ICELAND.

ROLCAM · Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:14 am Post subject: ICELAND.

Iceland is an island country that lies just below the Arctic Circle in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Greenland and about 650 miles (1,050 kilometers) west of Norway.

Iceland is sometimes called the Land of Ice and Fire because large glaciers lie next to steaming hot springs, geysers, and volcanoes. The country was named Iceland by an early settler who was upset by seeing the coastal waters choked with ice after an unusually cold and long winter. But Iceland is not as cold as most places so far north. The Gulf Stream ocean current warms most of Iceland's coast. Iceland is also a land of midnight sun. It is light almost 24 hours a day in June and dark for a similar period in December.

Most Icelanders live in coastal towns. Many of them make their living from the sea, either by fishing or by working in fish processing plants. Almost all the country's exports are fish or fish products.

People from Norway and from Viking colonies in the British Isles settled Iceland beginning about A.D. 870. Norway gained control of Iceland in 1262. After 1380, Denmark ruled the island. In the late 1800's, the Icelandic government regained control over internal affairs. In 1918, Iceland became a self-governing kingdom united with Denmark. It gained full independence in 1944. Its official name in Icelandic is Lydveldid Island (Republic of Iceland). Reykjavik is the capital and largest city.

Government

National government. Iceland is a republic. The people elect a president who serves for four years. The president is the official head of state but has little power. The prime minister actually directs the government. The prime minister and the Cabinet propose and carry out government policies. They are appointed by the president with the approval of the Althing (parliament).

The Althing passes laws for the country. The people directly elect 54 of the 63 Althing members. The other 9 seats are divided among the political parties so that the percentage of representatives each party has in the Althing is about the same as the percentage of votes each party received in the elections. All Althing members serve four-year terms. The Althing divides itself into a 21-member upper chamber and a 42-member lower chamber.

Iceland has six main political parties. They are the Independence Party, the Social Democratic Party, the People's Alliance Party, the Progressive Party, the Citizens' Party, and the Women's List.

Local government. A magistrate appointed by the national government and representatives from the rural communities govern each county. Councils, elected to four-year terms, govern the towns. Local governments handle welfare, education, health, roads, and law enforcement programs. Some local governments also own fishing boats or operate businesses, such as fish processing plants.

People

Iceland was settled more than 1,100 years ago by people from Norway and from Viking colonies in the British Isles. Some of these settlers had married Celtic people, and some had Celtic slaves. Today's Icelanders resemble the people of northern Norway, Ireland, and northern Scotland. Like their ancestors, nearly all Icelanders live near the coast. About half of the people live in or near Reykjavik, and the rest live in villages and small towns around the island. Icelanders speak a Scandinavian language called Icelandic. The language is so much like Old Norse, the original language of their ancestors, that people today can easily read tales and poems written in the 1100's and 1200's. Most Icelanders also speak two or more foreign languages, usually Danish, English, German, or Swedish.

Icelanders do not have family names. They have a first name, such a Asgeir or Inga, and a second name that combines the father's first name and -son for a male or -dottir for a female. Thus, if Asgeir and Inga's father were Jon Stefansson, their names would be Asgeir Jonsson and Inga Jonsdottir. Because there are no family names, all Icelanders are properly addressed by their first names. Also because there are no family names, a woman does not change her name with marriage. So many Icelanders have the same name that telephone directories list each person's occupation in addition to his or her name and address.

Way of life. Icelanders, especially young people in the larger cities, dress much like people in other Western countries. Some older women still wear long black dresses and durable walking shoes. On holidays, some may wear a traditional black dress that is embroidered with gold or silver threads.

Icelanders eat more lamb and fish than do people in most other countries. Even hot dogs are made of lamb rather than beef or pork. The people like salted or dried fish, especially haddock and cod. Special Icelandic foods include blood sausages and boiled sheep's head. The favorite dessert is skyr, made from milk curds. It is like yogurt, and is usually served with sugar and cream.

Icelanders spend a large portion of their incomes on their houses, equipping them with imported television sets, refrigerators, electric stoves, and other appliances. Houses were once built of turf and stone in the country and wood in the cities. But most houses are now built with reinforced concrete, which is not easily damaged by earthquakes or by the high winds that sweep the coasts. Many people paint the outside of their house a pretty pastel color. Natural hot water piped from hot springs is used throughout Iceland for hot tap water. It is also used to heat buildings and to heat greenhouses where fruits, vegetables, and flowers are grown.

The cost of living in Iceland is very high because so much of what Icelanders buy--from automobiles to paper--is imported. Households therefore require two or more incomes. Most women work outside the home, and many men hold more than one job. The government provides day care for young children of working parents. Before marrying, many young couples live together in the home of either the man's parents or the woman's parents. They may live there for years while working and saving their money for an apartment or a house. During this time, they may have one or more children. More than 60 per cent of all first-born children in Iceland are born before their parents are married. Most couples marry only after they are economically self-sufficient. Some combine their marriage with the baptism of their children at the same ceremony.

