For millions of years, the Faroe Islands stood alone in the heart of the North Atlantic. The first settlers may have been Irish monks, probably in the middle of the seventh century, seeking a tranquil refuge in these remote islands. What is better known and well documented is the Norwegian colonisation, which took place during the 9 th century and developing throughout the Viking Age, making the Faroe Islands a central part of the Viking settlements along the coasts of the North Atlantic and the Irish Sea. The Viking settlers established their own parliament with local "tings" in different parts of the islands and the main ting on Tinganes in Tórshavn. Christianity was proclaimed here around the turn of the last millennium. Shortly thereafter, the islands came under the control of the Norwegian kings, one of whom was the famous King Sverre, who was brought up at the Faroese bishop's seate at Kirkjubøur. The earliest date given for a Viking raid is 787 AD when, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a group of men from Norway sailed to Portland, in Dorset.
According to the sagas, Vínland was discovered when ships went off course during one of the long journeys from Iceland or Norway to Greenland. The Saga of the Greenlanders attributes the first sighting of America to Bjarni Herjólfsson who had emigrated with Eiríkr the Red to Greenland, although Bjarni didn't actually set foot on Vínland; the Saga of Eiríkr the Red, on the other hand, says that the discovery was made by Leifr the Lucky, Eiríkr's son. Leifur grew up in Greenland but in circa 999 he visited Norway, where he was converted to Christianity. According to one saga, he was then commissioned by King Olaf I to convert the Greenlanders to Christianity, but he was blown off course, missed Greenland, and reached North America (this story, however, is now known to be fiction, made by up by an Icelandic priest called Gunnlaugr in the 13th century). The other, more probable version of the story describes Leifur sailing on a planned voyage to lands to the west of Greenland that had been sighted 15 years earlier by Bjarni. He landed at places called Helluland and Markland and wintered at Vínland, and returned back to Greenland. After Leifr's journey an expedition led by Þorfinnr Karlsefni, a wealthy Icelandic trader, returned to settle Vínland in circa 1010 and wintered there. The Scandinavians, both men and women, first traded but then fought with the native Skrælings. The descriptions of Skræling culture in the sagas are consistent with American Indian life. Because of Skræling attacks, the settlement was abandoned after three winters. On where exactly the places visited by Leifr; Vínland (Land of wine) was presumably Newfoundland, Markland (Wood Land) Labrador, and Helluland (Flat Rock Land) Baffin Island. The only firm evidence of a Scandinavian presence in North America has been found in Newfoundland at L'Anse aux Meadows.
Long ago Viking destination-on the island of Sandoy, significant evidence from the Viking age islands of Skúvoy and Stóra Dimon are also areas of great importance in the Faroese Saga. Olaf Tryggvason converted the people to Christianity; as early as 1076 they had a bishop of their own. The bishops of the Faroe islands were usually chosen from the canons of Bergen, and were originally suffragans of Hamburg-Bremen, later of Lund (1104), finally (since 1152) of the Primate of Norway in Trondjem. There were in all twenty-three Catholic bishops, from Gunmund to Amund Olafson. Several of the houses had stone ember pits identical with those found in Norse houses in Greenland. L'Anse aux Meadows may have been the place of Þorfinnr's settlement. The site was a good one for a pioneer community; the soil was fertile, there was plenty of fish and game, the climate was mild, and there was iron ore available.
The Færeyinga Saga, the Norse saga of Faroemen, is the story of how the Faroes were converted to Christianity and became a part of the Kingdom of Norway. It was written in Iceland shortly after 1200. The first man to settle in Faroe is, according to this text, Grímr Kamban, a man with a Norse first name and an Irish last name. This suggests that he might come from settlements to the south in the British Isles. He most probably was not Norwegian.
The Orkneyinga Saga is the history of the Norse Jarls of Orkney and Shetland. It is a truly trans-national Saga, as the action is not only set in Orkney and Shetland but in Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, France, Spain and the Holy Land. Closer to home, much of the story is based in Caithness, Sutherland and the Western Islands of Scotland. This period of Orkney's history is well represented by monuments, with several 12 th century churches, strongholds of chieftains, as well as the marvelous St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. The journeys to Vínland continued into the Middle Ages, but apparently only to obtain raw materials for the Greenland colony. Some scholars have suggested that L'Anse aux Meadows was a transit station to journeys further south, but apart from a Norwegian coin from King Olaf Kyrre's reign (1066-80) found on an Indian settlement in the American State of Maine/ Massachusetts, there are no traces early Scandinavian presence further south.