Editing History of Iceland (section)

==Historiography==

===Division of history into named periods===
While it is convenient to divide history into named periods, it is also misleading because the course of human events neither starts nor ends abruptly in most cases, and movements and influences often overlap. One period in Icelandic history, as [[Gunnar Karlsson]] describes, can be considered the period from 930 CE to 1262–1264, when there was no central government or leader, political power being characterised by chieftains ("goðar"). This period is referred to therefore as the ''þjóðveldisöld'' or ''goðaveldisöld'' (National or Chieftain State) period by Icelandic authors, and the ''[[Icelandic Commonwealth|Old Commonwealth]]'' or ''Freestate'' by English ones.

There is little consensus on how to divide Icelandic history. Gunnar's own book ''A Brief History of Iceland'' (2010) has 33 chapters with considerable overlap in dates. Jón J. Aðils' 1915 text, ''Íslandssaga'' (A History of Iceland) uses ten periods:
* Landnámsöld  (Settlement Age) c. 870–930
* Söguöld  (Saga Age) 930–1030
* Íslenska kirkjan í elstu tíð (The early Icelandic church) 1030–1152
* Sturlungaöld  (Sturlung Age) 1152–1262
* Ísland undir stjórn Noregskonunga og uppgangur kennimanna  (Norwegian royal rule and the rise of the clergy) 1262–1400
* Kirkjuvald  (Ecclesiastical power) 1400–1550
* Konungsvald  (Royal authority) 1550–1683
* Einveldi og einokun  (Absolutism and monopoly trading) 1683–1800
* Viðreisnarbarátta  (Campaign for restoration [of past glories]) 1801–1874
* Framsókn (Progress) 1875–1915

In another of Gunnar's books, ''Iceland's 1100 Years'' (2000), Icelandic history is divided into four periods:
* Colonisation and Commonwealth c. 870–1262
* Under foreign rule 1262 – c. 1800
* A [[Urgesellschaft|primitive society]] builds a state 1809–1918
* The great 20th-century transformation
These are based mainly on forms of government, except for the last which reflects mechanisation of the fishing industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.why.is/svar.php?id=4785|title=Gunnar Karlsson. "How and why is the history of Iceland divided into periods?". The Icelandic Web of Science 5.3.2005.|work=The Icelandic Web of Science|access-date=30 September 2014}}</ref>