About Iceland

• Land
• Energy
• Language
• Time
• History
• People
• Economy
• Health
• Religion

Land

Iceland is an island of 103,000 square kilometres, so Spain, for example, is 4.9 times bigger. Iceland's highest peak, Hvannadalshnjúkur, is 2.110 m. Iceland has the largest glaciers in Europe, in fact, around 10% of the country is covered by glaciers. The coastline is dotted with more than one hundred fjords and green, fertile valleys extend from them. Iceland also has more than 10,000 waterfalls and countless hot springs.

Energy

Situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is a hot spot of geothermal activity. Thirty post-glacial volcanoes have erupted in the past two centuries and natural hot water supplies much of the population with cheap, pollution-free heating. Rivers, too, are harnessed to provide inexpensive and clean hydroelectric power. The electrical current is 220 volts, 50 Hz.

Language

The Icelanders still speak the language of the Vikings (Old Norse). When new words are needed, they simply coin words that are combinations or modifications of old words. Iceland is alone in upholding another Norse tradition: the custom of using patronyms rather than surnames. If, for example, Einar has a son named "Pétur", the son's name is Pétur Einarsson (Peter Einar's Son). If Einar has a daughter whom he names "Margaret", she becomes Margrét Einarsdóttir (Margaret Einar's Daughter). Members of the same family can therefore have different "last names", which often causes confusion to foreigners. If you are looking for someone in the phone directory, you look them up by their first name.

Time

In spite of its mid-Atlantic location, Iceland is on Greenwich Mean Time all year round.

History

The first permanent settler of Iceland was Ingólfur Arnarson, a Norwegian Viking who in 874 AD made his home where Reykjavik now stands. In 930 AD, the Viking settlers of Iceland founded one of the world's first republican governments. They established a constitution based on individual freedom, land ownership, and sophisticated inheritance laws. In the year 1000, Icelandic-born Leifur Eiríksson (Leif Eriksson, sometimes called "Leif the Lucky") became the first European to set foot in North America.

On another Viking expedition a couple of years later, Icelander Guðríður Þórbjarnardóttir had a son, Snorri, who became the first child of European descent to be born in America.

The Old Commonwealth Age, described in the classic Icelandic Sagas, lasted until 1262, when Iceland lost its independence. In 1918 it regained independence and in 1944 the present republic was founded. The country is governed by the Alþing (Parliament), whose 63 members are elected every four years. Elections every four years are also held for the presidency; President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was first elected in 1996.

People

Of a population numbering around 320,000, more than half lives in the Greater Reykjavik Area.

Economy

The economy is still rather dependent upon fisheries, which are the nation's greatest resource. 36,7% of all exports are made up of seafood products. Yet only a small proportion of the workforce is active in this sector (2.4% in fishing and 1.7% in fish processing). About 73% of the workforce is employed in services. Icelanders enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world.

Health

Life expectancy, at 83.0 years for women and 79.6 for men, is one of the highest in the world, and a comprehensive state health-care system aims to keep it that way. The mortality rate of live-born babies is only 2,5 in every 1000.

Religion

The National Church of Iceland, to which ± 79 percent of the population belongs, is Evangelical Lutheran. In addition to the many Lutheran churches in Reykjavik, there is a Roman Catholic Cathedral at Landakot, with regular Sunday Mass.
There is freedom of religion in Iceland, and most religions of the world are represented in Iceland, but often the numbers are small, due to the fact there are not many people in Iceland.