According to Landnamabok (The icelandic peoples own book of Icelandic history) it was a Swede with the name Gardard Svarvarsson who discovered Iceland. But the one who colonized the island was a Norwegian called Folke Vilgerdsson.
Folke got to Iceland in the year of 815 as a refugee, expelled by the Norwegian king Harald Herfagre. Harald Herfagre was the first real king of Norway. He was a very ruthless king who did everything he could to prevent anyone else from taking power. Among other things he condemned many hundreds of the noblest families to exile. In Iceland they saw the chance to start all over again. According to old Icelandic tales the first major colony of Norwegians and Swedes in exile arived in Iceland in 874. They were about 400 and they brought with them poets and writers (some of them where Irish slaves) who were ordered to write down the family histories. It is these people that we have to thank for the rich literature that originates from Iceland.
The newcomers lived in small, free communities grouped around their different chiefs. As early as in 982 the first Althing was held, a sort of Parliament and court of law. In a sense Iceland can be called the oldest still living democracy. It was here that the chiefs decided, in a democratic spirit (in 1000 AD), to accept the new Christian religion.
Norwegian Vikings still had the drive to discover new land for themselves. And in 982 Erik Röde and his son discovered Greenland. They had heard rumours about new land only a couple of days' sailing from Iceland. They arrived at Kap Farvel, turned north and discoverd valleys covered with grass. Here they stayed the winter. The next spring they returned to Iceland to try to bring some more people with them to this new country. Erik got over 500 new settlers which followed him to the new country. In 896 the settlers left for Greenland in 25 ships, but a storm hit them on the way and only 14 ships survived the journey. More settlers followed in their path and soon the population on Greenland rose to about 3000 people.
The colony on Greenland came under Norwegian rule during the 13th century, but the contact with Norway slowly faded away. At the same time the climate changed for the worse. Still they clung to the colony for over 500 hundred years before they had to leave it because of the worsening living conditions. In the 15th century the colony died and left only ruins of some lonely houses. The last colonists are believed to have been killed by the plague, but no one really knows what happened. Perhaps they were killed by the eskimos.
Pretty soon after their arrival in Greenland the Vikings' wandering spirit led them even further west and they soon discovered what was to be called America. The first one who is believed to have come so far west that he saw the new country and could still return to tell about it was a man by the name of Bjarni Hjerolfsson. He said that the new land was only about four days sailing away. New expeditions were formed and they were soon on their way. The expedition that succeeded was led by a man called Leif Eriksson (Son of Erik Röde). He reached the coast of America around 1000 A.D. He baptized the country 'Helluland' ('flat rock'). Then he continued south along a beautiful shore and came to a land covered with forest which he called 'skogslandet'.
Even farther south he reached land which he called Vinland ('vin' is a very old Nordic word for 'grass'). Today it is believed that this the first organized Viking expedition to America, reached the northernmost tip of the cape of NewFoundland at St Lawrence Bay outside Canada's North eastern coast.
A year later Leif Eriksson returned with three ships which contained the immigrants to this new land. They found their way south and stayed the winter on the coast. However, the Vikings on the three ships started to argue about where they should settle down. One of the ships returned north and the other ones continued south. There something happened which they didnt expect - they found other people (which they called for 'skrälingar'). The new people weren't friendly to the invaders from the north and there was a fight between them. Skrälingarna tried to get rid of the Vikings who returned to Vinland where they stayed yet another winter, probably at a place called Cape Bauld. There archeologists have found eight houses built in the typical way of the Scandinavic Vikings, in the form of long halls with roofs made of peat and timber. They also found a smithy which was dated using the C14 method and states to have been built in the 11th century. This is said to have been the first colony in the new land in the west.
In any case this first colony didn't last long due to different kinds of difficulties. Leif Eriksson's brother was shot with an Indian arrow, and internally the Vikings started to quarrel over their women. Cut off from the rest of the world they knew that they had no one to turn to with their trouble. After some years they decided that they should return to Greenland or Iceland. In the year 1003 a ship commanded by Torfinn Karlsevens finally reached Greenland to tell the sad tale. Several more immigrants tried their luck in America during the next few years. A bishop called Erik Gnupsson arrived in Vinland in 1121 to visit the Christian people. In 1347 the Icelandic Edda tells the tales of a ship with 17 men which arrived in Iceland from Markland. Probably the Viking made routine travels back and forth between America and Iceland/Greenland as it was here they could find the timber they needed to build boats, houses and anything else they needed. It was far closer to go to America than all the way back to Norway to get it.