In the late 1920s, there was a man named Thoria, who owned a vast tract of land in the Blasco-Garr region of southwestern Iceland.

Situated about 20 miles inland, the land to which

Thoreres family had laid claim was striking in its natural beauty. Low green plains, rocky volcanic outcroppings, and gently sloping hills, all of it,

wringed by steep, distant mountains.

Through this fertile rift valley flowed the Oxaro River,

which flowed slowly south from Thing Vala-Vaten, the largest lake in Iceland.

The shores of this immense natural feature made up the northern border of Thoria's land.

In many ways, this claim, with its rich grazing land

in abundant freshwater fisheries,

was the picture of the Icelandic dream which was pursued by those

who had initially settled the island. Thoria and his descendants had won the Landam lottery.

Unfortunately, they would not get much of a chance to enjoy their new home.

You see, sometime in the late 1920s, we are told that Thoria killed a slave, or perhaps a freedman, and for this act, he was outlawed.

As was customary, when an individual was declared an outlaw,

Thoria's land was confiscated by the local assembly.

Now normally such land would simply have been sold off, but given its easily accessible

location and abundant natural resources,

it was decided that Thoria's land would be put to a decidedly different use.

At this same time, a new experiment in Icelandic government

was beginning to take shape.

And it was decided that Thoria's land would be the perfect laboratory to give it a try.

So, in or around 930 CE, the first island-wide assembly, the all-thing, was held along the banks of the

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