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Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland is a volcanic island nation in the northern Atlantic Ocean between Greenland, Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands.
Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland is a country in northwestern Europe, comprising the island of Iceland and its outlying islets in the northern Atlantic Ocean between Greenland, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, and the Faroe Islands. As of December 2006, it had a population of 307,261. Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Iceland has a history of habitation since about the year 874, when, according to Landnámabók, the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson became the first permanent Norwegian settler on the island. Others had visited the island earlier and stayed overwinter. Over the next centuries, people of Nordic and Gaelic origin settled in Iceland. Until the 20th century, the Icelandic population relied on fisheries and agriculture, and was from 1262 to 1944 a part of the Norwegian and later the Danish monarchies. Today, Iceland is a highly developed country, the world's fifth and second in terms of GDP per capita and human development respectively. Iceland is a member of UN, NATO, EEA and OECD.
Iceland is divided into regions, constituencies, counties, and municipalities. There are eight regions which are primarily used for statistical purposes; the district court jurisdictions also use an older version of this division, Iceland's twenty-three counties are for the most part historical divisions. Currently, Iceland is split up among twenty-six magistrates that represent government in various capacities. Among their duties are running the local police (except in Reykjavík, where there is a special office of police commissioner), tax collection, administering bankruptcy declarations, and performing civil marriages,
Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle, which passes through the small island of Grímsey off Iceland's northern coast, but not through mainland Iceland. Unlike neighbouring Greenland, Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe, not of North America, though geologically, the island belongs to both continents. Because of cultural, economic and linguistic similarities, Iceland in many contexts is also included in Scandinavia. It is the world's 18th largest island, and Europe's second largest island following Great Britain. Approximately eleven percent of the island is
glaciated. Many fjords punctuate its 3,088 miles (4,970 km) long coastline, which is also where most towns are situated because the island's interior, the Highlands of Iceland, is a cold and uninhabitable combination of sands and mountains. The major towns are the capital Reykjavík, Keflavík, where the international airport is situated, and Akureyri. The island of Grímsey on the Arctic Circle contains the northernmost habitation of Iceland.
The only native land mammal when humans arrived was the arctic fox. It came to the island at the end of the ice age, walking over the frozen sea. There are no native reptiles or amphibians on the island. There are around 1,300 known species of insects in Iceland, which is rather low compared with other countries (there are about 925,000 known species in the world). During the last Ice Age almost all of the country was covered by permanent snow and glacier ice. This explains the low number of living species in Iceland. When humans arrived, birch forest and woodland probably covered 25-40% of Iceland’s land area. But soon the settlers started to remove the trees and forests to create fields and grazing land. During the early 20th century the forests were at their minimum and were almost wiped out of existence. The planting of new forests has increased the number of trees since, but this can not be compared with the original forests. Some of those planted forests have included new foreign species. Iceland has four national parks: Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, Skaftafell National Park, Snæfellsjökull National Park, and Þingvellir National Park.
Iceland is located on both a geological hot spot, thought to be caused by a mantle plume, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs right through it. This combined location means that the island is extremely geologically active, having many volcanoes, notably Hekla, Eldgjá, and Eldfell. The volcanic eruption of Laki in 1783-1784 caused a famine that killed nearly a quarter of the island's population; the eruption caused dust clouds and haze to appear over most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa for several months after the eruption. There are also geysers (a word derived from the name of one in Iceland, Geysir). With this widespread availability of geothermal power, and also because of the numerous rivers and waterfalls that are harnessed for hydropower, residents of most towns have hot water and home heat for a low price. The island itself is composed primarily of basalt, a low-silica lava associated with effusive volcanism like Hawaii. There are, however, a variety of volcano-types on Iceland that produce more evolved lavas such as rhyolite and
andesite. Some famous Icelanders include alternative rock band The Sugarcubes and particularly its singer Björk; rap group Quarashi; artist collective GusGus; post-rock band Sigur Rós; electronic group múm; folk electronic/acoustic musician Emiliana Torrini and novelist Halldór Laxness, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. Pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy has been an Icelandic citizen since 1972. Although raised and educated in Scotland, TV presenter Magnus Magnusson was born in Reykjavík. Footballer Eiður Guðjohnsen who played for Chelsea F.C. and currently plays for FC Barcelona in Spain is Iceland's most famous sportsman. Magnús Scheving, creator of Lazy Town, an aerobics champion and CEO of LazyTown Entertainment, who also stars in the show. Iceland's literacy rate is among the highest in the world, and a love of literature, art, chess, and other intellectual pursuits is widespread. One of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland is visiting the geothermal spas and pools that can be found all around the country, such as Bláa Lónið (The Blue Lagoon) on the Reykjanes Peninsula near the Keflavík International Airport.
