Settlement of Iceland
Brief description
Until the arrival of the Norse in AD 871, at the height of the Viking expansion across the North Atlantic, Iceland was a pristine wilderness. The arrival of humans and the sheep, goats, pigs and cattle they brought with them had a profound - some would say devastating - effect on the ecology of the island. Most notably, tree cover collapsed and soils were widely lost to erosion.
Key References
- http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/study/phd/ecology-and-global-change/human-settlement-and-its-effects-on-lake-and-wetland-ecosystems-in-northern-iceland/
