In 874 AD Viking leader Ingolfur Arnarson threw two lengths of timber into the sea and swore that he would settle where they came ashore. They landed at the site of present day Reykjavik in Iceland. At the time the island had virtually no links with any past society, but this last new pagan European society survived because its members lived with the natural world rather than fighting against the harsh terrain. By 940 Iceland witnessed the first parliament of leaders in a pagan general assembly at a time when the rest of Europe was gradually becoming Christian.