Recreation. Icelanders like sports, especially swimming. People swim throughout the winter in indoor pools and in outdoor pools that are warmed by hot springs. Icelanders also like basketball, handball, skiing, soccer, and a kind of wrestling called glima. Many people play chess and bridge and are fond of modern and ancient poetry and prose. Reykjavik has two theaters and a symphony orchestra.

Religion. Most Icelanders belong to the state church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Some belong to the Lutheran Free Churches and a few belong to other Protestant churches or to the Roman Catholic Church.

Education. The government requires children from 7 to 15 years of age to attend school, except those in sparsely populated areas. In rural areas, children ride buses to school or attend boarding schools. In some isolated areas, teachers travel from farm to farm, staying several weeks at each farm to teach the children there. After six years of primary school and three years of general secondary school, children may attend grammar school for four years. All grammar school graduates have studied at least five foreign languages.

The University of Iceland is located in Reykjavik. Iceland has teacher training and commercial colleges, as well as schools that teach arts and crafts, farming, home economics, marine engineering, and nursing. The country also has a school of law, a medical school, a music conservatory, and a nautical school.

The land

A large plateau covers most of the island. But the land drops sharply to grassy lowlands along the coast.

The lowlands provide the only livable areas in Iceland. Grass grows there, and the people can raise sheep and some food crops. Part of the Gulf Stream flows around the southern and western coasts and parts of the northern coast, warming the lowlands and keeping the ports free of ice all year long. Summers are mild, and winters are cool. In Reykjavik, the average temperature is 52° F (11° C) in July and 30° F (-1° C) in January. The city gets about 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain a year.

The inland plateau is a rugged, barren area about 2,500 feet (762 meters) above sea level. A fault line (line of breaks in the earth's rocky outer shell, along which rock has moved) runs across Iceland. It makes the plateau a land of violent natural wonders, including volcanoes, hot springs, steaming geysers, glaciers, and glistening lava fields. Earthquakes occasionally occur.

More than 200 volcanoes have erupted in Iceland, spreading lava and rocks over the plateau. Some of the volcanoes are still active, including Hekla, a volcano that is well known for its large eruption in 1947 and 1948. There are also active volcanoes under the sea off the Icelandic coasts. One erupted in 1963 south of Iceland and formed a new island called Surtsey. In 1973, a volcano that had been dormant for more than 5,000 years erupted on the island of Heimaey. It poured volcanic ash over Heimaey's only town, Vestmannaeyjar, forcing evacuation of all the residents.

Iceland has more hot springs and sulfur steam areas than any other country. Some of the hot springs are geysers that spout streams of water into the air. In fact, the word geyser comes from the name of Iceland's most famous hot spring, Geysir, which spouts water about 195 feet (59 meters) into the air.

Glaciers cover one-eighth of the land. These huge sheets of ice are three-fourths of a mile (1.2 kilometers) thick in some places. The largest glacier, Vatnajokull, covers 3,140 square miles (8,133 square kilometers) and is as big as all the glaciers on the European continent combined. Glaciers have cut deeply into the bottoms of many fiords (long, narrow inlets of the sea) and have made good natural harbors at Akureyri and Isafjordur. Ancient glaciers also dug holes in the land, and the countryside is dotted with small lakes. The largest lake is Thingvallavatn in the southwest.

Some glacial regions receive about 180 inches (457 centimeters) of rain each year. Water from the rain and melting glaciers forms rushing rivers and beautiful waterfalls. The longest river, Thjorsa, flows 150 miles (241 kilometers) through southern Iceland. Hydroelectric plants have been built on the swift-flowing Laxa and Sogrivers. The most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland are Gullfoss in the south and Dettifoss in the north.

Economy

Iceland has few natural resources, and only about 1 percent of the land can be used for farming. However, Iceland's coastal waters are rich in fish. Iceland depends heavily on its sales of fish and fish products for the money it needs to buy appliances, fruits and vegetables, heavy equipment, and raw materials from other countries.

Iceland trades mainly with Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. Iceland became a member of the European Free Trade Association in 1970.

Fishing industry. About one-seventh of the working people catch fish for a living or are employed in fish processing plants. Fishing crews use large trawlers (fishing boats) to drag fish nets along the ocean bottom. On small motor boats and open boats, crews often use long-lines to catch fish. Some of the long-lines may be 10 miles (16 kilometers) long and have as many as 20,000 hooks. The chief fish caught are capelin, cod, haddock, and herring. Fish processing is the most important industry in Iceland. Small processing plants stand along the coasts, and there are large freezing plants in Reykjavik and Siglufjordur. Most of the fish are dried, salted, or quick-frozen for sale to other countries. Some fresh fish are packed in ice and shipped to Britain and Germany.

