Capital Region

Around the year 874, Ingólfur Arnarson arrived on the southwestern coast of Iceland and became the island’s first permanent settler. Following Norse tradition, he cast his carved high-seat pillars into the sea and vowed to establish his farm where they reached land. After searching the coastline for several years, his followers found the pillars in a quiet bay filled with rising steam from geothermal springs. There, he founded his home and named the place Reykjavík, meaning “Smoky Bay.” From this modest Viking farmstead grew the settlement that would eventually become Iceland’s capital city. Ingólfur’s decision marked the beginning of organized settlement during the Icelandic Settlement Age, when families from Norway and the North Atlantic began building farms across the island. Today, Reykjavík stands not only as Iceland’s political and cultural center, but also as the symbolic starting point of the nation’s history. 🛶