History

Iceland was one of the last large islands uninhabited by humans until it was discovered and settled by immigrants from Scandinavia and from Ireland and Scotland during the 9th and 10th centuries. Íslendingabók (Libellus Islandorum or The Book of Icelanders in English), written in 1122-1133 claims that the Norwegian Ingólfur Arnarson was the first man to settle in Iceland (Reykjavík) in 870. The families were accompanied by servants and slaves, some of whom were Celts or Picts from Scotland and Ireland (known as Westmen to the Norse). Some literary evidence suggests that Irish monks may have been living in Iceland before the arrival of Norse settlers, but no archaeological evidence has been found.

Erik the Red, or Eiríkr Þorvaldsson, was exiled from Iceland for manslaughter in 980, and set sail to explore the lands to the west. He established the first settlements in Greenland around this time, naming the land, according to legend, to attract settlers. Eirikr's son, Leifur Eiríksson, finally set foot in the Americas around the year 1000. While some say he was blown off course, it is most likely that he was deliberately seeking the land spotted by Bjarni Herjólfsson several years earlier. He is believed to have established a colony at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, which lasted only a year. Two further attempts at colonization by his brother ended in failure.

The Alþingi (general assembly) was founded in 930, marking the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth. It was the predecessor to the modern Icelandic legislature. The Althing is the oldest, still-standing, parliament in the world that has written documents to prove its age.

Iceland was a free state, without a king, until the end of the Sturlungaöld civil war in 1262, when it joined the Norwegian kingdom as a Norwegian colony. From 1387 Iceland was in practice ruled by Denmark, following the union of the two kingdoms. When that union was dissolved in 1814, through the Treaty of Kiel, which saw Norway entering a union with Sweden, Iceland became a Danish colony. Home rule was granted by the Danish government in 1904, and independence followed in 1918. From 1918 Iceland was in a personal union with Denmark, with foreign relations being carried out by the Danes, as instructed by the Icelandic government until the World War II military occupation of Denmark by Germany in 1940. Subsequently, Iceland was occupied by the Allies. The Danish king remained the de jure sovereign of the nation until 1944, when the current republic was founded after the 1918 treaty had lapsed.

The new republic became a charter member of NATO in 1949 and signed a treaty with the United States in 1951 to take responsibility for the defense of Iceland. Today the US is significantly reducing its military forces on the base in Keflavík, while Iceland is trying to find replacement tenants, foreign or indigenous. The economy of Iceland remained dependent on fisheries in the post-war decades and the country has had several clashes with its neighbours over this vital resource, most notably the Cod Wars with the British. The economy has become more diverse recently owing to large investments in heavy industry such as aluminum smelting and deregulation and privatization in the financial sector. Iceland is a member of the Common market of the European Union through the EEA agreement but has never applied for membership of the EU itself.

Geography

Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle, which passes through the small island of Grimsey off Iceland's northern coast, but not through mainland Iceland. Unlike neighboring Greenland, Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe, not a part of North America. It is the world's 18th largest island.

Approximately 10 percent of the island is glaciated. Many fjords punctuate its 3,088 miles (4,970 km) long coastline, which is also where most towns are situated because the island's interior, the Highlands of Iceland, is a cold and uninhabitable desert. The major towns are the capital Reykjavík, Keflavík, where the national airport is situated, and Akureyri. The island of Grímsey on the Arctic Circle contains the northernmost habitation of Iceland.

Iceland has four national parks: Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, Skaftafell National Park, Snæfellsnes National Park, and Þingvellir

Area

Whole country: 39,768.5 square miles (103,000 km²)
Vegetation: 9,191 square miles (23,805 km²)
Lakes: 1,065 square miles (2,757 km²)
Glaciers: 4,603 square miles (11,922 km²)
Wasteland: 24,918 square miles (64,538 km²)
Numbers are from the National Land Survey of Iceland

Geological and volcanic activity

Iceland is located on both a geological hot spot, thought to be caused by a mantle plume, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This combined location means that the island is extremely geologically active, having many volcanoes, notably Hekla, and geysers (itself an Icelandic word). With this widespread availability of geothermal power, and also because of the numerous rivers and waterfalls that are harnessed for hydropower, residents of most towns have hot water and home heat for a low price. The island itself is composed primarily of cooled basalt lava.

