The Early Iceland: Its Society And Culture

AD 874 to AD 1264 was the period of the early Iceland, from the first arrival of Norwegian immigrants in Iceland to the reign of Norwegian King over Iceland. As an important symbol and extension of Nordic culture in the North Atlantic, Icelandic society and culture underwent many significant and far-reaching changes during this period. Foreign scholars, especially experts in Nordic history, have made a broad and in-depth discussion about them from literary composition, legal documents, archaeological founding and other approaches and have acquired a lot of valuable insights. However, because of the remote time of the research objects, the limited materials such as Saga that many studies rely on, lack of a large number of archaeological excavations, it still has potential to explore the depth or breadth of Icelandic history research for further study. Yet few Chinese scholars even get involved in this topic. Therefore, attempting to make up for the some of shortcomings mentioned above, this thesis carries out the description from various angels, and analysis on the causes and influences of Icelandic social and cultural development to explore the experience and theory of civilization exchanges through the vicissitudes of the spread of Icelandic civilization.Chapter 1 is the introduction of early Icelandic immigrants, focusing on the sources of early immigrants, the reasons for immigration and the living of early immigrants. Early Icelandic immigrants were mainly composed of Norwegian and a mixture of Swede, Dane and Irish Celtics. Relying on their rich skills in navigation, groups of immigrants made the journey to develop Iceland, who might be driven by greedy characteristic or passion for martialism, under the wish to get rid of Fair Harald's tyranny or pursue new settlements with superior natural resources. In this small island, they quickly established their contented homeland with outstanding adaptation to the local life in the aspects of clothing, feeding, accommodation, transportation. The immigrants' population was once up to more than 50,000.Chapter 2 is the description of society and culture in early Iceland, addressing on the legal system, social stratification, religious belief and culture. The thesis conducted in-depth discussion and analysis on the social characteristics and cultural achievements of this period. In the political arena, Althing was set up as a monument, known as the world's first Parliament. In the legal system, "Gragas" established Icelandic legal system in the form of documentation. In the social stratification, godi and thingmen, to some extent, contributed to a mutually beneficial relationship, which promoted the democratization of the island. In the religious belief, the whole island was peacefully converted to Christianity, eliminating the bloody conflict through tolerance and wisdom. In resolving disputes, litigation and arbitration were widely performed, nurturing the spirit of the law, which afterwards firmly rooted in the hearts of the Icelandic immigrants. These unique and innovative social cultures not only benefited Icelandic independence at that time but also enabled Iceland to impress the early world history.Chapter 3 is the review of the extension and the termination of ancient Icelandic civilization, analyzing the development of Greenland and the exploration to the North American continent. Since the success of settlements in Iceland, Icelandic immigrants continued to exploit the North Atlantic. They set up East Settlement and West Settlement in Greenland, which was once prosperous and stable, but disappeared in the mid-14th century quite mysteriously, bringing infinite imagination to future generations. They also set foots in the North American continent for several times, but were forced to retreat in the conflict with local aboriginal people where the westward extension of Icelandic civilization came to an end. This process allows us to understand that adaptation to the environment, reasonable adjustment and peaceful coexistence is necessary during civilization communication, while conservative attitude and superiority only leads to destruction.From the analysis and study of many aspects of Icelandic society and culture, it could be drawn to the conclusion that the society in the early Iceland developed Nordic culture in the inheritance of Nordic tradition and played a positive role in the preservation and dissemination of Nordic culture.