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Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland (Icelandic: Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland; IPA: [ˈliðvɛltɪθ ˈistlant]) is a country in northern Europe, comprising the island of Iceland and its outlying islets in the North Atlantic Ocean between the rest of Europe and Greenland.[CIA - The World Fact book -- Iceland. Government. United States Government (July 20, 2006). Retrieved on August 6, 2006.] It is the least populous of the Nordic countries and the second smallest; it has a population of about 313,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík.
Located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is volcanically and geologically active on a large scale; this defines the landscape in various ways. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterized by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many big glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Iceland has a temperate climate relative to its latitude and provides a habitable environment and nature.
The settlement of Iceland began in 874 when, according to Landnámabók, the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson became the first permanent Norwegian settler on the island.[History of Medieval Greenland] Others had visited the island earlier and stayed over winter. Over the next centuries, people of Nordic and Gaelic origin settled in Iceland. Until the twentieth century, the Icelandic population relied on fisheries and agriculture, and was from 1262 to 1944 a part of the Norwegian and later the Danish monarchies. In the twentieth century, Iceland\'s economy and welfare system developed quickly.
As of 2007, Iceland is the most developed country in the world according to the Human Development Index[http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_indicator_tables.pdf] and one of the most egalitarian, according to the calculation provided by the Gini coefficient.[http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/145.html]. Based upon a mixed economy where service, finance, fishing and various industries are the main sectors, it is also the fourth most productive country per capita.[Report for Selected Countries and Subjects] Icelanders have a rich culture and heritage, and the country is a candidate for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council. Iceland is a member of the UN, NATO, EFTA, EEA and OECD, but not of the European Union.
Geography
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Topography
 Strokkur, a geyser in the process of erupting. Lying on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is one of the most geologically active areas on Earth. Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle, which passes through the small island of Grímsey off Iceland\'s northern coast, but not through mainland Iceland. Unlike neighbouring Greenland, Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe, not of North America, though geologically, the island belongs to both continents. Because of cultural, economic and linguistic similarities, Iceland in many contexts is also included in Scandinavia. The closest bodies of land are Greenland (287 km) and the Faroe Islands (420 km). The closest distance to the mainland of Europe is 970 km (to Norway).
 Iceland, as seen from space Iceland is the world\'s 18th-largest island, and Europe\'s second largest island following Great Britain. The country is 103,000km² (39,768.5sqmi) in size, of which 62.7% is wasteland. Lakes and glaciers cover 14.3%; only 23% is vegetated. [National Land Survey of Iceland. www.statice.is (Unknown Publish Date). Retrieved on 6 August, 2006.] The largest lakes are Þórisvatn (Reservoir): 83–88km² (32–34sqmi) and Þingvallavatn: 82km² (32sqmi); other important lakes include Lögurinn and Mývatn. Öskjuvatn is the deepest lake at 220m (722ft).
 A map of Iceland with major towns marked. Many fjords punctuate its extensive coastline, which is also where most towns are situated because the island\'s interior, the Highlands of Iceland, is a cold and uninhabitable combination of sands and mountains. The major towns are the capital Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær, where the international airport is located, and Akureyri. The island of Grímsey on the Arctic Circle contains the northernmost habitation of Iceland.[CIA - The World Factbook -- Iceland. Geography. United States Government (July 20, 2006). Retrieved on August 6, 2006.]
Iceland has four national parks: Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, Skaftafell National Park, Snæfellsjökull National Park, and Þingvellir National Park.
Geological activity
A geologically young land, Iceland is located on both a geological hot spot, thought to be caused by a mantle plume, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs right through it. This combined location means that geologically the island is extremely active, having many volcanoes, notably Hekla, Eldgjá, and Eldfell. The volcanic eruption of Laki in 1783–1784 caused a famine that killed nearly a quarter of the island\'s population;[Late Holocene climate] the eruption caused dust clouds and haze to appear over most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa for several months after the eruption.
There are also many geysers in Iceland, including Geysir, from which the English word is derived. With this widespread availability of geothermal power, and because many rivers and waterfalls are harnessed for hydroelectricity, most residents have hot water and home heat cheaply. The island itself is composed primarily of basalt, a low-silica lava associated with effusive volcanism like Hawaii. But Iceland has various kinds of volcanoes, many of which produce more evolved lavas such as rhyolite and andesite.
Iceland controls Surtsey, one of the youngest islands in the world. It rose above the ocean in a series of volcanic eruptions between November 8, 1963 and June 5, 1968.
Climate
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The climate of Iceland\'s coast is cold oceanic. The warm North Atlantic Current ensures generally higher annual temperatures than in most places of similar latitude in the world. The winters are mild and windy while the summers are damp and cool. Regions in the world with similar climate include the Aleutian Islands, Alaska Peninsula and Tierra del Fuego although these regions are closer to the equator. Despite its proximity to the Arctic, the island\'s coasts remain ice-free through the winter. Ice incursions are rare, last having occurred on the north coast in 1969.[Climate, History and the Modern World; Lamb H., 1995, Longman Publ.]
