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WELCOME TO ICELAND

 



WELCOME:
Welcome to this site of Icelandic Internet resources.  My purpose in constructing the site, which began originally
as a simple bookmarks list in support of my own research interests, is to provide ready access to commonly needed
information on the country, especially about those things for which Iceland is known and about which we have first
perceptions.  The sites reflect those kinds of things that an area specialist would hold for the country; in this
regard, then, the list is holistic, although general.  However, because Iceland is now regarded as the most 
"connected" country in the world, the site is virtually incomplete and only a small fraction of the topics and
websites connected with Iceland are identified here; using nearly any search engine on the World Wide Web will 
produce some source on nearly any area of interest.

I first became interested in this fascinating country when I was an undergraduate student in college taking a course
in the Geography of Europe.  I completed a book report on Vilhjalmur Stefansson's ICELAND: THE FIRST AMERICAN REPUBLIC
and soon found myself reading other monographic and serial literature on the country, writing the Embassy in 
Washington for additional information, and getting an Icelandic sweater for Christmas (which I still have close to 
forty years later; it's still in good shape, but I'm not).  I was hooked.  Seven or eight years later, as a student
in India, I found myself visiting the Danish Embassy to see how I could include Iceland on my itinerary crossing
the Atlantic enroute home (in those days, many trans-Atlantic flights stopped in Iceland, and my Pan Am flight was 
not an exception).  In 1988, when I decided to spend some time in the country for the first time, the travel agent 
had no idea where to start; so I did the legwork myself that year and in six subsequent trips (seven in July,
2007).  Iceland is NOT for everyone: if your idea of a vacation is lying on a sandy, pristine beach in 90 
degree (F) temperatures, forget this place.  American servicepeople assigned to the country frequently complain  
about the winters - not the temperatures, which are mild and not  as bad as we might expect, but rather the short 
days (a little over three hours at Christmas; this is compensated for, of course, by the  almost-midnight sun in 
the summer).  Outside the southwestern part of the country, people are few and far between; the landscape, while
beautiful, is desolate.  So if cultural geography is your forte rather than physical geography, France or India 
might be better choices.  On the other hand, if you love a beautiful, clean, and an almost pollution-free environment
and spectacular scenery and you are into physical geography, welcome to Iceland!  Here are some salient features of 
the country; they are generally reflected in the categories and the sites selected for the website:


PHYSICAL FEATURES:
Iceland is an island - the second largest in Europe - in the North Atlantic Ocean, slightly closer to Europe than to 
North America, and along the great circle route between the two continents.  As such, it used to be a convenient 
refueling stopover for planes, but few have such need today.  Nevertheless, this location still gives the country
some strategic importance, and the country is a member of the NATO alliance and an important military (NATO/U.S. 
Navy) and civilian airbase is found at Keflavik.  Iceland is almost exactly the same size as Ohio - roughly 40,000
square miles of area.  It touches the ArcticCircle in the north, meaning that days are long in the summer and
nights are long in the winter.

Iceland is one of the world's youngest geological landmasses, with scientists believing that it arose from the ocean
floor little more than 20 million years ago.  There are two different processes that affect the composition and 
appearance of the island today:  vulcanism, or the geology of molten rock and volcanoes; and those kinds of forces
associated with earthquakes.  In addition, gradational forces also influence Iceland's topography and are especially
prominent in the glaciers and other landforms of Iceland.  More than three-quarters of the country is volcanic, with
lava fields and some 250 solfataras (areas exhibiting steamvents, boiling pools, and the like) dotting the
countryside.  Beginning in 1963, some new volcanic activity in the Westmann Islands off the southern coast resulted
in the formation of a new island named Surtsey; after its formation, scientists isolated it and forbade anyone's 
setting foot there in order that they could study the various biological processes.  The island of Heimaey, also
in the Westmann Islands and the only inhabited island, was almost destroyed in 1973, when a lava flow threatened 
to destroy the island; its nearly 5,000 residents escaped because the entire fishing fleet fortuitously was in the
harbor when the eruption began.  Interestingly, the lava wall of nearly 500 feet was stopped by an ingenious idea 
of cooling the forward edges with water to harden the rock and to create a dam.  About four years ago, Hekla, a 
prominent volcano near the southern coast, erupted; in the Middle Ages, this mountain was thought to be the entry 
to hell, and its eruptions were perceived as being the fires of hell; this legend probably originated with the Irish
monk, St. Brendan, who was offshore in the Atlantic when Hekla erupted.  In 1875, when Hekla erupted again, many 
nearby residents emigrated to Canada, where they founded a community known today as New Iceland; centered on Gimli,
north of Winnipeg on Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, it is the largest settlement of Icelanders outside of Iceland.  In
addition, Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and is a good example of sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics;
the country widens by approximately one inch per year.  In the summer of 2000, a series of fairly severe earthquakes
hit Selfoss and southern Iceland and minor tremors are yet an almost-daily occurrence (see, for 
example), though few are severe or even felt.

