Atlantica - Iceland Review

a
iceland
Facts
about
Iceland
LAND: Iceland is an island of 103,000
square kilometers (39,756 square miles) and
4,970 kilometers of coastline, making it the
16th largest island in the world. Only Madagascar,
Britain and Cuba are larger single independent
island states. The country’s highest
peak, Hvannadalshnjúkur, rises 2,110 meters
above sea level. Roughly ten percent of the
country is covered in glaciers, including Vatnajökull,
the largest in Europe. But get here
quick before the glaciers melt: Sólheimajökull,
an outlet glacier of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap,
south Iceland, is presently retreating at a rate
of approximately 100 meters per year.
ENERGY: Because of its location on the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is a hotbed of
volcanic and geothermal activity: thirty volcanoes
have erupted in the past two centuries,
the last one Eyjafjallajökull, in the spring 2010.
Most famous and active volcano is Hekla.
Natural hot water supplies the majority of
the population with inexpensive, pollutionfree
heating.
PEOPLE: Iceland’s population is about
317,000, about six percent of which are foreignborn.
It’s growing at a rate of 2.6 percent per
year. Only 2 percent of Icelanders live in rural
areas, the rest live in urban areas, and the majority,
about 75 percent, live in the capital area of
Reykjavík. But Iceland’s population more than
doubles every year thanks to the more than
500,000 travelers who visit the country annually.
TIME: Despite its mid-Atlantic location,
Iceland observes Greenwich Mean Time yearround.
HISTORY: It is believed that the first permanent
settler in Iceland was Ingólfur Arnarson, a
Norwegian Viking who settled in A.D. 874 and
named his home Reykjavík (smoky bay) after
the steam rising from the surrounding countryside.
In 930, Icelanders founded Althingi, which
still functions as the legislative body, making it
the world’s oldest parliament. In 1262, Iceland
lost its independence to Norway and in 1380
came under Danish control with Norway. On
17 June 1944, Iceland became independent of
Denmark in a ceremony that took place at
Thingvellir, the old site of Althingi, now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
GOVERNMENT: The country is governed by
Althingi (parliament), which sits in Reykjavík,
whose members are elected every four years.
The President is also elected every four years,
but the Prime Minister is primarily responsible
for the day-to-day politics. Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir
is Iceland’s current PM (2009) and Ólafur
Ragnar Grímsson (1996) is serving his fourth
term as president.
LANGUAGE: Icelanders are of Norse and Celtic
ancestry, and have lived for more than a millennium
far away from other countries, which has
provided geneticists with a key body of DNA. The
language, Icelandic, is close to that of literature
(the Sagas) in the 12th century. Most people can
also speak English. Icelanders maintain a patronymic
naming system, which means that someone’s
first name is followed by his or her father’s
name and the suffix ‘son’ or ‘dóttir’. For example,
Kolbrún Pálsdóttir is Kolbrún, the daughter of
Páll.
CHURCH: Church and state are not separated
in Iceland. The National Church of Iceland, a
Lutheran body, is the state church to which 85
percent of Icelanders belong.
ECONOMY: Iceland’s GDP per capita is USD
45,000. Aside from fishing and fisheries products,
the country’s other main export is aluminum,
while primary imports include machinery and
equipment, petroleum products, and food and
textiles. Less than one percent of the land is arable
(most is used for grazing) and between one and
two percent of Iceland’s population is engaged
in agriculture. Iceland produces vegetables, meat,
fish and dairy, but imports other foodstuffs. Iceland’s
currency is the Icelandic Króna (ISK).
HEALTH: Life expectancy for women is 83.0
years and 79.4 for men, one of the highest in the
world. According to The World Economic Forum,
Iceland has the best Gender Equality around
the world. a
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