There are some variations in the climate between different parts of the island. Very generally speaking, the south coast is warmer, wetter and windier than the north. Low-lying inland areas in the north are the most arid. Snowfall in winter is more common in the north than the south. The Central Highlands are the coldest part of the country.
The highest air temperature recorded was 30.5°C (86.9°F) on 22 June 1939 at Teigarhorn on the south-eastern coast. The lowest was -38°C (-36.4°F) on 22 January 1918 at Grímsstaðir and Möðrudalur in the northeast hinterland. The temperature records for Reykjavík are 24.8°C (76.6°F) on 11 August 2004, and -24.5°C (-12.1°F) on 21 January 1918.
Flora and fauna
The short time since the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, was very little time for plants and animals to migrate from elsewhere or evolve locally. There are around 1,300 known species of insects in Iceland, which is rather low compared with other countries (about 925,000 are known in the world). The only native land mammal when humans arrived was the arctic fox, which 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.
Approximately three-quarters of the island are barren of vegetation; plant life consists mainly of grassland which is regularly grazed by livestock. The only tree native to Iceland is the northern birch Betula pubescens, which formerly formed forest over much of southern Iceland. Permanent human settlement greatly disturbed the isolated ecosystem of thin, volcanic soils and limited species diversity. The forests were heavily exploited over the centuries for firewood and timber. Deforestation caused a loss of critical topsoil due to erosion, greatly reducing the ability of birches to grow back. Today, only a few small birch stands exist in isolated reserves. The planting of new forests has increased the number of trees, but does not compare to the original forests. Some of the planted forests include new foreign species.
The animals of Iceland include the Icelandic sheep, cattle, and the sturdy Icelandic horse. Many varieties of fish live in the ocean waters surrounding Iceland, and the fishing industry is a main contributor to Iceland’s economy, accounting for more than half of its total exports. Wild mammals include the arctic fox, mink, mice, rats, rabbits and reindeer. Before and around the 1900s polar bears occasionally visited the island, traveling on icebergs from Greenland. Birds, especially sea birds, are a very important part of Iceland\'s animal life. Puffins, skuas, and kittiwakes nest on its sea cliffs. Though Iceland no longer has a commercial whaling fleet (as of August, 2007) it still allows scientific whale hunts, which are not supported by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
- See also: Whaling in Iceland
- See also: The Botany of Iceland
History
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Age of settlement
- See also Settlement of Iceland and Icelandic Commonwealth.
The first people thought to have inhabited Iceland were Irish monks or hermits who came in the eighth century, but left with the arrival of Norsemen, who systematically settled Iceland in the period circa AD 870-930. The first known permanent Norse settler was Ingólfur Arnarson, who built his homestead in Reykjavík in 874. Ingólfur was followed by many other emigrant settlers, largely Norsemen and their Irish slaves. By 930, most arable land had been claimed and the Althing, a legislative and judiciary parliament, was founded as the political hub of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Christianity was adopted in 1000. The Commonwealth lasted until 1262, when the political system devised by the original settlers proved unable to cope with the increasing power of Icelandic chieftains.
Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era
The internal struggles and civil strife of the Sturlung Era led to the signing of the Old Covenant, which brought Iceland under the Norwegian crown. Possession of Iceland passed to Denmark-Norway in the late 14th century when the kingdoms of Norway and Denmark were united in the Kalmar Union. In the ensuing centuries, Iceland became one of the poorest countries in Europe. Infertile soil, volcanic eruptions, and an unforgiving climate made for harsh life in a society whose subsistence depended almost entirely on agriculture. The Black Death swept Iceland in 1402–1404 and 1494–1495, each time killing approximately half the population.[6th-10th century AD]
Around the middle of the 16th century, King Christian III of Denmark began to impose Lutheranism on all his subjects. The last Catholic bishop in Iceland was beheaded in 1550, and the country subsequently became fully Lutheran. Lutheranism has since remained the dominant religion. In the 1600s and 1700s, Denmark imposed harsh trade restrictions on Iceland, while pirates from England, Spain and Algeria raided its coasts. A great smallpox epidemic in the 18th century killed around one-third of the population.[Iceland: Milestones in Icelandic History][The History of Iceland (Gunnar Karlsson)] In 1783 the Laki volcano erupted, with devastating effects. The years following the eruption, known as the Mist Hardships (Icelandic: Móðuharðindin), saw the death of over half of all livestock in the country, with ensuing famine in which around a quarter of the population died.
