Gardar Svavarsson

Gardar Svavarsson (Garðar), a Viking originally from Sweden, was the first Scandinavian to live in Iceland some decades after its discovery by the Viking Naddoddr, Although Hauksbók leads one to think that Gardar was the discoverer of the island.

According to Haukr Erlendsson's edition of the Landnámabók, Gardar owned land in Zealand and was married to a woman from the Hebrides. During a trip to those islands (during the year 860) with the goal of claiming his father-in-law's inheritance, he was caught in a storm. This storm took him to the north of Iceland, finally reaching Skjálfandi Bay. There he built himself a house in which he stayed for one winter. Since then, the most important town in the area is called Húsavík, whose translation is "house bay".

After his return to his home country, he baptized the land in which he had lived Garðarshólmi. Little else is known about his life after his stay in Iceland, although it is known that his son Uni the Dane emigrated to the island. Uni was the father of Hróar Tungugoði.