<P> Icelanders have had a tumultuous history . Development of the island was slow due to a lack of interest from the countries controlling it for most of its history: Norway, Denmark--Norway, and ultimately Denmark . Through this time, Iceland had relatively little contact with the outside world . The island became independent in union with Denmark in 1918 . Since 1944, Iceland has been a republic, and Icelandic society has undergone a rapid modernisation process in the post-independence era . </P> <P> Iceland is a geologically young land mass, having formed an estimated 20 million years ago due to volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic ridge . One of the last larger islands to remain uninhabited, the first human settlement date is generally accepted to be 874, although there is some evidence to suggest human activity prior to the Norse arrival . </P> <P> The first Viking to sight Iceland was Gardar Svavarsson, who went off course due to harsh conditions when sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands . His reports led to the first efforts to settle the island . Flóki Vilgerðarson (b . 9th century) was the first Norseman to sail to Iceland intentionally . His story is documented in the Landnámabók manuscript, and he is said to have named the island Ísland (Iceland). The first permanent settler in Iceland is usually considered to have been a Norwegian chieftain named Ingólfur Arnarson . He settled with his family in around 874, at a place he named "Bay of Smokes", or Reykjavík in Icelandic . </P> <P> Following Ingólfur, and also in 874, another group of Norwegians set sail across the North Atlantic Ocean with their families, livestock, slaves and possessions, escaping the domination of the first King of Norway, Harald Fairhair . They traveled 1,000 km (600 mi) in their Viking longships to the island of Iceland . These people were primarily of Norwegian, Irish or Gaelic Scottish origin . The Irish and the Scottish Gaels were either slaves or servants of the Norse chiefs, according to the Icelandic sagas, or descendants of a "group of Norsemen who had settled in Scotland and Ireland and intermarried with Gaelic - speaking people". Genetic evidence suggests that approximately 62% of the Icelandic maternal gene pool is derived from Ireland and Scotland, which is much higher than other Scandinavian countries, although comparable to the Faroese, while 37% is of Nordic origin . About 20 - 25% of the Icelandic paternal gene pool is of Gaelic origin, with the rest being Nordic . </P>

Who is generally recognised as iceland's first permanent male settler