Ohthere of Hålogaland () was a Viking Age Norwegian seafarer known only from an account of his travels that he gave to King Alfred (r. 871–99) of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex in about 890 AD. His account was incorporated into an Old English adaptation of a Latin historical book written early in the fifth century by Paulus Orosius, called Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII, or Seven Books of History Against the Pagans. The Old English version of this book is believed to have been written in Wessex in King Alfred's lifetime or soon after his death, and the earliest surviving copy is attributed to the same place and time.
In his account, Ohthere said that his home was in "Halgoland", or Hålogaland, where he lived "north-most of all Norwegians … [since] no-one [lived] to the north of him".Thorpe, 1900, pp. 249–253. Ohthere spoke of his travels north to the White Sea, and south to Denmark, describing both journeys in some detail. He also spoke of Sweoland (central Sweden), the Sami people (Finnas), and of two peoples called the Cwenas, living in Cwena land to the north of the Swedes, and the Beormas, whom he found living by the White Sea. Ohthere reported that the Beormas spoke a language related to that of the Sami.
Ohthere's story is the earliest known written source for the term "Denmark" (dena mearc), and perhaps also for "Norway" (norðweg). Ohthere's home may have been in the vicinity of Tromsø, in southern Troms county, northern Norway. Ohthere was involved in the fur trade.
Sources Orosius' 5th-century Seven Books of History Against the Pagans was a popular work of history in the Middle Ages, with about 250 manuscript copies from that period surviving today. Late in the 9th century King Alfred of Wessex, or members of his court, appear to have seen it as a useful basis for a world-history written in their own language, and an Old English version may have been seen as complementary to Bede's 8th-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was begun in Alfred's reign.; . The Old English version of Orosius is an adaptation rather than a direct translation, one of its features being the addition and correction of information concerning European geography. The addition of Ohthere's account of his travels, and that of another traveller named Wulfstan, represents part of that process.
The authorship of the Old English Orosius is unknown. In the 12th century William of Malmesbury believed that it was the work of King Alfred himself, but scholarly scrutiny of the text since the mid-20th century, including by the historians Dorothy Whitelock and Janet Bately, has led to this view being refuted on lexical and syntactic grounds. Janet Bately believes that the Old English version of Orosius was created between 889 and 899, probably in the early 890s,, cited in . but there is no way of knowing whether Ohthere's account was previously in existence and incorporated from the outset, or if it was written down later and incorporated into a subsequent copy. The events that Ohthere described may have taken place at any time from the 870s to the late 890s, and Ohthere's account is given in the form of a third-person report of what he said to King Alfred, rather than as reported speech, as exemplified by the opening sentence: "Ohthere sæde his hlaforde Ælfrede kynincge þæt he ealra Norðmanna norðmest bude." ("Ohthere told his lord Alfred king that he lived northmost of all Norwegians.") Dorothy Whitelock wrote that "Ohthere's account reads like a set of replies to questions put to him.", quoted in .
The Old English version of Orosius survives almost complete in two Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The earliest is known variously as the Tollemache, Helmingham or Lauderdale Orosius, and is kept at the British Library under the reference "Additional 47967"."Detailed record for Additional 47967". (not dated). British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. Retrieved 22 December 2013. This manuscript was written in Wessex between about 892 and 925, possibly at Winchester. The second manuscript dates from early in the 11th century, is of unknown English provenance, and is kept at the British Library under the reference "Cotton Tiberius B. i". Both manuscripts are copies of a "common ancestor".
Biography Ohthere said that he lived furthest north of all Norwegians, and that his home was in "Halgoland", in the north of Norway, by the sea. Halgoland is identified in modern historiography as Hålogaland, a historical region of northern Norway comparable in area to the modern region of Nord-Norge.; . While greater precision is impossible, suggested localities for Ohthere's home include Senja, Kvaløya, and the areas surrounding the Malangen fjord, all near Tromsø.; . He claimed to be a leading man in his homeland, perhaps to be understood as a chieftain, and described himself as wealthy, owning 600 tame reindeer, of which six were "decoys" used for catching wild reindeer. Conversely, according to the report in the Old English Orosius, Ohthere "had not more than twenty horned cattle, and twenty sheep, and twenty swine, and the little that he ploughed he ploughed with horses." But his main wealth was in tax paid by the Finnas, or Sami people, of whom the highest-born paid 15 marten skins, 5 reindeer skins, 1 bear skin, 10 ambers of feathers, 1 coat of bear skin or otter skin and two ship's ropes, each 60 ells long, made of either whale skin or seal skin.; .
Another source of Ohthere's wealth was the hunting of whales and walrus. He is reported as saying that his own land was best for whale-hunting, with walrus up to 7 ells long and whales mostly 50 ells long, and that with five men he had killed sixty of them in two days. While the killing of this number of whales in two days seems unlikely, historian Kjell-Olav Masdalen suggests that, rather than whales, Ohthere intended the number killed to refer to walrus; Janet Bately suggests that it might best be seen as an indication of how many whales could be caught in good conditions.; cited in . Ropes of whale skin were of sufficient value to be included in the tax paid to Ohthere by the Sami, and Ohthere said that walrus had "very noble bones in their teeth", some of which he brought to King Alfred.
