Naddodd
Naddod was a Norse Viking who is credited with the discovery of Iceland.Biography
Naddod was born in Agder, which now comprise the two Norwegian counties of Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. He was one of the early settlers on the Faroe Islands after Grímur Kamban became the first to settle there around 825.
Landnámabók, a medieval Icelandic manuscript, describes in considerable detail the Settlement of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th century. According to Landnámabók, Iceland was discovered by Naddod, who was sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands, but got lost and drifted to the east coast of Iceland. Naddod came upon the shore of a land with a bay and mountains near what is today the Icelandic town of Reyðarfjörður.
Although he climbed a mountain to look for smoke rising from fireplaces he saw no sign of human activity. Naddod decided to continue his journey to the Faroe Islands, but as he returned to his boat it started to snow and so he named the land Snowland. The island was later known as Iceland following the settlement of Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson.
Naddod was the probable father of Ann Naddodsdóttir from Shetland. Naddod has distant relations to Erik the Red and his son, Leif Erikson.
