Brief History of Iceland

BRIEF HISTORY OF ICELAND

In 330 B.C an explorer named Pytheas sailed north from Marseille, France to discover how far the world would reach that way. He navigated the British Isles and the northern seas. He told tales of an island that he named Thule or Ultima Thule, which he either learned about from others or found himself. This island was six days north of Britain and one day away from "the end of the world". On his return, he wrote his travel journal that is long lost, but is quoted in several other more recent books. This island was possibly Iceland.

In the 9th century, the first geographical document that describes the Northern seas was written by an Irish monk, named Dicuil. The book was called De Mensura Orbis Terrae, and in it he describes his interviews with Irish priests that claimed they had sailed north to Thule and lived there from February to August. They say that during middle of the summer, they never lost the light of day and could "pick lice of shirts". The priests confirmed Pytheas' story that after a days journey north of the island they came upon "frozen sea". Dicuil was the first man to locate Thule on the isolated island that later became known