Ohthere of Hålogaland

Who is Ohthere of Hålogaland?

Ohthere of Hålogaland was a Viking adventurer from Hålogaland. Around 890 AD he travelled to England, where Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, had his tales written down.

Ohthere reported that he lived "north-most of all the Northmen", and that "no-one [lived] to the north of him". He spoke of his travels north to the White Sea, and south to Denmark and England, describing his route. He also spoke of Sweoland, the Sami people, and of two peoples called the "Cwenas" living in Cwena land and the "Beormas". Ohthere reported that the Beormas spoke a language related to that of the Sami people, and lived in an area of the White Sea region. This is marked on the accompanying map as "Bjarmland", and has been seen by some as a reference to people of the Old Permic culture.

Ohthere's story is the earliest known written source for the terms "Norway" and "Denmark". The regular opinion is that the place where Ohthere lived was somewhere in the Malangen-area of southern Troms.