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IIRC this is attributed to the fact that the Vikings came to Iceland from Scandinavia via Scotland, a place with very thick soils capable of regenerating forest
by danans 5y ago
IIRC this is attributed to the fact that the Vikings came to Iceland from Scandinavia via Scotland, a place with very thick soils capable of regenerating forests.
Superficially Iceland looked forested like Scotland, so they continued their existing animal grazing practices, which along with logging then destroyed the thin topsoil layer of Iceland.
I think it was Jared Diamond who summarized it like that, but in the context of Greenland, where the Viking immigrants suffered and even worse fate, but the patterns are similar.
- njarboe 5y agoIceland certainly does not have many trees outside of settlement areas. But I noticed this island in the middle of a river that was growing a little forest[1]. I thought at the time that it must be all the grazing of the numerous sheep and horses I saw, that kept the forest from returning. [1]https://njarboe.com/iceland/IcelandTreeIslandSkogafoss.jpg https://njarboe.com/iceland/IcelandTreeIslandSkogafoss.jpg
- brabel 5y agoNice! But the little island seems to be next to slopes on both sides, well protected from the elements... maybe that helps?!
- vkou 5y agoCounterintuitively, the existence of a forest provides protection from the elements for the trees that make it up. Forests shape their own climate in other wonderous ways - for another example, they tend to make their biome more humid.
- tuatoru 5y agoTurkey, Greece, and the Eastern Mediterranean generally also used to be forested, until people came with goats.
- avastmick 5y agoThe impact of sheep is under estimated. On Dartmoor in the UK sheep roam freely and there are very few trees. However, there are pockets of fenced areas that are thickly grown with upland oak and ash that would have presumably been what the whole moor would have had.