Gardar Svavarsson

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Gardar Svavarsson (also known as Garðarr Svavarsson and Garðar Svavarsson) was a Swedish Viking whom is considered by many to be the first Scandinavian to live in Iceland, although only for one winter.

According to Haukr Erlendsson's edition of Landnámabók, he owned land in Zealand (Denmark) and he was married to a woman from the Hebrides. During a voyage to these isles (in the 860s) in order to claim his inheritance from his father-in-law, he sailed into a storm at Pentland Firth. This storm pushed his ship far to the north until he reached the eastern coast of Iceland. He circumnavigated the island, becoming the first known person to do so and thus establishing that the landmass was an island, and went ashore at Skjálfandi. He built himself a house and stayed for the winter. Since then, the place has been called Húsavík.

Having returned, he praised the new land and called it Garðarshólmi. Nothing is known of his fate afterwards, but his son Uni emigrated to Iceland and his grandson Hróar is named as the goði at Tunga.

This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904-1926 now in Public Domain.