Vistarband

The Icelandic vistarband (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈvɪstarˌpant]) was a requirement that all landless people be employed on a farm. 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 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.