Little Known Fact:
GREENLAND IS ICE
AND ICELAND IS GREEN
Denmark, which laid claim to the largest island in the world, in an attempt to convince settlers to locate there, erroneously named the island Greenland, even though 85% of the island is covered with ice and the climate is miserable.
Norway "owned" the island currently known as Iceland until its' independence in the mid-20th century and though it is named Iceland it is indeed quite green and verdant and filled with hot springs and other "Yellowstone-like" wonders. There are numerous legends concerning the derivation of the name, one of which was that it was so named by Norway to discourage excessive immigration, but there seems to be no basis for this claim. Most likely it got it's name from Norwegian Viking Flki Vilgerarson. The Landnmabk makes it clear that Flki chose the uninviting name sland ("ice land") for the view of a distant fjord full of sea-ice that he glimpsed from a tall mountain. No doubt his choice was influenced by the fact that he was not at first taken with the land, and he bad-mouthed the place after his return to Norway. But eventually he changed his mind about it and moved there himself.
GREENLAND IS ICE
AND ICELAND IS GREEN
Denmark, which laid claim to the largest island in the world, in an attempt to convince settlers to locate there, erroneously named the island Greenland, even though 85% of the island is covered with ice and the climate is miserable.
Norway "owned" the island currently known as Iceland until its' independence in the mid-20th century and though it is named Iceland it is indeed quite green and verdant and filled with hot springs and other "Yellowstone-like" wonders. There are numerous legends concerning the derivation of the name, one of which was that it was so named by Norway to discourage excessive immigration, but there seems to be no basis for this claim. Most likely it got it's name from Norwegian Viking Flki Vilgerarson. The Landnmabk makes it clear that Flki chose the uninviting name sland ("ice land") for the view of a distant fjord full of sea-ice that he glimpsed from a tall mountain. No doubt his choice was influenced by the fact that he was not at first taken with the land, and he bad-mouthed the place after his return to Norway. But eventually he changed his mind about it and moved there himself.