History

The first people who lived on Iceland were Irish monks. They came to Iceland around the year 800.

In the 9th century the Vikings went to live on Iceland. The first Viking who lived on Iceland was Flóki Vilgerðarson. He was also the one who gave Iceland its name. Ingólfur Arnarson, a chieftain from Norway went to live in South West Iceland. He founded the city of Reykjavík.

In 930 the Icelandic rulers wrote a constitution. They created the Althing, a kind of parliament in the town Þingvellir. Therefore Iceland is the oldest existing democracy.

In 985, Erik the Red was sent away from the island because he had killed someone. He sailed to the west and discovered Greenland. Eric's son Leif Ericson discovered America in the year 1000. He called it Vinland. The voyages of Eric, Leif and others were written down in the sagas (long storys).

In 1262, Iceland became part of Norway. In 1814 it became part of Denmark. In the 19th century, many Icelanders wanted to be independent from Denmark. In 1918, Iceland got many powers of its own, but the king of Denmark was still king of Iceland.

When Germany took over Denmark on April 9 1940, the Althing decided that Icelanders should rule the country themselves, but they didn't declare independence yet. British and later American soldiers occupied Iceland to prevent it from being attacked by the Germans. In 1944 Iceland finally became fully independent.

After World War II Iceland became member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), but not of the European Union. Between 1958 and 1976 there were three debates between Iceland and the United Kingdom about the rights to catch codfish. They were called the Cod Wars.

In 1980, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected president of Iceland. She was the first woman ever to be elected president of a country.

People

The people in Iceland are mostly Scandinavian. The language they speak is Icelandic. The language has not changed much in 1,000 years, so Icelanders are still able to read the sagas about the Vikings without many problems.

Almost all people in Iceland are Christian. Most of them are Lutheran.

Towns and cities

Reykjavík is the capital city of Iceland. Reykjavík is also the most important port in Iceland. Other important towns in Iceland are Akureyri, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjördhur, Keflavík, and Vestmannaeyjar. 

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