4 March 2001 |access-date=8 July 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611071506/http://www.electricscotland.com/history/iceland/icelandic_women.htm |archive-date=11 June 2010 }}</ref> About 20–25% of the Icelandic paternal gene pool is of Gaelic origin, with the rest being Nordic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/why-people-in-iceland-look-just-like-us-1.1104676|title=Why people in Iceland look just like us|website=irishtimes.com|access-date=1 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929074900/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/why-people-in-iceland-look-just-like-us-1.1104676|archive-date=29 September 2017}}</ref>

The Icelandic Age of Settlement ({{langx|is|Landnámsöld|link=no}}) is considered to have lasted from 874 to 930, at which point most of the island had been claimed and the {{lang|is|[[Althing|Alþingi]]}} (Althing), the assembly of the [[Icelandic Commonwealth]], was founded at [[Þingvellir]].<ref>Þorgilsson, c. 1100</ref>