Independence and recent history
In 1814, following the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark-Norway was broken up into two separate kingdoms via the Treaty of Kiel. Iceland remained a Danish dependency. Meanwhile, a new independence movement arose under the leadership of Jón Sigurðsson, inspired by the romantic and nationalist ideologies of mainland Europe. In 1874, Denmark granted Iceland home rule, which was expanded in 1904. The Act of Union, an agreement with Denmark signed on December 1, 1918, recognized Iceland as a fully sovereign state under the Danish king. During the last quarter of the 19th century many Icelanders emigrated to North America, largely Canada, in search of better living conditions.
During World War II, the German occupation of Denmark on April 9, 1940 severed communications between Iceland and Denmark. At that point Iceland\'s parliament declared that the Icelandic government should exercise the authority that hitherto had been that of the King and take control over issues previously handled by Denmark on behalf of Iceland (principally foreign affairs). A month later, British military forces occupied Iceland, violating Icelandic neutrality. Allied occupation of Iceland lasted throughout the war.
In 1941, responsibility for the occupation was taken over by the United States Army. On December 31, 1943 the Act of Union agreement expired by its terms after 25 years. Beginning on May 20, 1944, four days of voting were conducted in a plebiscite on whether the union with Denmark should be terminated and whether a republic should be established.[ Id. at p.48 ] The vote was 97% in favor of ending the union and 95% in favor of the new republican constitution. Iceland formally became an independent republic on June 17, 1944, with Sveinn Björnsson as the first President. The occupation force left in 1946. Iceland became a member of NATO on March 30, 1949, amid domestic controversy and riots and on May 5 1951, a defense agreement was signed with the United States -- American troops returned and stayed as part of the defense agreement throughout the Cold War and until autumn 2006.
The immediate post-war period was followed by substantial economic growth, driven by industrialization of the fishing industry and the rebuilding, Marshall aid and Keynesian government management of the economies of Europe, all of which promoted trade. The 1970s were marked by the Cod Wars – several disputes with the United Kingdom over Iceland\'s extension of its fishing limits. The economy was greatly diversified and liberalized following Iceland\'s joining of the European Economic Area in 1992.
Government
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Iceland is a representative democracy and a parliamentary republic. The modern parliament, called "Alþingi" (English: Althing), 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 sixty-three members, each of whom is elected every four years.
The president of Iceland is a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat, figurehead and head of state, but who can also block a law voted by the parliament and put it to a national referendum. The current president is Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. 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 not 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 Sveinn 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 is 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. Iceland elected the world\'s first female president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, in 1980 and she retired from office in 1996.
Elections for the office of town councils, parliament and presidency are each held every four years. The next elections are going to be held in 2010, 2011 and 2008, respectively.
Subdivisions
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Iceland is divided into regions, constituencies, counties, and municipalities. There are eight regions which are primarily used for statistical purposes; the district court jurisdictions also use an older version of this division.
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The redistricting change was made in order to balance the weight of different districts of the country, since a vote cast in the sparsely populated areas around the country would count much more than a vote cast in the Reykjavík city area. The imbalance between districts has been reduced by the new system, but still exists. Iceland\'s twenty-three counties are, for the most part, historical divisions. Currently, Iceland is split up among twenty-six magistrates that represent government in various capacities. Among their duties are running the local police (except in Reykjavík, where there is a special office of police commissioner), tax collection, administering bankruptcy declarations, and performing civil marriages. There are seventy-nine municipalities in Iceland which govern local matters like schools, transportation and zoning. These are the actual second-level subdivisions of Iceland, as the constituencies have no relevance except in elections and for statistical purposes. Reykjavík is by far the most populous municapility, about four times more populous than Kópavogur, the second one.
Politics
Iceland has a left-right multi-party system. The biggest party is the right wing Independence Party (’’Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn’’), while the second largest one is the social democratic Alliance (‘’Samfylkingin’’). Following the May 2007 parliamentary elections, these two formed a coalition, enjoying a strong majority in Althing, with 43 out of 63 members supporting it.
Other political parties that have a seat in Althing are the centrist Progressive Party (‘’Framsóknarflokkurinn’’), which had been in government with the Independence Party for 12 years before the 2007 election, the Left-Green Movement (‘’Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð’’), founded in 1999, and the Centre-right Liberal Party. Many other parties exist on the municipal level, most of which only run locally in a single municipality.
Foreign relations
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Iceland maintains diplomatic and commercial relations with practically all nations, but its ties with the Nordic countries, Germany, the US, and with the other NATO nations are particularly close. Icelanders remain especially proud of the role Iceland played in hosting the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavík, which set the stage for the end of the Cold War. Iceland\'s principal historical international disputes involved disagreements over fishing rights. Conflict with Britain led to the so-called Cod Wars in 1952-1956 because of extension of Fishing zone from 3 to 4 nautical miles (6 to 7 km), 1958-1961 because of extending the fishing zone to 12 nautical miles (22 km) in 1972-1973 because of extension to 50nautical miles (93km) and in 1975 to 1976 because of extension to 200 nautical miles (370 km).