Iceland's capital city, Reykjavik, is the world's most northerly and poleward capital city.  Because of its volcanic 
nature, geothermal activity provides nearly all heat for the city and the country and substantial electricity 
(energy also derives from hydroelectric sources). Evidences of this geothermal activity abound, with steam vents 
evident throughout the country.  When Iceland's first settler, Ingólfur Arnarson, saw these vents in 874, he 
thought there was smoke coming out of the ground and named the site Reykjavik, or "Smoky Bay."  Pollution does
not exist because of Iceland's energy sources.  (That is not wholly true, of course, because transportation and 
other uses do generate some fossil fuel pollution, but this is minimal.)  Iceland uses only about ten per cent 
of its potential geothermal and hydroelectric potential, and technology is being sought to export its surplus power.
There is ittle industry to take advantage of this energy, save the several aluminum smelters that have been 
constructed in Iceland to take advantage of low-cost water transportation and the voracious power requirements of 
aluminum refining; others are being planned.

While the country is so far north that it touches the Arctic Circle, climate is moderated by the presence of the
Atlantic Ocean, which surrounds the island, and by the warm current known as the North Atlantic Drift; consequently,
temperatures are not extreme, with the highest sea-level temperature ever recorded being 86 degrees Fahrenheit
and the lowest temperature being minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit.  (For geographers, Koeppen would classify Iceland's
climate - at least the populated southern and southwestern areas of the country - as Cfc, a kind of Marine West 
Coast climate, which makes it generally the same as found in the American Pacific Northwest or Canada's British 
Columbia). Vegetation-wise, Iceland is treeless, though apparently at the time of original settlement about a 
quarter of the country was covered with birch forests and attempts are now being made to reforest the country, 
again with birch and also now with aspen trees.  (A standing joke is what do you do if you find yourself in an 
Icelandic forest; the answer is: stand up....a popular place now for planting trees is cemeteries.)  It is not 
surprising, therefore, that little wood is used in the construction industry and houses are built of masonry or 
metal.  Because some high elevations are found in Iceland, going as high as 7,000 feet, glaciers develop at this 
high latitude.  Approximately one-sixth of the country is covered by glaciers, or ice caps, with four major and 
perhaps two dozen minor glaciers found throughout the country.  One of the glaciers, Vatna, is Europe's largest.
The country is deeply cut by fjords on all but the southern side.  In addition, Iceland is an earthquake zone, 
and there are occasional happenings of these events, but they are not nearly as prominent as the other geological 
concerns of the country (several years ago, an earthquake may have been induced by drilling during construction 
of a geothermal power facility). There are few natural species of fauna.


HISTORY:
Iceland was the last European country to be settled and thus its social history is fairly recent (even as its 
political history is fairly old, as measured today).  Its discovery was probably earlier, however, because a 
country called Thule was known to the Greeks and Romans around 300 B.C., and that was the name of the country in 
the Middle Ages.  Further, there have been found some Roman coins dating to about 300 A.D. that are believed to 
have been brought to the country by seafaring people from England, which was a Roman colony at the time.  It is 
also believed that Irish monks visited the country in the eighth century;  these monks, who are referred to as 
Papar in the sagas, were probably the first - but not permanent - settlers.  From about 870 to 930, Vikings from 
Norway, Denmark, and Sweden settled Iceland permanently, throwing out the Irish monks in the process.  Some of 
these Vikings had also been resident in the British Isles and consequently the present ethnic stock is considered 
both Nordic and Celtic.  In 930, a parliament was founded by these early settlers at a place called Thingvellir; 
this parliament, or Althing, is the world's oldest governing body.  Christianity, at that time meaning Catholicism,
was adopted by the parliament in about 1000.  In 1262, Iceland came under the king of Norway; a century later, 
the king of Denmark took command of Iceland, and he brought the Reformation and the Lutheran religion to Iceland. 
In 1904, Icelanders regained control of their government, and in 1918 made an agreement with Denmark that 
established them as an independent kingdom in a personal union with Denmark.  In 1943, when the agreement was to 
end, Denmark was occupied by Germany and Iceland was being protected by the United States after first being 
occupied by Great Britain in the early part of the war.  The Althing decided to break completely with Denmark and 
in 1944 proclaimed a republic in a ceremony at Thingvellir.  While its settlement history is young, along with 
its geological history, Iceland's political history makes it one of the world's oldest countries, however.


