In the year 874, a Viking chieftain named Ingolfo Arnison still on the prow of his ship.

His eyes fixed on a new land.

He had sailed for days across icy seas and behind him, Norway was travelled. Chieftains were feuding, kings were demanding allegiance and taxes.

Before him though, stretched volcanic cliffs and glaciers

and green valleys untouched by human hands.

This was Iceland, the edge of the known world, the hope of a new beginning.

Over a thousand years later, I am now standing on that rocky shore that Ingolfo Arneson would have seen from his ship.

I've got the black volcanic cliffs under my feet and I'm staring out

of these big rollers coming in and buffeting this shore. I'm also leaning into those same

freezing winds blowing across the North Atlantic Sea. You're listening to Dan Snow's history

yet. In this very special episode, I'm taking you on an epic voyage to Iceland to tell you

the story of how the Vikings became the first settlers on this remote, previously undiscovered island.

I'm going to explore what they found when they got here, when they came ashore, how they

survived those first sub-arctic winters and what challenges they

overcome to create a thriving home here. Volcanic eruptions scarred the landscape, ice and snow

gripped the valleys. For these settlers' survival would test skill and resilience and their

imaginations.

This story is as dramatic as the landscape I am staring at now, created from fire and ice.

Let's head inland.

The Vikings were tough seafarers from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and they remembered for their long ships and their raids and their relentless spirit.

The word Viking could possibly come from the old Norse Wittkinginger, meaning pirate or sea raider.

From the late 8th century they sailed into the unknown, driven by a hunger for land and wealth and glory,

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