The Republic of Iceland is a republic island in the north Atlantic situated between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans, 250 miles from Greenland and about 600 miles west of Norway. It has a total area of 103,000 km2. The climate is temperate; moderated by the North Atlantic Current with mild, windy winters and damp, cool summers. The climate is mild for the latitude, but the summer is too cool and damp for agriculture to be carried on with much success. In the southern parts the longest day is twenty hours, and the shortest four, but in the most northern extremity the sun at midsummer continues above the horizon a whole week, and of course during a corresponding period in winter never rises. Vegetation is confined within narrow limits. Almost the only tree is the birch, which has a very stunted growth, the loftiest of them hardly exceeding three meters. There are various flowering plants, among which saxifrages, sedums, thrift or sea-pink, etc, are common. Heath and bilberry cover large stretches. Among mosses or lichens are the edible Iceland-moss, cole, potatoes, turnips, radishes, and similar roots thrive tolerably well. But by far the most valuable crop is grass, on which considerable numbers of live stock (sheep, cattle, ponies) are fed.
The reindeer, though not introduced beforel 770, has multiplied greatly and forms large herds in the interior; but they are of little importance economically. Wild-fowl, including the eider-duck whose down forms an important article of commerce, are abundant; the streams are well supplied with salmon, and on the coasts valuable fisheries of cod and herrings are carried on.
In shape Iceland somewhat resembles a heart with its narrowest point turned south. The coast-line for a considerable extent on the south-east is almost unbroken, but in all other directions presents a continued succession of deep bays or fiords and jutting promontories, thus affording a number of natural harbours. The interior has generally a very wild and desolate appearance, being covered by lofty mountain masses of volcanic origin, many of them crowned with perpetual snow and ice, which, stretching down their sides into the intervening valleys, form immense glaciers. These icy mountains, which take the common name of Jokul, have their culminating point in Orafajokul, which is situated near the south-east coast, and has a height of 6409 feet. Among the volcanoes the most celebrated is Mount Hecia, in the south, about 5000 feet high. Numerous hot springs or geysers are scattered throughout the island, but are found more especially in the south-west, to the north-east of Reikjavik. There are numerous lakes and rivers.
Natural resources are fish, hydroelectric and geothermal power, and diatomite, but the most valuable mineral product is sulphur. The religion is 95% Evangelical Lutheran, 3% other Protestant and Roman Catholic with 2% no affiliation. The language is Icelandic.
The inhabitants of Iceland are of Scandinavian origin, and speak a Scandinavian dialect, which still represents the old Norse or Norwegian in great purity. Some settlements of Irish monks had been made in Iceland about the end of the 8th century, but the island received the greatest proportion of its population from Norway. In 870 Harald Haarfager had made himself supreme in Norway, and as he treated the landed proprietors oppressively, numbers left the country and went to Iceland. In the course of sixty years all the habitable parts of the coast were settled. A settled government was established, a sort of aristocratic republic, which lasted for several centuries. In 1918 Iceland achieved independence, while sharing a monachy with Denmark until 1944 when the people voted for complete independence.
Christianity was introduced in 981, and adopted by law in 1000; and schools and two bishoprics, those of Holar and Skalholt, were established. The Latin language and the literature and learning of the West, introduced by Christianity, were all the more warmly received, because poetry and history had already been cultivated-.here more than elsewhere in the Germanic north.
Previously to this time the Icelanders had discovered Greenland in 983 and part of America about 1000, and they were now led to make voyages and travels to Europe and the East. Politically and ecclesiastically the most flourishing period of Iceland - the period too when its intercourse with the world abroad was most active - was from the middle of the 12th to the beginning of the 13th century. In 1264 Magnus VI of Norway united Iceland with his own kingdom, with which it passed to Denmark in 1380, remaining with the latter in 1814, when Norway was joined to Sweden,
The Icelandic language is the oldest of the Scandinavian group of tongues, and as it is believed to exhibit the Norse language nearly as it was spoken at the date of the colonization of Iceland, it is sometimes called Old Norse. It is rich in roots and grammatical forms, and soft and sonorous to the ear. Icelandic literature may be divided into an ancient period, extending to the fall of the republic, and a modern, extending from that date to the present time, the former being far the richest and most original. Poetry was early cultivated, and among the most important works in Icelandic literature is the collection of ancient heathen songs called the elder or poetic Edda. Histories and romantic works, known by the name of Sagas, are numerous. Research Iceland
Abbreviations
Gazetteer
Research Iceland