The Discovery of Iceland

Because I’m a glutton for punishment, and because I want a little leeway in our schedule I decided to complete two weeks’ worth of lessons in our Illuminations 2 schedule (a now-defunct homeschool scheduler), and we actually did it.  I was rather amazed.  Our most favorite lesson of that busy week was the discovery of Iceland, it’s a fun bit of history.

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Supplies for the Discovery of Iceland lesson

wall maps (make your own), lego mini-figures and small boat

How did the discovery of Iceland happen?

Well, like many other great discoveries in history, by accident.  It doesn’t matter how often people say they were looking for something, almost every single time, what they find is not what they were originally searching for. History is weird like that.

There is also probably a lesson there.

The first time Iceland was discovered a man had inherited an island “somewhere to the West,” so he sailed off to find it, hit a storm, and discovered Iceland.  He wandered around there, thought it looked amazing named it Gardarholm, and headed back to Norway.

When Gardar got back he told everyone all about this amazing land he found, “It’s great, you won’t believe how much farming land there is.”

Well, someone else heard all of this and said, “I’’m going to go find that island, it sounds like a great place to live.”  He set out with some hardy souls, and they colonized Iceland.

They built a few houses, and it looked great.  Then WINTER hit, and it was a bad winter.  They survived that winter and their founder said, “This place should be called Iceland, there’s so much ice here.”  Little did he know in a little while they’d discover somewhere that was even icier and call it Greenland.

Time passed and there were a few Viking pirates, I know that’s most of the Vikings, and they decide it’s high time they make a real go of it.  Not having much money they knew the best way to get money was to steal it from someone else, so they raided Ireland and Scotland to get their supplies and headed over.  The older cousin had a great chair and said wherever that chair landed is where the capital would be, but they lost the ship it was on.

A year or so later they found the missing chair, and that is the capital of Iceland to this day.

Future Ticia 2023 really wants to go research this a bit more now. I bet that’s a super fun story to hear in way more detail.

And that is how Iceland was discovered by some Vikings who got lost.

For more unique and hands-on history ideas check out my Mystery of History 2 Pinterest board.

Learn more about Vikings

• How to make a Viking brooch
• How to make a Viking spear
• Leif Ericson discovers America

Follow Ticia Adventures in Mommydom’s board Mystery of History 2 on Pinterest.