INDIGENOUS AND ICELANDIC INTERACTIONS AT THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS

By Jason Doctor

Public Webinar on Friday, 27 March 2026:

INDIGENOUS AND ICELANDIC INTERACTIONS AT THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS

Our Icelandic Roots Host, Jason Doctor, welcomes guest Hildur Sigurbergsdóttir, historian and Snorri West alum. We will be discussing the complex story of the encounters between the Icelandic settlers and the existing Indigenous populations as part of an extended celebration marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of New Iceland and Minneota.

Hildur Sigurbergsdóttir’s research covers an often-overlooked part in the history of Icelandic immigration to Canada in the 19th century: the relationship between the Icelanders and the First Nations around Lake Winnipeg, where the former group established their colony.

Hildur Sigurbergsdóttir

Her bachelor’s thesis titled “Bears, Wolves and Indians,” starts off by examining what ideas Icelanders had of Indigenous peoples in North America prior to the mass emigration in the 1870s. In Icelandic manuscripts and newspapers from the 19th century the Indigenous peoples are often portrayed as violent savages. Those ideas seem to have been somewhat widespread as per the writings of the earliest Icelandic immigrants in Canada. When they wrote their letters home, often in hopes of attracting more immigrants, they assured their readers that the Indigenous peoples were nothing to worry about – making it clear that there was a worry present.

In a letter published in 1874, Sigtryggur Jónasson, often called “the father of New Iceland,” reassures his readers that “the terrible Indians” are “as peaceful as lambs, as long as you don’t give them whiskey or other alcohol.” Sigtryggur also took part in writing a report on New Iceland, which acted as an advertisement/travel brochure for incoming Icelanders. On their Indigenous neighbors he writes, “There is no need to fear them, they are both Christian and civilized, and they are of the tribe of Indians that are the most peaceful.” He ends the paragraph by stating that when Icelanders start building their colony: “these Indians will be moved elsewhere.”

New Iceland was established as an exclusively Icelandic colony on the shores of Lake Winnipeg in 1875, somewhat to the dismay of the Cree, Saulteaux and Ojibwe peoples who lived along the lake. Through the lens of microhistory, we explore different personal examples of the relationship between the Icelanders and First Nations residing around the lake.

The first example regards perhaps the most well-known Indigenous person in New Iceland, John Ramsey. In 1876, three Icelandic families moved from Gimli to the banks of the Icelandic River (previously named White Mud River). As they started to build their homes, Ramsey along with other Saulteaux men, confronted them, as they believed the land belonged to them. The conflict escalated and grudges came from both sides, but in the end an Indian Agent deemed the Icelanders to be within their right. However, Ramsey was able to negotiate a deal with one of the Icelanders, allowing him to keep his potato garden and tent in the backyard of the house.

Ramsey’s story stretches into the second example where the Smallpox winter of 1876–77 is covered. One hundred and two Icelanders died in the epidemic, but it’s believed that the neighboring Indigenous population lost twice that amount.

These two groups received starkly different responses from authorities during and after the epidemic. As an example, when authorities decided to sanitize the area, they decided to burn down Indigenous homes, possessions and bodies, but the Icelandic settlement stood as it was.

Ramsey lost his wife and four children that winter and a couple of years later he lost his land near the Icelandic River. The Icelander he negotiated with, Ólafur Ólafsson, moved to North Dakota in 1879. Ramsey saw this as an opportunity to finally get his land claim acknowledged and frequently wrote to the authorities, but ultimately an Icelander named Jón Bergvinsson was awarded the land.

No matter his conflicts with the settlers and authorities, Ramsey remained popular within the Icelandic community, even after his death. His lasting legacy is possibly thanks to an Icelandic carpenter named Trausti Vigfússon who immigrated to Canada in 1898. He never met Ramsey but had heard many stories of him and his helpfulness. In 1908 Ramsey came to him in a dream and asked him to build a fence around his late wife’s grave, which Trausti did in 1917.

One could argue that the ongoing popularity of this dream has helped shape the idea that Icelandic-Indigenous relationships were overall positive, when in reality they were much more complex and nuanced.

The findings of Hildur’s research indicate that while instances of cooperation, friendship, and even romance did exist, Icelanders generally carried their prejudices toward Indigenous peoples across the Atlantic, thereby contributing to the continued marginalization and displacement of Indigenous communities in Canada.

WEBINAR LINK COMING IN ROOTS NEWS:

Join us on FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2026 at 1230 PM Central Time via ZOOM. The link will be sent via Roots News on 26 March 2026. Please feel free to check the Icelandic Roots Event Calendar for more details HERE.