Vistarband

The Icelandic vistarband (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈvɪstarˌpant]) was a requirement that all landless people be employed on a farm.^[1] A person who did not own or lease property had to find a position as a laborer (vinnuhjú [ˈvɪnnʏˌçuː]) in the home of a farmer. The custom was for landless people to contract themselves to a farmer for one year at a time. The vistarband was in effect from 1490 until the beginning of the 20th century^[2] in various forms. Iceland had an unusually large percentage of the population in this kind of bondage—generally about 25% of the population during the 19th century.

The institution only applied in Iceland, not in the rest of Denmark-Norway. Norway had its own system of serfdom, while a somewhat similar institution, the stavnsbånd, existed in Denmark proper.