Manufacturing. Iceland has a thriving publishing business. Other industries manufacture aluminum, cement, clothing, electrical equipment, fertilizer, and food products. About one-third of the industrial workers are women.

The Icelandic government is developing industries with aid from other countries. In 1968, an American firm completed a plant to remove diatomite (a mineral used in industrial filters) from the bottom of Lake Myvatn. A Swiss-built aluminum smelter (ore-melting furnace) began producing aluminum in the early 1970's.

Agriculture. About 5 percent of the people are farmers. Iceland has about 4,200 farms scattered over the lowlands. Most farmers raise sheep for wool, meat, and skins, and cattle for dairy products. They also raise many small Icelandic horses.

The main crop is hay, which the farmers use to feed their livestock. Farmers can raise two or three crops of hay each year because of the heavy rainfall and the long hours of summer sunshine. Farmers also grow root crops, such as turnips and potatoes. Since the 1930's, farmers have developed an industry that uses greenhouses to capture heat from hot springs. In the greenhouses, farmers can grow tomatoes and other vegetables, flowers, grapes, and even bananas.

Transportation and communication. Iceland has no railroads. People travel mainly by bus, automobile, and airplane. Except for the main streets in the cities, Iceland's roads have gravel surfaces. Iceland has an average of about one automobile for every two people. Icelandair, the nation's airline, provides regular European and transatlantic service. Reykjavik and Keflavik have international airports. Iceland's chief ports are Akranes, Akureyri, Hafnarfjordur, Isafjordur, Keflavik, Reykjavik, and Siglufjordur.

Most households in Iceland have a telephone, a television set, and at least one radio. Iceland communicates with the rest of the world by telegraphic cable and radio satellite.

History

Early days. Ingolfur Arnason, who fled from Norway, and his followers settled in Iceland about A.D. 870. Other settlers from Norway and from Viking colonies in the British Isles helped increase the population of Iceland to about 25,000 in the next 60 years. In 930, the settlers set up the Althing, the world's first parliament. Among the early settlers was Eric the Red, who lived in Iceland for several years before he sailed off to Greenland in 982.

The 1100's and 1200's were Iceland's golden age of literature. During this time Snorri Sturluson, a poet and historian, put into writing some of Iceland's greatest sagas (tales about Icelandic and Scandinavian heroes) and eddas (stories about gods and heroes of early Germanic tribes).

Civil wars broke out in the 1200's. To end the wars, the Althing agreed in 1262 to accept the king of Norway as ruler of Iceland. Norway united with Denmark in 1380, and Iceland came under Danish rule.

Great disasters struck Iceland between 1400 and 1850. About two-thirds of the people died from the Black Death (a form of plague), which swept the island in 1402. Much of Iceland's livestock, crops, and farmland was destroyed by lava when volcanoes erupted in the late 1700's. The people did not have enough to eat, and many starved to death in the period from 1783 to 1790.

Iceland often had to import food to feed its people. In the 1600's and 1700's, Denmark imposed harsh trade restrictions on Iceland. Danish traders bought fish from the Icelanders at low prices and sold them food at high prices. As a result, many people became very poor. During the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800's, ships bringing food could not reach Iceland and many people starved to death.

Life on the island improved later in the 1800's. The Althing, abolished in 1800, was reestablished in 1843. In 1874, Denmark gave Iceland a constitution and control of its finances. Iceland became a self-governing kingdom that was united with Denmark in 1918.

Independence. In World War II (1939-1945), German troops occupied Denmark. The Danes could not defend Iceland, so British troops landed in Iceland in 1940 to keep Germany from seizing the country. Later, United States troops replaced the British forces.

During World War II, Icelanders began demanding more control over their government. In 1944, 97 percent of Iceland's people voted to cut all political ties with Denmark. Iceland officially gained independence on June 17, 1944.

Recent developments. Iceland joined the United Nations in 1946 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Iceland has no military forces of its own, except for a small coast guard. Under a NATO agreement, a small United States military force is stationed at an air base near Keflavik.

Between 1958 and 1972, Iceland gradually extended its coastal fishing limits and prohibited other countries from fishing within that zone. Britain objected to each of the extensions but eventually agreed to abide by them. In 1975, Iceland extended the limits to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers). The dispute between Iceland and Britain flared up again. Iceland fired on some British fishing boats. In 1977, following discussions of the conflict by the World Court, Britain agreed not to fish within Iceland's 200-mile limits.
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Roland Camilleri

Moderator

Sydney , Australia.