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Later, the great volcanoes of Iceland started erupting, raining ash and lava over large areas. Over the next ten centuries, this would regularly kill off part of the fragile Icelandic population. Often the ash would travel through the air and rain down on distant Europe, poisoning the ground and killing cattle. Rats would feast on the carcasses, and plagues soon followed. Trapped in Iceland, the Vikings sat down and agreed to settle disputes in crucial matters with a simple majority vote. The normal Viking way was to resolve things with brute force, but they understood that the population was now too frail for internal battles. Thingvellir is a beautiful lake surrounded by rock formations. It became the gathering place for the small population each summer. That is where they debated and voted on issues. It was almost unheard of in the Middle Ages to settle any matters in a democratic way. This radical Icelandic solution was clearly borne out of sheer desperation.