THE PEOPLE:
Icelanders are Scandinavian, with some mixing of Celtic (Irish) stock. The population in 2016 is approximately 
329,683, with more than half the people living in Reykjavik and its suburbs.  The population is dominantly urban,
roughly 92 percent, although the population of Reykjavik, the country's capital and largest city, is only about 
100,000 and the second largest city in the country (Kopavogur, a suburb of Reykjavik) has a population of only 
20,000.  Nearly all settlements are coastal (in other words, its population is peripheral).  Besides Reykjavik, 
the country's most important cities are Keflavik, about thirty miles to the southwest and the site of the 
international airport/NATO base, with a population of 7,400; and Akureyri, the cultural and commercial heart of 
north Iceland, with a population of approximately 15,000.  Icelanders are known to be extremely intelligent people,
with probably the highest literacy rate in the world, usually given as over 99 per cent; they write, read, and 
publish more books per capita than any other people or country in the world.  Radio operators along the coast are 
known to read poetry to the fishing fleet at night.  Their growth rate is low, about 1.1 per cent per annum, and 
they are an older population; life 
expectancy is among the world's highest and exceeds that of the United States: it is about 78 for men and about 
82 for women, with a national value of nearly 80 years.  Migration, once negative, now positively affects 
population growth, which totals 1.48 per cent per annum.  In addition to the population noted above, Iceland also
has many unseen (but not unknown) residents: one of the interesting trait of Icelanders is their susperstitious 
character, especially in regard to elves, for whom the
craggy terrain provides residences for the 500 elves living in the country; when their places of residence become 
known, plans for road construction and other projects often have to be changed in order to avoid uprooting these 
"people."


NAMES:                                                           
By law, Icelanders do not have family names.  Instead, they use a system of patronymics.  They have a given name, 
perhaps a middle name, and a last name that is composed of (usually) their father's first name, to which is added 
"son" if the person is a male or "dottir" if it is a female.  Thus, I would be David Josephson, while my son would 
be John Davidsson; his son would be David Johnson.  My daughter would be Gudrun Davidsdottir. About ten percent 
of the population was exempted from this law and carries a family name; many of these people were Danes who were 
resident in the country.  If you should immigrate to Iceland and become a citizen, the law requires a name change 
to conform to their pattern (CondeNast Traveler indicates there is a specific list of names to accommodate 
newcomers). 
       
In the Icelandic phone directory - there used to be only one for the entire country, but they now have one for 
the Reykjavik area and another for the rest of the country - names are listed by first name, followed by a short
description of the person's occupation so that you can identify which Jon Jonsson you really want!  At any rate,
there is no confusing the gender of the person in the book.  You can safely say that everyone is on a first-name
basis!

Note:  In March, 1996, a law was introduced in the Icelandic Parliament (Althing) that would allow a family 
name to be added to the traditional patronymic scheme; the bill apparently has been tabled for the time being.
 

LANGUAGE:
Icelandic is a Germanic language, believed to have changed little from the Old Norse of the Vikings and original 
settlers; consequently, it is known as Europe's oldest living language.  Until recently, Icelanders resisted the 
introduction of foreign words into the language or other changes, e.g., halting the introduction of television.
In fact, there is a state committee which is responsible for the determination of the Icelandic equivalent of new 
and foreign words.  Because words are pieced together to form new words for modern items, twenty-letter words are 
not uncommon.  It is a language rich in ancient literature.  Ironically, Icelanders are almost universally fluent
in English today and frequently in another language, either Danish or German, as well.


