Ingólfr Arnarson was from the valley of Rivedal in
Sunnfjord in western Norway. According to the Icelandic
Book of Settlements, he built his homestead in and gave name to Reykjavík in 874. However,
archaeological finds in Iceland suggest settlement may have started somewhat earlier. The medieval chronicler
Ari Þorgilsson said Ingólfr was the first Nordic settler in Iceland, but mentioned that
Irish monks had been in the country before the Norsemen. He wrote that they left because they did not want to live among the newly arrived
Norse pagans.{{cite web|url= http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nrk_sogn_og_fjordane/fylkesleksikon/1121013.html The Book of Settlements (written two to three centuries after the settlement) contains a story about Ingólfr's arrival. The book claims he left Norway after becoming involved in a
blood feud. He had heard about a new island which
Garðar Svavarsson,
Hrafna-Flóki and others had found in the
Atlantic Ocean. With his
blood brother Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson, he sailed for Iceland. When land was in sight, he threw his
high seat pillars overboard and promised to settle where the gods decided to bring them ashore. Two of his slaves then searched the coasts for three years before finding the pillars in the small bay which eventually became the site of
Reykjavík.{{cite web|url= https://nbl.snl.no/Ing%C3%B3lfr_Arnarson_Bj%C7%ABrn%C3%B3lfsson_Ingolv_%C3%98rnsson In the meantime, Hjörleifr had been murdered by his Irish slaves. Ingólfr hunted them down and killed them in the
Westman Islands. The islands got their name from that event, with
westmen (Old Norse:
vestmenn) being a name that the Norsemen used for the Irish. Ingólfr was said to have settled a large part of southwestern Iceland, although after his settlement nothing more was known of him. His son, Þórsteinn Ingólfsson, was a major chieftain and was said to have founded the , the first
thing, or parliament, in Iceland. It was a forerunner of the
Althingi.{{cite web|url= https://snl.no/Ingolv_Arnesson ==Legacy==