page_title: Whaling in Iceland
section_title: Pre-19th century whaling
hierarchical_section_title: Whaling in Iceland / History / Pre-19th century whaling
caption_attribution_description: English: Illumination from AM345fol of Icelandic whalers processing a whale in the 16th century
context_page_description: Whaling in Iceland began with spear-drift hunting as early as the 12th century, and continued in a vestigial form until the late 19th century, when other countries introduced modern commercial practices. Today, Iceland is one of a handful of countries that formally object to an ongoing moratorium established by the International Whaling Commission in 1986, and that still maintain a whaling fleet. One company concentrates on hunting fin whales, largely for export to Japan, while the only other one hunts minke whales for domestic consumption, as the meat is popular with tourists. In 2018, Icelandic whalers were accused of slaughtering a blue whale.
  The country's cultural relationship with whales is reflected in the Icelandic language: hvalreki is the word for "beached whale", while also meaning something good that is unexpectedly yours or at your disposal. Iceland now has its own whale watching sector, which exists in uneasy tension with the whaling industry.
context_section_description: Ancient literature, such as the Norse sagas, does not reveal a history of whale fisheries in Iceland but occasionally describes conflicts between various families over whale carcasses and early links between Scandinavian people and whales. For example, Vikings from Norway introduced the whaling techniques of driving small cetaceans, such as pilot whales, into fjords. Additionally, the 13th century document Konungs skuggsjá describes a number of marine mammals, including several types of whales and dolphins. A 17th-century work by Jón Guðmundsson specifically lists whales recognized today as the sperm whale, narwhal, right whale, fin whale and the blue whale. Narwhals were hunted for the spiral shaped ivory tooth, sometimes presented as a mythical unicorn's horn.
  Spear-drift whaling had been practised in the North Atlantic as early as the 12th century. In open boats, hunters would strike a whale with a marked spear with the intent of later locating the beached carcass and claiming a rightful share.
  Research shows that Basque whalers appeared in Iceland and set up whaling stations there at the earliest in the early 17th century. Foreign whaling fleets, in particular Basque and Dutch, did not become prominent in Icelandic waters until the 17th century. Danes did not whale here in large numbers, except briefly during the 1630s. Interactions between Basque whalers and Icelanders were mixed. Icelanders circumvented the burdensome trade monopoly of the Danish King by conducting illicit trade with foreign whalers. In what has been termed Spánverjavígin, a crew of 32 shipwrecked and stranded Basque were executed by Icelanders in 1615. In 1662, locals in Skagaströnd attributed the sudden blindness of 64 sheep to magic spells cast by French whalers on the sheep. Jón Guðmundsson condemned the local sheriff for this decision in his account of the event. Since 2005, historian Magnús Rafnsson and archaeologist Ragnar Edvardsson have been excavating the remains of a 17th-century Basque whaling station in the northwest of Iceland.
  Icelanders did not engage in any large-scale whaling. According to contemporary sources, Icelanders lacked capital in the 18th century to invest in whaling, and did not have knowledge of the most effective whaling methods. Contemporary sources show that Icelanders were interested in starting whaling operations but lacked access to capital and did not have government support for innovation.
caption: Icelanders flenching a whale from a 16th-century manuscript
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