RELIGION:
Upon settlement, Iceland's religion consisted of pagan devotion to Nordic deities, especially Thor and Odinn, the
latter the primary god throughout Scandinavia but second in Iceland to Thor.  Eventually Christianity came to the
country with important bishoprics at Skalholt in the South and Holar in the North.  The Godafoss falls near Akureyri
in the North are famous because a local chieftan there threw deities in the falls upon his conversion to Christianity
in about 1000.  The Catholic bishops in Iceland were unlike Catholic bishops elsewhere in that they were married.
In fact, it is said that half of the population of Iceland today can trace their roots to Jón Arason.  Following 
the Reformation, Iceland became a Protestant country, and Arason, the last Catholic bishop, was beheaded in 1550.
Today Lutheranism is the official national religion, to which about 93 percent of the population nominally
belongs; about two percent are Roman Catholic and the remainder are of other (including Ásatrú, the indigenous 
Icelandic religion) or of no religion.  Children are registered at birth into the religion of their mothers.  
Interestingly, probably three-quarters of all first-born children have unmarried parents.  It should be noted,
however, that there is continuing pressure eliminate religion as a state function.


ECONOMIC CONDITIONS:
The land itself has almost no minerals, forests, or oil, and few other resources except for geothermal activity 
and hydroelectricity.  Some commercial mining of sulphur was done in the past (and even may have been the source
of Iceland's only war, other than the Cod Wars), but this is insignificant today.  Roughly one percent of the land
is forested, one percent is in agriculture, and less than one percent is devoted to cities, roads, and other human
pursuits.  Agriculture  is severely limited, and only sheep and some cattle provide for some necessities, 
including a limited industry based on wool.  Thus, the basis of Iceland's economy and standard of living is the 
sea, which establishes fishing as the country's only natural resource and principal industry, though it should
be mentioned that tourism had advanced significantly as an industry in the twenty-first century. Approximately 85 
per cent of the country's exports are fish, with woolen goods constituting most of the remainder.  This is the 
reason Iceland has been at the forefront of international efforts to conserve sea resources and Iceland went to 
war with Britain several times during the 1970's - the so-called "Cod Wars" - to protect its fishing waters and 
was in part responsible for the creation of a 200-mile economic zone written into the new Law of the Sea. 


THE LINKS:
There is not much here that is new or that will not be found among other Icelandic sites.  We all cover pretty much
the same materials.  If you use any search engine simply to look for "Iceland," the search likely will generate over
four million hits.  Therefore, each individual's page represents those things of interest to that particular author.
The links found here originated as my bookmarks on Iceland and are a subjective decision as to what would constitute
a good background knowledge of Iceland (and a few personal and fun things of interest as well).  Much of this comes
from my own academic research background in Geography and Library Science.  There has been no attempt to organize 
the links by alphabet or by any other system; in fact, I have usually simply added links to the bottom of each 
subsection.  Thus, about the only organizational feature that might be noted is that the site tends to be academic
in style.  In some cases, a link has been selected for a specific item, even though the link may appear to duplicate
other sites and be redundant.  In general, the links are to sites in the English language (since it started out as 
my bookmark page), though a good reason may cause the inclusion of an Icelandic-only site from time to time (and
I still encourage your attempt to use Icelandic).  In general, I have excluded the purely commercial sites,
e.g., to Esso or Olís, or to very specialized sites, e.g., the Union of Electrical Workers, unless there are some
compelling reasons of description or other contributions to an understanding and appreciation of Iceland that can
be made in them.  There are situations, of course, where such sites do provide valuable insight into the country 
and would be included.  Further, I have avoided several other kinds of sites: those that are largely photography, 
travel, or biking in orientation (there are a million of these: just search for "Iceland biking"); those that 
seem, a priori, to be transient in nature, e.g., someone's personal homepage on Yahoo; and, of course, those 
sites that might be offensive or objectionable (with a couple of exceptions for particular reasons).

As stated elsewhere here, Iceland is now the world's most "connected" country and the sheer number of its websites
has grown beyond management. It seems that every organization and individual in the country has a website.  If you
cannot find something of interest after exhausting the categories here, I suggest that you pull up any
search engine and enter "Iceland" and whatever other word(s) approximates your interest; almost 
certainly the search will return hits that will satisfy that interest.  As always, check out each link at a site 
that you visit.

Links that are apparently unworkable may be left in place for a specific reason.  An archives site may have a record of the link; 
if the non-working link is something of interest, its address may be used to search for the copy at the archive site.


SEARCHING THE SITE: 
To search for anything within the website, use "Control + F" to bring up a search box; simply enter the desired 
term in the box and search in both "up" and "down" directions.

2016 January 12