AHC: Iceland colonized by the Norse + someone else

Otto Kretschmer

Banned
Make Iceland be colonized by the Norse and someone else so that the language that is spoken in Iceland is either:

- a mix of North and West Germanic languages

or
- a creole
 
CaptainShadow

CaptainShadow

The Scots might take it if they decisively beat the norse in the reign of Alexander III.

If you mean a colonization in the actual colonial period with coexistence, no idea.
 
RedKing

RedKing

Weren’t early Icelandic settles Irish? Maybe if they can maintain a sizeable minority we could get a 52% Norse and 48% Irish Iceland.
 
Aghasverov

Aghasverov

RedKing said:
Weren’t early Icelandic settles Irish? Maybe if they can maintain a sizeable minority we could get a 52% Norse and 48% Irish Iceland.
Click to expand...
Problem is, the early Irish settlers (AFAIK) were all men - monastic hermits... not exactly good for a sustainable population :)
Now, had they been accompanied by some families... 🤔
I suppose the question would be why... Iceland's not a particularly hospitable place relative to Ireland...
 
pandizzy

pandizzy

Aghasverov said:
Problem is, the early Irish settlers (AFAIK) were all men - monastic hermits... not exactly good for a sustainable population :)
Now, had they been accompanied by some families... 🤔
I suppose the question would be why... Iceland's not a particularly hospitable place relative to Ireland...
Click to expand...
Promise of riches/land etc.
 
RedKing

RedKing

Aghasverov said:
Problem is, the early Irish settlers (AFAIK) were all men - monastic hermits... not exactly good for a sustainable population :)
Now, had they been accompanied by some families... 🤔
I suppose the question would be why... Iceland's not a particularly hospitable place relative to Ireland...
Click to expand...
Maybe have a few flee to Iceland due to the Viking’s raiding Ireland?
 
TheSwedishHistorian

TheSwedishHistorian

Banned
Iceland wasn't that bad honestly and while the monks likely were first that are plenty of records that indicate how Iceland was settled by the Norse mostly, along with travelers and slaves.

From Wikipedia
The settlement of Iceland (Icelandic: landnámsöld) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icelanders themselves tended to cite civil strife brought about by the ambitions of the Norwegian king Harald I of Norway, but modern historians focus on deeper factors, such as a shortage of arable land in Scandinavia. Unlike Britain and Ireland, Iceland was unsettled land and could be claimed without conflict with existing inhabitants.
Click to expand...

Really the problem is that in the 1000s christianity came knocking... while the people of iceland were pagan there was pressure from other nations to change, as well as a fair degree of converts. Appearently there was a about to be a civil war between the different religious factions but "Alþingi appointed one of the chieftains, Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi, to decide the issue of religion by arbitration. He decided that the country should convert to Christianity as a whole, but that pagans would be allowed to worship privately."

Perhaps this event, the kristnitaka, could be butterflied away? Or the norweigan king Olaf Tryggvason (who had converted around 998) never converts?
 
pandizzy

pandizzy

Aghasverov said:
Only to be sorely disappointed by the absence of the former and the quality of the latter... though Iceland had far more forested land 1000 years ago than now, it would've at least looked fertile...
Click to expand...
They sure wouldn't be pleased but what can they do? Go back to ireland? In that economy?
 
Aghasverov

Aghasverov

RedKing said:
Maybe have a few flee to Iceland due to the Viking’s raiding Ireland?
Click to expand...
Well, those who had the most to fear from Viking raids, were the ones who had something to lose... which at that time was mainly the monasteries :)
The more I think about it, the more I like @CaptainShadow 's "Scottish Angle" above... Though in Alexander's time, many of those sent to take possession of Iceland may be Norse themselves, even if setting out under the auspices of the King of Scotland (he'd go for the best seafarers :)) .
You may see a mixed Norse/Gaelic culture emerge rather like that which long persisted in Shetland and the Orkneys...
 
Aghasverov

Aghasverov

GustavusAdolphus1 said:
This is probably a bit out there, but would there be any chance for the Dorset/Thule or some other Inuit culture to make its way to Iceland from Greenland?
Click to expand...
Certainly possible, but it would take a very early POD, as the Norse were already colonizing Iceland by the time the Dorset or the Thule would've gotten to it...
999px-Dorset%2C_Norse%2C_and_Thule_cultures_900-1500.svg.png
 
DanMcCollum

DanMcCollum

Aghasverov said:
Problem is, the early Irish settlers (AFAIK) were all men - monastic hermits... not exactly good for a sustainable population :)
Now, had they been accompanied by some families... 🤔
I suppose the question would be why... Iceland's not a particularly hospitable place relative to Ireland...
Click to expand...
That's not entirely true. There was a sizable population of Irish slaves (many of whom were women) which are mentioned in the Sagas and these formed a substantial part of the population from the get-go, and even had the ability to rise up and become prominent in early Iceland. I've always wondered, actually, if the Icelandic prose saga tradition was actually inspired by these early Irish (as the Irish also had a tendency of writing their epic literature in prose, rather than poetic forms): though I'm not quite well-versed enough in the literature to say that with any certainty.
 
Aghasverov

Aghasverov

DanMcCollum said:
That's not entirely true. There was a sizable population of Irish slaves (many of whom were women) which are mentioned in the Sagas and these formed a substantial part of the population from the get-go, and even had the ability to rise up and become prominent in early Iceland. I've always wondered, actually, if the Icelandic prose saga tradition was actually inspired by these early Irish (as the Irish also had a tendency of writing their epic literature in prose, rather than poetic forms): though I'm not quite well-versed enough in the literature to say that with any certainty.
Click to expand...
It seems entirely plausible to me that the influence of the Irish literary tradition (no doubt many of the Irish thralls brought to Iceland would've been more literate than their captors :)) could've been a reason behind why the Norse legends and lore were 1st put to paper in remote Iceland of all places, rather than the numerous other places where the Norse settled or had influence...
 

Arkenfolm

Aghasverov said:
I suppose the question would be why... Iceland's not a particularly hospitable place relative to Ireland...
Click to expand...
The early Irish economy included a lot of cattle rearing which can do pretty well in Iceland.
GustavusAdolphus1 said:
This is probably a bit out there, but would there be any chance for the Dorset/Thule or some other Inuit culture to make its way to Iceland from Greenland?
Click to expand...
Probably not without serious changes in their ship design. It's a relatively long sea voyage from the nearly inhospitable eastern coast of Greenland which was always isolated and sustained only a fraction of the population of Western Greenland, and there's no sea ice to navigate around, especially not in the Medieval Warm Period.
 
DanMcCollum

DanMcCollum

Arkenfolm said:
The early Irish economy included a lot of cattle rearing which can do pretty well in Iceland.
Click to expand...

Very well, actually. And the Irish crop package translates to Iceland well too - especially during the warm period. In my Amalingian Empire timeline, I have Iceland being settled by the Irish (first monastics and the laity who are helping support them) and did some research in this direction first to make sure it was plausible.
 

Paradoxer

Banned
Otto Kretschmer said:
Make Iceland be colonized by the Norse and someone else so that the language that is spoken in Iceland is either:

- a mix of North and West Germanic languages

or
- a creole
Click to expand...
A North Sea pagan empire bring Celtic and Anglo along with other thralls/slaves captured in raids to island as labor who makes up more rural population while Norse take to city
 
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