Largest lakes

Þórisvatn (Reservoir): 32-34 square miles (83-88 km²)
Þingvallavatn: 31.7 square miles (82 km²)
Lögurinn: 20.5 square miles (53 km²)
Mývatn: 14.3 square miles (37 km²)
Hvítárvatn: 11.6 square miles (30 km²)
Hóp: 11.6 square miles (30 km²)
Langisjór: 10 square miles (26 km²)
Numbers are from the National Land Survey of Iceland

Deepest lakes

Öskjuvatn: 722 feet (220 m)
Hvalvatn: 525 feet (160 m)
Jökulsárlón in Breiðamerkursandur: 492 feet (150 m)
Þingvallavatn: 374 feet (114 m)
Þórisvatn (Reservoir): 371 feet (113 m)

Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe, is located in northeastern Iceland.Lögurinn: 367 feet (112 m)
Kleifarvatn: 318 feet (97 m)
Hvítárvatn: 276 feet (84 m)
Langisjór: 246 feet (75 m)
Numbers are from the National Land Survey of Iceland

Demographics

The original population of Iceland was of Nordic and Celtic origin. This is evident by literary evidence from the settlement period as well as from later scientific studies such as blood type and genetic analysis. One such genetics study has indicated that the majority of the male settlers were of Nordic origin while the majority of the women were of Celtic origin (Am. J. Hum. Genet, 2001). The modern population of Iceland is often described as a "homogeneous mixture of descendants of Norse and Celts" (The CIA World Fact book) but several history scholars reject the alleged homogeneity as a myth that fails to take into account the fact that Iceland was never isolated from the rest of Europe and actually has had a lot of contact with traders and fishermen from many nations through the ages.

Iceland has extensive medical and genealogical records about its population dating back to the age of settlement. Although the accuracy of these records is debated, biopharmaceutical companies such as deCODE Genetics see them as a valuable tool for conducting research on genetic diseases.

The population of the island is believed to have varied from 40,000 to 60,000 in the period from initial settlement until the mid-19th century. During that time, cold winters, ashfall from volcanic eruptions, and plagues adversely affected the population several times. The first census was carried out in 1703 and revealed that the population of the island was then 50,358. Improving living conditions triggered a rapid increase in population from the mid-19th century to the present day - from about 60,000 in 1850 to 300,000 in 2006.

In 2004, 20,669 people (7% of the total population) who were born abroad were living in Iceland, including children of Icelandic parents living abroad. 10,636 people (3.6% of the total population) had foreign citizenship. The most populous nationalities are Polish (1903), Danish (890), ex-Yugoslavians (670), Filipinos (647) and Germans (540).

The island's spoken tongue is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and the predominant religion is Lutheran. In education, the use of Icelandic Sign Language for the Deaf in Iceland is regulated by the National Curriculum Guide.

Important foreign languages include Danish and other Scandinavian languages, English and German.

Politics

Halldór Ásgrímsson, Prime Minister of Iceland	Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland

