Iceland

ICELAND     

Let me tell you about a very interesting Island to stay at besides Hawaii.  In early 2010, it was difficult for airplanes to fly because of a volcano called the Eyjafjallokull volcano which made gigantic ash clouds. Iceland is called “the land of fire and ice” because most of the land has ice caps, glaciers, and volcanoes. Iceland is an island located in the northern part the Atlantic Ocean and northwest of Europe. Another interesting fact about Iceland is that the population of people that live there is about over 300,000 people. That is quite a small population of people and there is a minority amount of crime because of it!              

DISCOVERING ICELAND                      

                       Early explorers did not know Iceland existed because it was far north and Iceland’s position was slightly below the Arctic Circle and was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. A Greek explorer named Pytheas might have been the first person to write about land far to the north of Britain in 330 B.C.E. The first traveling visitors to visit Iceland were likely to be Irish monks in the 700s C.E. looking for prayer. The first people to settle, live, and stay in Iceland were Vikings from Norway and Sweden somewhere around 850B.C.E. They crossed the ocean in opened boats with their tools, livestock, and belongings. A settler named Ingolfur Arnarson followed an old tradition to decide where to settle on the island. He threw pillars made from wood that was on his chieftain’s seat into the sea, off the coast of Iceland. Then, he followed the pillars across the coast to see where it washed, and they settled at the last pillar. Ingolfur Arnarson called the city Reykjavik  which isIceland’s capitol today.                                       

 

Iceland GOVERNMENT

In 930 C.E. Iceland’s settlers decided that wanted to come up with their own type of government. The chieftains met together to format a government called the Althing. This is now recognized as the oldest parliament in the world. Every year Iceland’s Althing met for two weeks at a place called Thingvellir in the south west part of Iceland. In 1000 C.E. the Althing met to end the problem of religion and the Althing decided to make Iceland full Christianity.

The Sturlung Age & the Black Death

In the late 1100’s C.E., Iceland was fighting against chieftains, villages were raided, and homes were destroyed. This time was called the Sturlung Age. In1262 C.E. everyone agreed for the Norway king to rule. Not only did people die for political reasons people also died from crops dieing from cold, volcanic eruptions covering a third of the island, and animal deaths.     

 ICELAND’S INDEPENDENCE

In 1918 Iceland signed the Act Of Union which made it an independent state with Denmark. Denmark was captured by Germany during World War II, Iceland took control of the situation. On June 17, 1944 Iceland was officially an independent country.

The Cod Wars

Iceland expanded their fish industry and the United Kingdom couldn’t fish. It ended in 1976 because both The “cod wars” began when Iceland countries chose their own fishing areas.                                                                                                

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 ICELAND SPORT (HANDBALL)   

                                                                                               
Iceland also made a sport called handball. Handball is soccer and basketball it is played with a goalie and soccer net, but played with running with a ball throwing in the goal.                                                                            

ICELAND POP MUSIC (BJORK GUDMUNDSDOTTIR)

Icelanders like to listen to pop music. Bjork Gudmundsdottir is one of the best pop stars in Iceland. She was born in Iceland’s capitol city, Reykjavik and sung
with a band called “The Sugar cubes” and became popular in the United States and Europe. Bjork bought her first piano when she was 12 and after she was with “The Sugar cubes” she went solo for the rest of her career.

RELIGION&ICELANDIC FOODS

The largest Iceland religion is the Christian Lutheran religion 10 percent of the population regularly attends church. Almost every Icelander attends church once a year. Seafood and fish are Icelandic foods. Sheep head, rotten shark, beef, and reindeer meat are Icelandic foods. Blueberry skyr torte, yogurt, and Coca-Cola are Icelandic deserts.

THIS IS WHY I THINK ICELAND IS INTERESTING
press the link below to by the book "Countries Around The World, Iceland

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