Iceland

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Location of Iceland.

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

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.

A most weird society

Iceland has a population of around 360,000[2] (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[note 1]. However, learning English is mandatory for Icelandic children in compulsory schools, so that almost everyone understands it very well.

It is often said that such and such a nation is too small to be independent. For instance, this has been argued in the case of Scotland. At the end of the year 1918, there were 91,633 Icelanders. On the 1st of December of that year, Iceland became a sovereign state, maintaining a personal unionWikipedia with Denmark. This is actually a more important date than the 17th of June 1944, when the republic was proclaimed. The inhabitants then numbered about 127,000. Iceland has been doing well since — given the occasional ups and downs — and so provides a hint that the minimum population for a feasible state is lower than most seem to think[3].

In every year since 2008, Iceland has ranked first on the annual Global Peace Index,Wikipedia 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 attempts to end his attack more gently.[4]

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.[5]

Government

Iceland was originally settled in the 9th century CE chiefly by Viking tax-evaders Norwegians[note 2] fleeing political turmoil in that country.

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 (which however had been discontinued at some time).

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 was considered strategically valuable enough during World War II that it's official neutrality caused a continuous hosting occupation of Allied troupes: British, then Canadian, then US - for defense. There was a large contingent of NATO troops stationed on the island during the Cold War due to its usefulness as an air base. For example, maritime patrol aircraft can monitor and possibly block the passage of Soviet submarines trying to break out in to the North Atlantic via the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap in case of war. In fact, Iceland is a founding member of NATO.

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 anything similar were to occur 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 3.8% as of August 2015, so there's that.[11]

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. Britain would respond with a large naval deployment, then Iceland would threaten to leave NATO, who would then tell Great Britain to stop being childish and accept Iceland's demands.

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.

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]

Religion

According to a new poll, less than half of Icelanders identify as religious. (...) And the younger generation in Iceland is the least likely to identify as religious, with more than 40% of young people claiming to be atheists. (...) And 93.9% of those under 25 believe the big bang created the universe and 0.0% believe it was created by God. Zero percent! Not a single young person they asked said that God created the universe—not a single one. (Ken Ham quoted by PZ Myers)[14] [note 3]

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, with a former 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. A guy and a girl, who had just met in a bar, once thought it would be funny to have a wedding after leaving the pub in the wee hours after drinking, since they saw the late Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson, then chief of the Ásatrúar congregation on the street. He married them. To their surprise, they woke up, probably hung over — and legally married.

In 2015, some Icelanders formed a new religion called Zuism, based on Sumerian gods as a protest against the tax that goes to the National Church of Iceland by default.[15]

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.[16]

Roads in Iceland have been diverted in order to avoid their homes, the chief of which is a rock formation known as "Álfaborg". 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.[17]

Destroyer of elves?

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.[18] Besides, everyone knows that elves and fairies are harmed by iron, not aluminum.

Iceland also has its own alleged cryptid, the lagarfljótsormur (or Lagarfljóts worm). Hjortur Kjerulf won 500.000 ISK (about 3900 USD) for a video of the alleged worm.[19]

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[note 4].

Since last names are not typically used, telephone books are listed by first name.

Icelandic patronymics take the father's first name,[note 5] 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.

Women do not adopt their husband's name since they are not becoming that person's father's son. This means that a family consisting of a wife, husband, daughter and son will all have different last names.

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.

The national anthem

The Icelandic national anthem is sometimes the subject of debate. It's not like the cheery MarseillaiseWikipedia calling for the blood of France's enemies nor the dreary German anthem, calling for unity, justice and freedom, but is simply a Lutheran psalm to a tune that very few individuals can cope with — the singer has to be both a bass and soprano and everything in between, and hence it is usually sung by choirs.

There are no snakes in Iceland

The section heading is the entire text of a chapter in a book written about Iceland in the 18. century. The chapter was, very appropriately called Snakes in Iceland. This was true at the time, almost certainly a spillover effect of St. Patrick's miracles due to insular biogeography,Wikipedia although snakes are now sometimes kept as pets. Notes on refrigerator doors in those households are usually something like: „Milk, cheese, mice, …“.

President

The President of Iceland is usually just a figurehead. As the office has evolved, it has more or less become an electoral monarchy, since every president since 1944 has been reelected as long as he or she wished[note 6]. There have occasionally been candidates opposing a sitting president, but so far no candidacy has been successful. The incumbent usually announces his decision not to run in the new year's address if the year is an election year. There are some vestiges of power left in that office, most notably that the president signs bills into law. If the president refuses to do so, the legislative branch has the option of withdrawing the bill or putting it to a referendum. This hadn't really been tested until the current presidency.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, president since 1996, announced on the first of January 2016, that he did not intend to run again. As is often the case with clear-cut declarations in Iceland, the president's namesake, Ólafur K. Harðarson -- an oft quoted and consulted political scientist -- was asked to interpret Ólafur Ragnar's statement. Ólafur K. thought for a while, and then responded that the intention of Ólafur R. not to run meant that Ólafur R. in fact did not intend to run.

President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson (president since 2016) is perhaps best known for sparking worldwide debate when he remarked that pineapple on pizza should be banned.[21]

Notes

  1. If foreigners have ever heard of the language at all, it is usually legends like this. Icelandic is no "richer" than your average language and the phonology has changed greatly. The morphology is mostly unchanged, however, and that in combination with a very conservative spelling is the reason all stages of language can be read now. The same conservatism also means that very little has been "thrown out", so to speak, and the literature doesn't have any drastic breaks. For a general idea of the grammar, it can be stated that Icelandic and German grammar are very much alike. Learning Icelandic is hard, but that can be said about all languages.
  2. But also including slaves from the British Isles.
  3. Sections where Ken Ham claims atheism is a religion are left out as that is not specifically relevant to Iceland.
  4. It must be mentioned, however, that nobody has yet figured out which criteria the committee uses to allow or prohibit a name. The lists of allowed and rejected names look equally weird to the native eye. There is also a mysterious third list containing names banned as first names but allowed as middle names. Go figure.
  5. Or, in more recent times, your mother's, or your grandfather's, or both at once.
  6. Sveinn Björnsson, the first one, died in office. It is what you might call ‘common knowledge’ that Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was persuaded to stay one term longer than she really wanted to so that a certain politician would not have a shot at the presidency.

References