Iceland
| |||||
| National motto: None | |||||
| Location of Iceland | |||||
| Official language | Icelandic | ||||
| Capital and largest city | Reykjavík | ||||
| President | Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson | ||||
| Prime Minister | Halldór Ásgrímsson | ||||
| Area - Total - % water |
Ranked 107th 103,125 km² 2.70% | ||||
| Population - Total (December 1 2005) - Density |
Ranked 169th 299,404 2.91/km² | ||||
| Independence (from Denmark) - Sovereignty - Republic |
1 December 1918 17 June 1944 | ||||
| GDP (2003) - Total (PPP) - Total - GDP/capita (PPP) - GDP/capita |
$9 billion (127th) $15 billion (87th) $35,686 (5th) $52,063 (4th) | ||||
| HDI (2003) | 0.956 (2nd) – high | ||||
| Currency | Icelandic króna (ISK) | ||||
| Time zone - in summer |
GMT (UTC+0) | ||||
| National anthem | Lofsöngur | ||||
| Internet TLD | .is | ||||
| Calling Code | +354 | ||||
The Republic of Iceland is a volcanic island nation in the northern Atlantic Ocean between Greenland, Norway, and the British Isles.
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 neighbouring Greenland, Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe, not a part of North America. The island is the world's 18th-largest island.
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.
Approximately 10 percent of the island is glaciated. Many fjords punctuate its 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.
History
Iceland remained one of the world's last larger islands uninhabited by humans until it was discovered and settled by immigrants from what is now Scandinavia and from the British Isles during the 8th and 9th centuries. The Libellus Islandorum, written in 1122-33 claims that the Norwegian Ingólfr 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 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.
The Althing (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 parliament in the world.
Iceland was a Free state, without a king, until 1262, when it joined the Norwegian kingdom, and 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 being handed over to Sweden, Iceland became a Danish dependency. Home rule was granted by the Danish government in 1904, and independence followed in 1918. Foreign relations were 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 elapsed.
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 continues to operate a military base in Keflavík based on this agreement, but Iceland has no armed forces of its own. The economy of Iceland remained dependant 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.
Politics
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 Republic of Iceland has no regular armed forces. Defense is provided by a predominantly US-manned NATO base in Keflavík. Iceland has a Coast Guard (Landhelgisgæslan) and an anti-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).
Landhelgisgæslan
The Icelandic Coast Guard originates back to the 1920s. Its main tasks from its initiation have been to protect Iceland's most valuable natural resource—its fishing areas—as well as provide security, search, and rescue services to Iceland's fishing fleet. In 1952, 1958, 1972, and 1975, the government expanded Iceland's exclusive economic zone to 1, 12, 50 and 200 nautical miles respectively. This led to Iceland's conflict with the United Kingdom, known as the "Cod Wars". The Icelandic Coast Guard and the Royal Navy confronted each other on several occasions during these years. Although only one round was fired, there were many intense moments between the two nations. Although severely outmatched by both the size and the number of ships, the Icelandic Coast Guard still came ahead as winners. The Captains of the Icelandic Coast Guard ships were regarded as heroes and earned their names in the history of Iceland as Iceland's bravest men. This attitude of heroism towards the Coast Guard persists in Iceland.
Sérsveit Ríkislögreglustjóra
The Special Operations Unit of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, The Viking Team, is similar to Germany's GSG-9 and Britain's SAS, a small and well trained group of operatives. The unit handles security of the state, anti/counter-terrorism projects, security of foreign dignitaries, as well supporting the police forces in the country when needed. The Viking team has five main squadrons: Bomb Squadron that specializes in explosives; Boat Squadron that specializes in operations on sea and water, diving and underwater warfare, and boat operations; Sniper Squadron that specializes in sniper warfare, entries, and close target reconnaissance; Intelligence Squadron that specializes in anti-terrorism intelligence, surveillance, and infiltration; and Airborne Squadron that specializes in airplane hijacking operations, skydiving and surprise assault operations, and port security. Members of the Viking team were deployed in the Balkans as a part of an operations lead by NATO, and some members have been deployed to Afghanistan. The Special Operations Unit used to be under the command of the Reykjavík Chief of Police; however, in 2004, a new law was passed that put the Viking Team directly under the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police.
Economy
Iceland is one of 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 privatising 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.
Demographics
The original population of Iceland was of Nordic and Celtic origin. This is evident by literal evidence from the settlement period as well as from later scientific studies such as blood type and genetics 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 origins (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 Factbook) 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 about 290,000 in 2004.
In 2004, 20,669 (7% of the total population) people 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 Poland (1903), Denmark (890), Former Yugoslavian states (670), Philippines (647) and Germany (540).
The island's spoken tongue is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and the predominant religion is Lutheran.
Important foreign languages include Danish and other Scandinavian languages, English and German.
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 were 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.
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 organisations including a tiny group of Ásatrú followers. Most Icelanders are very liberal in their religious beliefs and do not attend church regularly.
Culture
Some famous Icelanders include alternative rock band The Sugarcubes, its singer Björk; avant-garde rock band Sigur Rós; and novelist Halldór Laxness, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. In addition, the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer became an Icelandic citizen in 2005. Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy has been a citizen since 1972.
Iceland's literacy rate is among the highest in the world, and the love of literature, chess, and other intellectual pursuits is widespread.
Iceland has world renowned nightlife. Downtown Reykjavík has many clubs and pubs that often feature live bands. Icelanders tend to go out much later than other Europeans, with many nightclubs receiving patronage starting around midnight.
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 are very "woman friendly" with 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. In addition, homosexuals are very accepted in the society.
Miscellaneous facts about Iceland
- 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 tallest structure in Western Europe is located in Iceland; it is the 412 m-high 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 on 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 for 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.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
External links
- Official Gateway of Iceland
- Iceland.org (Icelandic Foreign Service)
- Alþingi's website in English
- The government's website in English
- The Trade Council of Iceland
- H2G2 Guide Entry for Iceland
- Template:Is icon Picture gallery from www.islandsmyndir.is
- Kárahnjúkar dam, Iceland's largest hydroelectric project
- Travel information from the Public Roads Administration
- (German) Íslenska, a magazine in German about Iceland
- Iceland-Forum, discussions about Iceland
- University of Iceland: Icelandic online (A free, online Course in Modern Icelandic Language and Culture.)
- Icelandic Recipes on CookBookWiki.com
- News from Iceland (monthly updated)
- Hotel and Travel Tours in Iceland
- Hiking and mountaineering in Iceland
- Travel guide to Iceland from Wikitravel
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