Imagine arriving in a virgin territory, a landscape untouched by humans with a future entirely blank and ready to write. While many settlement stories end in disaster, the Viking arrival in Iceland was a success.

Over two episodes, Dan Snow travels across the country, revealing secrets from the age of settlement to the age of survival, uncovering treasures in the archives, hiking the trails, charging over lava fields, and even baking a loaf of Viking bread!

Over the 9th and 10th centuries, up to 60,000 Vikings made their home here, Dan’s first stop is a cosy replica turf home to find out how they lived. But when did they actually arrive? Historians were recently shocked by new evidence uncovered at the Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavik, which could date full-time settlement to nearly 70 years earlier than previously thought.

Dan then heads to the archives to investigate the ‘Book of Settlements’ before hitting the thrashing Atlantic waves to experience Viking maritime prowess. His final stop in this episode is Sturlureykir horse farm to bake "volcano bread" using geothermal energy and ride an Icelandic horse.

But did this paradise island become an earthly Viking Valhalla? Or, like many new settlements, did it rise and fall abruptly with people hungry for power? Find out in episode two, out on 8th January.

With thanks to Visit Iceland.

If you’d like to visit some of these epic locations find out more below:
Visit Iceland: https://www.visiticeland.com/
Visit Westfjords: https://www.westfjords.is/
Visit West Iceland: https://www.west.is/
Visit South Iceland: https://www.south.is/
Visit Reykjanes: https://www.visitreykjanes.is/
Visit Reykjavik: https://visitreykjavik.is/
Thingvellir National Park: https://www.thingvellir.is/
National Museum of Iceland: https://www.thjodminjasafn.is/en
The Settlement Exhibition: https://visitreykjavik.is/service/adalstraeti-settlement-exhibition
Eiriksstadir - https://www.eiriksstadir.is/
The Arni Magnusson Institute: https://www.arnastofnun.is/en/institute
Special tours Iceland: https://specialtours.is/
Sturlureykir horse farm: https://sturlureykirhorses.is/