Ohthere of Hålogaland

Ohthere of Hålogaland was a Viking Age seafarer from Norway. We only know about him from a story he told to King Alfred of Wessex around 890 AD. Ohthere shared his adventures during a meeting with the king, and his tale was later added to an old book written by Paulus Orosius.

Opening lines of Ohthere's Old English account, from Thorpe's edition of 1900: "Ohthere told his lord, king Alfred, that he lived northmost of all Norwegians⁖ He said that he lived on the land northwards by the West Sea. Nevertheless, he told that the land was very long from the north, but it is all uninhabited, except in a few places here and there where the Finns (Sámi) live, hunting in winter & fishing by the sea in summer."

Ohthere said he lived in Hålogaland, the northernmost part of Norway, where no one lived farther north. He talked about his journeys to the White Sea in the north and to Denmark in the south. He also described places like Sweoland (central Sweden), the Sami people, and two other groups called the Cwenas and the Beormas.

Ohthere's story is important because it is the earliest known written mention of the names "Denmark" and "Norway." Some believe he lived near what is now Tromsø in northern Norway. Ohthere was also part of the fur trade, which was a big business at the time.

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