When Ingólfur Arnarson, Iceland’s first settler, came to the island in 871 he tossed two chieftain’s staffs out into the water and decided wherever they washed ashore, that is where he would build his farmstead, now called Ingólfshöfði. While it’s a nice story, it turns out that letting pieces of wood decide where you live isn’t the brightest idea. Ingólfur figured this out soon enough and finally settled in the area we now call Reykjavík. Since the days of Ingólfur’s farm there have been many more chapters written in the history of Iceland: blood feuds, natural disasters, stories of love and jealousy, the struggle for independence and even a war. Well, a cod war. But that’s a different story.