Iceland

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The Republic of Iceland is an island country in Northern Europe, between the rest of Europe and Greenland.

Contents

[edit] Geology

Geologically and physically, Iceland is split between North America and Europe, although it is culturally more closely tied to Scandinavia. It is made up of the island of Iceland itself as well as nearby smaller islands. Iceland is one of the newest land masses on the planet, with most of it having emerged around 20-30 million years ago. But the age of Icelandic landmasses can vary from a couple million years old (the West Fjords) to having emerged just a few decades ago (Surtsey). This contributes to its unique landscape and wildlife.

Iceland demonstrates plate tectonics to perfection. It is situated across the mid-Atlantic ridge and is consequently very geologically active. There are several volcanoes which have, among other things, created Surtsey, possibly the world's youngest island.

Geothermal (from subterranean heat) and hydro (from dammed rivers) power provide almost all of Iceland's energy needs, and also supports its surprisingly-existent tomato industry.[1]

The term geyser comes from the Icelandic "Geysir" in the Haukadalur valley.

[edit] A most weird society

Iceland has a population of around 325,000 (tendency: growing). It has the world's highest literacy rate and was, for many years, ranked as the most developed nation on Earth. Icelanders speak Icelandic, a language that has changed little since the days of the Vikings. As a consequence, Icelandic is one of the richest languages still spoken today, as it has preserved lots of very fine distinctions, which make it especially hard to learn as a second language. However, learning English is mandatory for Icelandic children in compulsory schools, so that almost everyone understands it very well.

In every year since 2008, Iceland has ranked first on the annual Global Peace Index,[wp] an attempt to measure the peacefulness of societies.

Over the last years, the total number of intentional homicides has always been between zero and three killings per year, resulting in a rate of 0 to 1 homicides per year and per 100,000 citizens, which is contested only by a hand-full of other (not ultra-small) countries. In contrast, Iceland has about 0.3 firearms per capita, making it rank 15th worldwide. Other crime rates in Iceland are equally low; in fact, ordinary police on patrol carry no guns in Iceland, the only regularly armed forces being a small elite unit called Viking Squad and the coast guard. 2013 was the first time ever that the police shot dead a person, and this not until making numerous attepts to end his attack more gently.[2]

Possibly along with other factors, this remarkable absence of crime results in a perceived security so strong that parents leave their babies outside on the street unattended, and in car drivers asking utter strangers whether they would like a lift. Icelanders perceive their society as very equal in terms of social class: 97% consider themselves upper-middle class, lower-middle class, or working class; only 1.1% called themselves upper-class and 1.5% lower-class.[3]

[edit] Government

Iceland was originally settled in the 9th century CE chiefly by Norwegians[4] fleeing political turmoil in that country. For the first three centuries of existence it followed a sort of anarcho-capitalistic system of government, with the law reached by consensus and arbitration and enforced by chieftains; people could buy or sell their chieftaincies at will.

The Icelandic parliament, the Althing, is the longest-sitting national parliament in the world, being a continuation of the old arbitration courts set up in 930 CE.

Iceland's military is so small as to be essentially nonexistent; there is a very small uniformed counter-terrorism force and a few lightly armed boats for protecting fishing grounds. It historically relied on its extreme isolation and lack of strategic value[5] for defense, although there was a large contingent of NATO troops stationed on the island during the Cold War due to its usefulness as an air base.

[edit] Economy

Iceland currently exists as a social democracy, but since the 1990s initiated a crapload of neoliberal reforms to spur the economy. Everything went all fine and dandy until this happened. The culture of greed and incompetence became so bad that in fall 2008 the three largest Icelandic banks defaulted (and later had to be nationalized), nearly bankrupting the entire country.[6] It's also possibly the first time the Golden Arches has disappeared from a Western nation, as it closed all three of its restaurants during the mess.[7] No more fast food!

The resigning Prime Minister barely escaped from being convicted of mass fraud,[8] and Iceland's constitution was nearly rewritten in the process.[9] Let's just say if occurred to such an extent somewhere else we wouldn't be calling the 1930s the Great Depression anymore.

Despite being one of the hardest-hit countries by the banking crisis, Iceland has since made almost a full recovery, thanks chiefly to it not listening to calls for austerity programs and state-funded bailouts.[10] The Icelandic program, instead of laying the costs of the bailout on taxpayers, forced the creditors themselves to pay the bill and refused to protect them from their mistakes, allowing it to preserve its welfare state. It also restricted the flow of currency out of the nation, preventing currency speculators from playing games with the Icelandic krona. How did it work? Well, unemployment stood at 4.8% as of June 2012, so there's that.[11]

[edit] The Cod Wars

The virtually military-less Iceland is famous for winning three naval wars against the British from 1958-1976.