The modern parliament, called "Althing" or "Alþingi", was founded in 1845 as an advisory body to the Danish king. It was widely seen as a reestablishment of the assembly founded in 930 in the Commonwealth period and suspended in 1799. It currently has 63 members, each of whom is elected by the population every four years. The president of Iceland is a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat, figurehead and head of state. The head of government is the prime minister, who, together with the cabinet, takes care of the executive part of government. The cabinet is appointed by the president after general elections to Althing; however, this process is usually conducted by the leaders of the political parties, who decide among themselves after discussions which parties can form the cabinet and how its seats are to be distributed (under the condition that it has a majority support in Althing). Only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in reasonable time does the president exercise this power and appoint the cabinet himself. This has never happened since the republic was founded in 1944, but in 1942 the regent of the country (Sveinn Björnsson, who had been installed in that position by the Althing in 1941) did appoint a non-parliamentary government. The regent had, for all practical purposes, the position of a president, and Björnsson in fact became the country's first president in 1944. The governments of Iceland have almost always been coalitions with two or more parties involved, due to the fact that no single political party has received a majority of seats in Althing in the republic period. The extent of the political powers possessed by the office of the president are disputed by legal scholars in Iceland; several provisions of the constitution appear to give the president some important powers but other provisions and traditions suggest differently.

The president is elected every four years (last 2004), the cabinet is elected every four years (last 2003) and town council elections are held every four years (last 2002).

Military

The only regular armed forces of Iceland, is the para-military Icelandic Crisis Response Unit. Defense is provided by a predominantly US-manned NATO base in Miðnesheiði near Keflavík. Iceland has a Coast Guard (Landhelgisgæslan) and a counter-terrorism team named Sérsveit Ríkislögreglustjóra (English: "The Special Operations Task Force of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police"), commonly referred to as Víkingasveitin (The Viking Team or Viking Squad).

According to an article in the Reykjavík Grapevine, an Iceland-based, street-distributed free newspaper, the US State Department announced the closing of the NATO base in Keflavík on March 15th, 2006. "Effective October 2006, the NATO base in will be reduced to little more than a few “submarine talkers,” with US forces withdrawing their four F-15s, their helicopter squadron and the vast majority of their personnel."

Economy

Iceland is among the ten richest countries in the world based on GDP per capita at purchasing power parity. The economy historically depended heavily on the fishing industry, which still provides almost 40% of export earnings and employs 8% of the work force. In the absence of other natural resources (except for abundant hydro-electric and geothermal power), Iceland's economy is vulnerable to changing world fish prices. The economy remains sensitive to declining fish stocks as well as to drops in world prices for its main material exports: fish and fish products, aluminum, and ferrosilicon. Although the Icelandic economy still relies heavily on fishing it is constantly becoming less important as the travel industry and other service industries, the technology industry, energy intensive industries and various other industries grow.

The centre-right government plans to continue its policies of reducing the budget and current account deficits, limiting foreign borrowing, containing inflation, revising agricultural and fishing policies, diversifying the economy, and privatizing state-owned industries. The government remains opposed to EU membership, primarily because of Icelanders' concern about losing control over their fishing resources.

Iceland's economy has been diversifying into manufacturing and service industries in the last decade, and new developments in software production, biotechnology, and financial services are taking place. The tourism sector is also expanding, with the recent trends in ecotourism and whale-watching. Growth slowed between 2000 and 2002, but the economy expanded by 4.3% in 2003 and grew by 6.2% in 2004. The unemployment rate of 1.8% (3rd quarter of 2005) is among the lowest in the European Economic Area.

Over 99% of the country's electricity is produced from hydropower and geothermal energy.

Agriculture-potatoes, green vegetables, mutton, dairy products and fish.

Religion

Icelanders enjoy freedom of religion as stated by the constitution; however, church and state are not separated and the Church of Iceland, a Lutheran body, is the state church. The national registry keeps account of the religious affiliation of every Icelandic citizen and according to it, Icelanders in 2004 divided into religious groups as follows:

85.5% members of the Church of Iceland.
3.6% members of the Free Lutheran Churches of Reykjavík and Hafnarfjörður.
2.4% not members of any religious group.
2.0% members of the Catholic Church, which has a Diocese of Reykjavik.
The remaining 6.5% is mostly divided between a number of other Christian denominations and sects, with less than 1% of the population in non-Christian religious organizations including a tiny group of state-sanctioned indigenous Ásatrú adherents in the Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið. Most Icelanders are very liberal in their religious beliefs and do not attend church regularly or at all.

