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Norwegians in Iceland had a significant role to play in shaping the history of Iceland. However in the current times the presence of the Norwegians is not that significantly noticed. The culture, traditions and lifestyle of the Norwegians have been well integrated into the people of Iceland. Vikings who were a group of Norwegians had first settled in Iceland and had remained there for quite a long time. Norwegians originally belong to the ethnic group of the Scandinavians. Not only the people of Iceland but Swedish and the Danish people all have integral links with the Norwegians. As Iceland was the last portion of Europe which not habited, the Norwegians found it in its virgin form. The language spoken by the Icelandic people are associated with the language of the Vikings which belongs to the Norwegian group of speech. This Norwegians in Iceland can be attributed with the credit of giving the country of Iceland its name.
The Norwegian kings were responsible for the conversion of the populace of Iceland to Christianity. In the eleventh century the Norwegians introduced Christianity to the people of Iceland and paganism became prohibited. A Norwegian archbishop was selected as the head of the Icelandic churches. Though initially there was great resistance against this conversion things got settled quickly. Presently there are about a thousand Norwegians staying in Iceland. But the culture and traditions are well integrated within the local inhabitants. Apart from Iceland other countries have many Norwegian settlers especially the Untied States of America.
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