Iceland has no standing army. The U.S. Air Force maintained four to six interceptors at the Keflavík base, until 30 September 2006 when they were withdrawn. Iceland supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq despite much controversy and condemnation in Iceland, and 1 (one) member of the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit was posted to Iraq. Iceland also participated in the Invasion of Afghanistan and the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.
Demographics
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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.[Helgason, Agnar et al. (2000). Estimating Scandinavian and Gaelic Ancestry in the Male Settlers of Iceland. American Journal of Human Genetics, 67:697–717, 2000. Institute of Biological Anthropology, University of Oxford.] The modern population of Iceland is often described as a "homogeneous mixture of descendants of Norse, Scottish and Irish Celts" but some history scholars reject the alleged homogeneity as a myth that fails to take into account the fact that Iceland was never completely 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 genealogical records dating back to the late 1600s and fragmentary records extending back to the Age of Settlement. The biopharmaceutical company deCODE Genetics has funded the creation of a genealogy database which attempts to cover all of Iceland\'s known inhabitants. It sees the database, called Íslendingabók, as a valuable tool for conducting research on genetic diseases, given the relative isolation of Iceland\'s population.
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 bubonic plagues adversely affected the population several times. The first census was carried out in 1703 and revealed that the population was then 50,358. After the destructive volcanic eruptions of the Laki volcano during 1783–1784 the population reached a low of about 40,000. Improving living conditions triggered a rapid increase in population since the mid-19th century - from about 60,000 in 1850 to 313,000 in 2007.
In December 2007, 33.678 people (13.5% of the total population) who were living in Iceland had been born abroad, including children of Icelandic parents living abroad. 19,000 people (6% of the population) held foreign citizenship. Poles make up the far largest minority nationality (see table on the right for more details), and still form the bulk of the foreign workforce. About 9,000 Poles now live in Iceland, 1,500 of them in Reyðarfjörður where they make up 75 percent of the workforce who are building the Fjarðarál aluminium plant.[1]. The recent surge in immigration has been credited to a labor shortage because of the booming economy while restrictions on the movement of people from the Eastern European countries that joined the EU/EEA in 2004 have been lifted. Large-scale construction projects in the east of Iceland (see Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Project) have also brought in many people whose stay is expected to be temporary.
The south-west corner of Iceland is the most densely populated region, It is also the location of the capital Reykjavík, the northernmost capital in the world. The largest towns outside the greater Reykjavík area are Akureyri and Reykjanesbær.
Language
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Iceland\'s official written and spoken language is Icelandic, a North Germanic language descended from Old Norse. It has changed less from Old Norse than the other Nordic languages, has preserved more verb and noun inflection, and has to a considerable extent developed new vocabulary based on native roots rather than borrowings from English. It is the only living language to retain the runic letter Þ. The closest living language to Icelandic is Faroese. In education, the use of Icelandic Sign Language for Iceland\'s deaf community is regulated by the National Curriculum Guide.
English is widely spoken, and many Icelanders speak it at an almost native level. Danish is also widely understood. Studying both these languages is a mandatory part of the compulsory school curriculum.[Iceland Export Directory[http://www.icelandexport.is/english/about_iceland/icelandic_language/ ] Other commonly spoken languages are German, Norwegian and Swedish. Danish is mostly spoken in a way largely comprehensible to Swedes and Norwegians – it is often referred to as "Scandinavian" in Iceland.
In addition to Icelandic, many immigrants speak their respective native languages. Polish is arguably the most widespread of them.[citation needed]
Religion
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Icelanders enjoy freedom of religion under the constitution, though there is no separation of church and state. The National Church of Iceland, a Lutheran body, is the state church. The national registry keeps account of the religious affiliation of every Icelandic citizen. In 2005, Icelanders divided into religious groups as follows:[CIA - The World Factbook -- Iceland. Demographics. United States Government (July 20, 2006). Retrieved on August 6, 2006.]
- 82.1% members of the National Church of Iceland.
- 4.7% members of the Free Lutheran Churches of Reykjavík and Hafnarfjörður.
- 2.6% not members of any religious group.
- 2.4% members of the Roman Catholic Church, which has a Diocese of Reykjavík (see also Bishop of Reykjavik (Catholic))
- 5.5% members of unregistered religious organisations or with no specified religious affiliation
The remaining 2.7% is mostly divided between around 20–25 other Christian denominations and sects, and less than 1% are in non-Christian religious organisations. But polls show that 43% of the population never attends religious even | | | | |