Anthropologist Ian Whitaker notes that Ohthere has been described as primarily a merchant, and that his visit to King Alfred has been connected with the king's plans for a navy, a desire to escape the Norwegian King Harald Fairhair, or a need to rebuild a lost fortune. Whitaker notes also that there is "no shred of evidence" to support any of these ideas, but for the fact that he had visited the trading centres of "Skiringshal" (sic) and Hedeby. Ohthere said that he had travelled north chiefly to hunt walrus, and his journey south to the Danish trading settlement of Hedeby, via the "port" of Sciringes heal, may have been a trading mission.; . There is no account of Ohthere's journey to Wessex or explanation for his visit to King Alfred.
Ohthere's Norway Ohthere's reported use of the term "Norway" (norðweg) in the earliest copy of the Old English Orosius pre-dates the earliest written Scandinavian use of the term, in the runic form "Nuruiak", on the 10th-century Jelling stones in Denmark by between 40 and 80 years."; ; . He describes Norway as being very long and very narrow, saying that it was about across "to the east", about across in the middle, and about across in the north. While Ohthere is here referring broadly to the width of Norwegian territory between the sea and the mountains,Janet Bately, quoted in . the land described as being about 60 miles across "to the east" is probably to be understood as representing the modern Norwegian region of Vestlandet, in the south-west of the country.
The land of the Norwegians is further delineated through reference to their neighbours. Away from the sea, a wilderness of moors, or mountains, lay to the east and was inhabited by Finnas, a reference to the Sami people. Alongside the southern part of the land, on the other side of the mountains and continuing north, was Sweoland, the "land of the Svear",Janet Bately, quoted in . or Swedes. To the north of the Swedes was Cwenaland, the "land of the Cwenas", and to the north of the Norwegians was wasteland.
Ohthere's travels
Ohthere described two journeys that he had made, one northward and around the Kola Peninsula into the White Sea, and one southward to the Danish trading settlement of Hedeby via a Norwegian "port" which, in the Old English Orosius, is called "Sciringes heal". He described his journeys partly through the lands and peoples he encountered, and partly through the number of days it took to sail from one point to the next:
Journey to the north Ohthere said that the land stretched far to the north of his home, and that it was all wasteland, except for a few places where finnas (Sami) camped to hunt in the winter and fish in the summer. He said that he once wanted to find out how far the land extended to the north, or if anyone lived north of the waste. He sailed north along the coast for three days, as far north as whale-hunters would go, and continued to travel north as far as he could sail in three days. Then the land there turned east (near North Cape), and he had to wait for a west wind and slightly north and then sailed east along the land for four days. Then he had to wait there for a wind from due north, for the land there turned to the south. He then sailed south along the land for another five days. There a large river stretched up into the land, and they turned up into that river because they dared not sail on beyond the river because of "unfrið" (usually translated as "hostility"),; . since the land was all settled on the other side of the river. He had not previously encountered any cultivated land since he travelled from his own home, but there was waste land all the way on his starboard side, except for fishermen and fowlers and hunters, and they were all finnas, and open sea had always been on his port side.
According to Ohthere, the far bank of the river was "well cultivated" and inhabited by Beormas: historian T.N. Jackson suggests a location for this land – "Bjarmaland" – in the vicinity of the present day Russian town of Kandalaksha, on the western side of the White Sea, while noting that others have identified Ohthere's "large river" as the Northern Dvina, on the eastern side of the White Sea, and place Bjarmaland accordingly. Having just explained how Ohthere did not dare enter the land of the Beormas because it was so well cultivated and because of "unfrið", the report of Ohthere's travels then indicates that he had spoken with them. He explained that the Beormas had told him much about their own land and those of their neighbours, but he says nothing further of this: "he knew not what was true, because he did not see it himself". This incongruity may be explained by his learning of these things from Beormas encountered elsewhere, or from Sami, whose language Ohthere reports as being almost the same as that of the Beormas.; . Historian Christine Fell suggests that the Old English Orosius' use of the word "unfrið" might rather indicate that Ohthere made a diplomatic approach to the Beormas because he had no trading agreement with them.
The Beormas have been linked with the Old Permic culture, for example through late-medieval treaties dealing with, among other things, a territory called Koloperem, a place-name which "must have emerged as a designation of a land of perem [i.e. Beormas] on the Kola Peninsula":; . the latter forms the north-western coast of the White Sea, and is defined in part by an inlet of the sea leading to the town of Kandalaksha. The ethnicity of the Beormas and the Perm remains uncertain, but the term "perem" may have originated as a word used for nomadic tradesmen, rather than an ethnic group.