Iceland

Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean

55 dated entries naming Iceland, drawn from 48 separate years between 790 CE and 2019 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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8th century

790Irish monks (known as the Papar), possibly members of a Hiberno-Scottish mission, supposedly reach Iceland in hide-covered coracles, and begin settlements (approximate date). However, the evidence for this is scant.source

9th century

815Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson sets out from the Faroe Islands and discovers Iceland (documented later in the Landnámabók) (approximate date).source
87218 July (traditional date) – Battle of Hafrsfjord: Norse chieftain Harald Fairhair wins a great naval victory at Hafrsfjord, outside Stavanger. He becomes (at age 18) the first king of Norway. Harald's conquests and taxation system lead many Viking chiefs and their followers to emigrate to the British Isles, and (later) to Iceland.source
874Ingólfr Arnarson arrives from Norway, as the first permanent Viking settler in Iceland. He builds his homestead and founds Reykjavík. The settlement of Iceland begins (approximate date).source
900Greenland is discovered by the Norseman Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, sailing from Norway to Iceland: he is blown off course by a storm and comes in sight of some islands off the coast (approximate date).source

10th century

930The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is established at þingvellir ("Thing Fields"). Chieftains from various tribes gather for 2 weeks at a thing (assembly) to settle disputes, arrange marriages, etc.; it continues in existence into the 21st century, as the world's oldest parliament of the Icelandic Commonwealth.source
981Erik the Red leaves Norway, to survey west of Iceland in Viking longships, that carry nearly 700 people with cattle, horses, and other necessities for starting a colony on the island. Erik finds land and calls it Greenland.source
985Greenland is colonized by the Icelandic Viking Erik the Red (according to legend, but has been established as approximately correct – see History of Greenland).source
986Bjarni Herjólfsson, a Norse-Icelandic merchant captain and explorer, becomes the first inhabitant of the Old World to discover the mainland of the Americas.source

11th century

1001Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi ends being a lawspeaker in Iceland's Althing.source
1100In Iceland, the Althing decides that the laws should be transferred to a written form (approximate date).source

12th century

1133The first convent on Iceland, the Þingeyraklaustur, is inaugurated at a monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict (located in Þingeyrar).source

13th century

1258Gissur Þorvaldsson, Icelandic chieftain (or goði), is made Earl of Iceland for his loyal service to King Haakon IV of Norway ("the Old").source
1258The consequences of the volcanic 1257 Samalas eruption in Indonesia include the following anecdotal accounts: very dry fog in France; lunar eclipses in England; severe winter in Europe; a harsh spring in Iceland; famine in England, Germany, France and Italy; and pestilence in London, parts of France, Austria, Iraq, Syria, and southeast Turkey.source
1263December – Magnus VI ("the Law-mender") succeeds his father Haakon IV as King of Norway. The chieftains of the eastern part of Iceland become the last to pledge fealty to Magnus, bringing a more complete end to the Icelandic Commonwealth and the Age of the Sturlungs.source

14th century

1380July 29 – At the age of 10, King Olaf II of Denmark is proclaimed as King Olaf IV of Norway, with his mother Margete) as regent. Iceland and the Faroe Islands, as parts of Norway, pass under the Danish crown.source
1396July 20 – Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden publishes the Treaty of Kalmar, proposing the personal union of the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney) and Sweden (including Finland and Åland).source
1397June 17 – Erik of Pomerania is crowned in Kalmar (Sweden) as ruler of the Kalmar Union, a personal union of the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney) and Sweden (including Finland and Åland) engineered by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, his great-aunt and adoptive mother, who retains de facto power in the realm.source

16th century

1539Lutheranism is forcibly introduced into Iceland, despite the opposition of Bishop Jón Arason.source
1541Iceland adopts the Lutheran faith.source
1550November 7 – Jón Arason, last Catholic bishop of Iceland (b. 1484)source
1550October 2 – Battle of Sauðafell in Iceland: Daði Guðmundsson of Snóksdalur defeats the forces of Catholic Bishop Jón Arason, resulting in Iceland becoming fully Protestant. Arason is captured; he is executed, along with his two sons, on November 7.source

