Gunnbjörn's skerries (''Gunnbjarnarsker'') were a group of small islands lying close between

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, discovered by

Gunnbjörn Ulfsson Gunnbjörn Ulfsson (fl. c. 10th century), also Gunnbjörn Ulf-Krakuson, was a Norwegian settler of Iceland. He was reportedly the first European to sight Greenland. A number of modern place names in Greenland commemorate Gunnbjörn, most notably ...

in the 9th century. They became a popular stopover for ships traveling to Greenland and a brief attempt to set up a colony was made about 970.

Snæbjörn Galti Snæbjörn galti Hólmsteinsson (Modern Icelandic: ; Old Norse: ; c. 910 – c. 978) was the first Norseman to intentionally navigate to Greenland, doing so in 978 CE. His voyage followed the accidental discovery of lands west of Iceland by ...

visited around 978. A later attempt succeeded and by 1391 there were 18 farms on the islands. Apparently in 1456, according to Ruysch's 1507 map, the islands "completely burned up", i.e. were destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Ivar Bardsen mentions them in his work "Description of Greenland in the Fourteenth Century". On later maps, as late as 1700, such as Jan van Keulen's "Pascaert van Groenlandt", the shoals formed by the remains of the explosion was noted with the name "Gombar Scheer". The location of the former islands is not exactly known. Captain Graah gives their position as , but the position is more likely.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnbjorn's skerries Former islands Islands of the North Atlantic Ocean Skerries