
Events 850s – First settlements on Iceland
First Norse settlement on Iceland Events 850–875: The first Norse settlers arrive on Iceland. Coffee is discovered (according to legend) by the Ethiopian goatherder Kaldi in East Africa, who notices that his goats become energetic after chewing the red berries from certain wild bushes Danish Viking raiders enter the Thames Estuary, and plunder Canterbury and London. The Viking chieftains Hastein and Björn Ironside (a son of Ragnar Lodbrok) begin an expedition, and sail from the Loire River with a fleet of 62 ships, to raid cities and monasteries in the Mediterranean Sea