17th century

1627June 20 – Turkish Abductions: Barbary corsairs from Salé raid the fishing village of Grindavík in Iceland and take captives into slavery, the first of several raids.source
1647The word Geysir is first used in Iceland, by Bishop Sveinsson.source

18th century

1755October 17 – The Mount Katla volcano erupts in Iceland and continues ejecting ash for the next 120 days, finally ceasing on February 13. An estimated 1.5 cubic kilometers (1.5 billion cubic meters or 53 billion cubic feet) of tephra is discharged by the volcano.source
1771The trade monopoly with Iceland is transferred to the Danish crown.source
1783June 8 – The volcano Laki in Iceland begins an 8-month eruption, starting the chain of natural disasters known as the Móðuharðindin, killing tens of thousands throughout Europe, including up to 33% of Iceland's population, and causing widespread famine. It has been described as one of "the greatest environmental catastrophes in European history".source
1786August 18 – The Kingdom of Denmark-Norway charters six settlements in Iceland to trade with it, thus ending the Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly, and founding Reykjavík.source

19th century

1843March 8 – The Danish government re-establishes the Althing in Iceland as an advisory body, by royal decree.source
1844June 3 – The last definitely recorded pair of great auks are killed on the Icelandic island of Eldey.source
1844March 8 – The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is reopened after 45 years of closure.source
1851July 28 – Total solar eclipse visible in Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Northern Europe, the first solar eclipse to be photographed.source
1854The Icelandic trade is opened to merchants other than Danes.source
1874December 1 – Iceland is granted a constitution and limited home rule from Denmark.source
1899February 16 – Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, the first Association football club in Iceland, is established in Reykjavík.source

20th century

1915June 19 – In Iceland, at this time a dependency of Denmark, women's suffrage is granted to those over 40.source
1941October 31 – WWII: Destroyer , on convoy escort, is accidentally torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.source
1942June 27 – WWII: Allied Convoy PQ 17 sails from Iceland, with 35 merchant ships and 3 passenger ships that have been refitted for rescuing the crews of torpedoed ships. There are also one tanker, 6 destroyers and 13 smaller ships for close escort. The convoy is destined for the Soviet port of Archangelsk.source
1947May 29 – An Air Iceland Douglas C-47 on a domestic flight in Iceland crashes into a mountainside killing all 25 people on board.source
1958June 1 – Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).source
1958September 1 – The first Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.source
1963November 14 – A volcanic eruption under the sea near Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey.source
1972July 11 – The long anticipated chess match between world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, and United States champion Bobby Fischer, begins in Iceland at Reykjavík.source
1972September 1 – The Second Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.source
1973May 18 – Second Cod War: Joseph Godber, British Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, announces that Royal Navy frigates will protect British trawlers fishing in the disputed 80 km mi limit around Iceland.source
1976June 1 – The United Kingdom and Iceland end the Third Cod War, with the UK accepting Iceland's extension of its territorial waters to 200 nautical miles in exchange for defined fishing rights.source
1989June 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden.source
1989March 1 – After 74 years, Iceland ends its prohibition on beer; celebrated since as bjórdagur or beer day.source
1995October 26 – An avalanche hits the village Flateyri in Iceland, killing 20 people, the second of two deadly avalanches to occur in Iceland during this calendar year.source
1998September 9 – Keiko the orca, captured in 1979, is released back into the wild off the coast of Iceland.source
2000June 17 – A centennial earthquake (6.5 on the Richter scale) hits Iceland on its national day.source

21st century

2009January 26 – The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns.source
2009July 16 – Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU.source
2010April 14 – Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Mount Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe.source
2019August 18 – 100 activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after once covering 15.5 km2 sqmi.source