Culture

Some famous Icelanders include alternative rock band The Sugarcubes; its singer Björk; rap-rock group Quarashi; artist collective GusGus; avant-garde rock band Sigur Rós; and novelist Halldór Laxness, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. Although raised and educated in Scotland, TV presenter Magnus Magnusson was born in Reykjavík.

Iceland's literacy rate is among the highest in the world, and a love of literature, art, chess, and other intellectual pursuits is widespread.

An important key to understanding Icelanders and their culture (and which differentiates them from many contemporary Nordic peoples) is the high importance they place on the traits of independence and self-reliance. Icelanders are proud of their Viking heritage and Icelandic language. Modern Icelandic remains close to the Old Norse spoken in the Viking Age.

Icelandic society and culture is very "woman friendly," with many women in leadership positions in government and business. Women retain their names after marriage, since Icelanders generally do not use surnames but patronyms or matronyms. See Icelandic name for further discussion.

One of the most popular activities in Iceland is visiting the geothermal spas and pools that can be found all around the country. They are popular with tourists as well.

Icelandic cuisine

Þorramatur, the Icelandic national food. Iceland offers wide varieties of traditional cuisine. Þorramatur (food of the þorri) is the Icelandic national food. Nowadays þorramatur is mostly eaten during the ancient Nordic month of þorri, in January and February, as a tribute to old culture. Þorramatur consists of many different types of food, for example sour ram's testicles, rotten shark, burned sheep heads, sheep's head jam, blood pudding, dried fish (often cod or haddock) with butter.


Miscellaneous facts about Iceland

» The southwest corner of Iceland is the most densely populated region and the location of the capital Reykjavík, the northernmost capital in the world.

» It is mandatory to keep headlights on while driving, even in daylight. Most cars commercially sold in Iceland are equipped to make this automatic.

» In 2004, British citizens made up the single largest group of tourists to Iceland (60,000) followed by Americans (48,000). The largest group of resident foreigners are the 2000 Polish citizens.

» The tallest structure in Western Europe is located in Iceland; it is the 412 meter high (1,352 ft) Longwave radio mast Hellissandur near Hellissandur.

» The state television service in Iceland did not broadcast during July until 1983, or on Thursdays until 1987 - however, there are now several terrestrial channels, and foreign channels are widely available via satellite and cable.

» Iceland is located partly on the North American tectonic plate and partly on the Eurasian one.

» The Icelandic language is the closest language to Old Norse, the language of the Vikings.

» The only native land mammal when humans arrived was the arctic fox. It came to the island at the end of the ice age, walking over the frozen sea.

» There are no native reptiles or amphibians on the island.

» There are around 1,300 known species of insects in Iceland (ca. 1,100 of them endemic), which is rather low compared with other countries.

» During the last Ice Age almost all of the country was covered by permanent snow and glacier ice. This explains the low number of living species.

» Another explanation of the low number of plants and animals is the fact that this is one of the newest land masses in the world, and is built almost exclusively of volcanic rocks made of magma which welled up from the core of the Earth. The oldest rocks which can be found on the surface were formed about 16 million years ago. Most of the island is much younger, while parts of the Iceland basalt plateau which is not exposed on the surface can be up to 25 million years old. The whole island is actually a part of a mid-ocean ridge that is exposed above sea level, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to be precise. Formed out in the ocean, it would be very hard for animals and plants to get out to the island.

» When humans arrived, birch forest and woodland probably covered 25-40% of Iceland’s land area. But soon the settlers started to remove the trees and forests to create fields and grazing land. During the early 20th century the forests were at their minimum and were almost wiped out of existence. The planting of new forests has increased the number of trees since, but this can not be compared with the original forests. Some of those planted forests have included new foreign species.


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