A Brief Introduction
Iceland is a European island northwest of the United Kingdom and just east of Greenland, in between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Its climate is warmer than expected, though its terrain is mostly uninhabitable arid plains and ice fields in the interior, and the coastline punctuated with bays and fjords. Sitting atop the Mid-Atlantic ridge and a volcanic hotspot, Iceland has large mountains and active volcanoes. Though It is a geologically young island, its human settlement is old.
Norwegian immigrants and their Celtic slaves first settled in 874. The Althing, the world’s first and oldest parliament, was created in 930. Christianity came to Iceland in 1000, due to pressure from the King of Norway. Starting in 1262, Iceland became a dependent of the Norwegian crown. Denmark took control from 1662 to 1874. Denmark did not completely sever political ties until WWII, when Iceland became a fully independent nation on June 17, 1944. The population has never been large; currently about 330,000 people inhabit the island. The Icelandic government is a representative democracy and parliamentary republic. The President is a mostly ceremonial position; the Prime Minister has true executive power. Iceland is the first nation to elect both a female and openly gay head of state. Icelandic is the official language of the government and education systems. Education is mandatory for all children ages six to sixteen. Despite the encouragement of multilingualism in education, the preservation of Icelandic is a high priority for citizens and government. All major newspapers, magazines, and websites are in Icelandic, though English TV programming accounts for two-thirds of television broadcasts. Icelandic sign language also has constitutional protection as an official language. English and Danish are required subjects in school. Other Nordic languages and German are common foreign languages in Iceland as well. Baker, Winter 2016 |
|