In short, Iceland widened their exclusive fishing grounds three times (expanding the zone from four to now up to 200 miles), which especially the British did not like (less fish for fish and chips). The story was roughly the same every three times: When the latter continued to fish there, the Icelandic coast guard severed the fishing nets of their cutters, even when these were protected by warships. Whilst no bullets were shot, several rammings took place.

All three crises were solved by negotiations, mostly affirming Iceland's demands. At least in the second crisis, political pressure from the US against the British played a major role in this, because Iceland's partnership in the NATO is of great strategic importance to them. (Just take a look at the map, would any patriotic American want evil Soviets to have a military base there?)

[edit] Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection

Over many years, Iceland has ranked first in the Press Freedom Index and still reaches top positions.[12] Iceland especially has remarkably strong protections of whistleblowers and investigative journalism. These were substantially worked out and pushed forward by Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of the Icelandic Pirate Party, and other activists from around WikiLeaks, including Julian Assange himself.[13]

[edit] Religion

Iceland was very lightly Christianized; the country only adopted Christianity under heavy pressure from the King of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason.

Although Iceland today has a state church (the Lutheran Church of Iceland), it is fairly tolerant and liberal, their last prime minister (Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir) having been the first openly gay head of government in modern times.

It is also the country of origin for most forms of Norse neopaganism (Asatru) that are not thoroughly tangled up with neo-Nazi bullshit, and is one of the few countries in the world where Asatru has official status and entitlement to a cut of tax money.

[edit] Icelanders and fairies

The Icelandic Tourist Board claim that 80% of Icelanders are prepared to believe in fairies or elves, or at least not dismiss their existence. Furthermore polls find that 54% express a positive belief and 25% even claim to have seen them. Certainly a high proportion of Icelanders take these beliefs seriously.[14]

Roads in Iceland have been diverted in order to avoid their homes, the chief of which is a rock formation known as "Alfborg". Furthermore, and it is quite common for experts from an "Elf Medium" to be called in to construction sites and cable laying in order to negotiate with the elves and buildings and cables are often moved as a result. This will usually happen after problems with workers being taken mysteriously ill or equipment failures.

There is even a college, run by Magnus Skarphedinsson, called "Álfaskólinn" which awards certificates for their study. The fairies are claimed to wear traditional clothes while the elves favor pointy hats and shoes.

According to the Álfaskól there are 13 sub-types of elves, 3 types of fairies 2 types of troll and 4 types of gnome plus 4 hidden peoples (including the Blue People). It is not known if the trolls are fed, or what variety of creature Björk is.[15]

Before Americans start to laugh at the Icelanders, however, we need to remember that, while only 4% of Americans believe in fairies, between 40 and 50 percent believe the earth was created 10,000 years ago.[16] There are many more Americans than Icelanders.

The Icelandic belief in elves tends to be exaggerated by foreigners. For example, it was widely reported by foreign press that roads in connection with an Alcoa aluminum plant were delayed or prevented because of the elf-protection lobby, however Benedikt Jóhannesson of the Icelandic Review claimed that the road issue was primarily environmental and that there was only one elf believer present at the demonstrations.[17] Besides, everyone knows that elves and fairies are harmed by iron, not aluminum.

Iceland also has its own alleged cryptid, the lagarfljotsormur (or Lagarfljóts worm). Hjortur Kjerulf won 500.000 ISK (about 3900 USD) for a video of the alleged worm.[18]

[edit] Patronymics

Traditionally, there were no last names (surnames) among the Norse populations, with all people having just a given name and a patronymic. This custom persisted in Norway into the 20th century, when it was outlawed. Iceland is now the only country where last names are not used; in fact, it is now illegal to adopt a last name in Iceland. It is also illegal to take a first name that has not been approved by the Icelandic Naming Committee.

Icelandic patronymics take the father's first name,[19] convert it to its possessive form, then suffix it with "son" or "dóttir", depending on the person's gender. For example: A boy whose father is named "Björn" would have the last name "Björnsson," while a girl whose father's name is "Björn" would have the last name "Björnsdóttir."[20] All of this means that you (and particularly YOU) have to be especially astute if you're into genealogy.

Icelandic (the language) has retained the letters eth (Ð, ð) and thorn (Þ, þ), usually transliterated as "d" and "th" in English, which used them during its early days but has since abandoned them in favor of the "th" digraph.

[edit] Neðanmálsgreinar

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