(Redirected from Icelandic history)
This article is about the history of the
Republic of Iceland and the areas comprising modern day Iceland.
Early history
Iceland is, in geological terms, a young island. It started to form about 20 million years ago from a series of
volcanic eruptions on the
Mid-Atlantic ridge. The oldest rock samples found in Iceland date back 16 million years. The
Iceland hotspot is likely partly responsible for the island's creation and continued existence.
Iceland remained one of the world's last larger islands uninhabited by humans. It has been suggested that the land called
Thule by the Greek merchant
Pytheas was actually Iceland, although it seems highly unlikely considering Pytheas' description of it as an agricultural country with plenty of milk, honey, and fruit. The exact date that humans first reached the country is uncertain.
Roman coins dating to the
3rd century AD have been found in Iceland, but it is unknown whether they were brought there at that time, or came later with
Viking settlers, having circulated as currency already for centuries.
There is some literary evidence that
Irish monks had settled in Iceland before the arrival of the
Norse. However, there is no archaeological evidence to support such settlement. The 12th century scholar
Ari Þorgilsson wrote in his book, ''
Íslendingabók'', that small bells, corresponding to those used by Irish monks, were found by the settlers. No such artifacts have been discovered by
archaeologists, however. Some Icelanders claimed descent from
Kjarvalr Írakonungr at the time of the
Landnámabók's creation.
Age of Settlement (874-930)
Discovery
According to ''
Landnámabók'', Iceland was discovered by Scandinavian sailor
Naddoddr, who was sailing from
Norway to the
Faroe Islands, but got lost and drifted to the east coast of Iceland. Naddoddr named the country ''Snæland'' (Snowland).
Swedish sailor
Garðar Svavarsson also accidentally drifted to the coast of Iceland. He discovered that the country was an island and named it ''Garðarshólmi'' (literally ''Garðar's Islet'') and stayed for the winter at
Húsavík. The first Scandinavian who deliberately sailed to ''Garðarshólmi'' was
Flóki Vilgerðarson, also known as Hrafna-Flóki (Raven-Flóki). Flóki settled for one winter at
Barðaströnd. It was a cold winter, and when he spotted some
drift ice in the
fjords he gave the island its current name, ''Ísland'' (Iceland).
The First Settler
The first permanent settler in Iceland is usually considered to be a Norwegian chieftain named
Ingólfur Arnarson. According to the story he threw two carved pillars overboard as he neared land, vowing to settle wherever they landed. He then sailed along the coast until the pillars were found in the southwestern peninsula, now known as
Reykjanesskagi. There he settled with his family around
874, in a place he named
Reykjavík (Bay of Smokes) due to the geothermal steam rising from the earth. This very place would eventually become the capital and the largest city of modern Iceland. It is recognized, however, that Ingólfur Arnarson may not have been the first one to settle permanently in Iceland — that may have been
Náttfari, a slave of
Garðar Svavarsson who stayed behind when his master returned to Scandinavia.
It should be noted that all of the above information comes from ''
Landnámabók'' (Book of Settlement), a book that Icelandic historians mostly eschew as a scholarly source, due to many inconsistencies, but in many ways remains a primary historical source. However, archeological findings in Reykjavík seem to confirm the date given there: there was a settlement in Reykjavík around 870.
Settlement
Ingólfur was followed by many more Norse chieftains, their families and slaves who settled all the inhabitable areas of the island in the next decades. These people were primarily of Norwegian, Irish and Scottish origin, the Irish and Scots being mainly slaves and servants of the Norse chiefs according to the
Icelandic sagas and ''
Landnámabók'' and other documents. A common explanation for this exodus from
Norway is that people were fleeing the harsh rule of the Norwegian king
Haraldur Harfagri (Harald the Fair-haired), who is believed to have been uniting some parts of modern Norway during the period. It is also believed that the western fjords of Norway were simply overcrowded in this period. The settlement of Iceland is thoroughly recorded in the aforementioned ''
Landnámabók'', although it should be remembered that the book was compiled in the early
12th century when at least 200 years had passed from the age of settlement.
Ari Þorgilsson's ''
Íslendingabók'' is generally considered more reliable as a source and is probably somewhat older, but it is far less thorough. It does say that Iceland was fully settled within 60 years, which likely means that all territory had been claimed by various settlers.
Commonwealth (930-1262)
In
930, the ruling chiefs established an assembly called the
Alþingi (English: Althing). The
parliament convened each summer at
Þingvellir, where representative chieftains (
Goðorðsmenn or Goðar) amended laws, settled disputes and appointed juries to judge lawsuits. Laws were not written down, but were instead memorized by an elected
Lawspeaker (''lögsögumaður''). The Alþingi is sometimes stated to be the world's oldest existing parliament. Importantly, there was no central executive power, and therefore laws were enforced only by the people. Such an environment is very conducive to
blood-feuds, which provided the writers of the
sagas with plenty of material.
Iceland enjoyed a mostly uninterrupted period of growth in its commonwealth years. Settlements from that era have been found in south-west
Greenland and eastern
Canada, and
viking sagas, such as ''Eiríks saga Rauða'' and ''Grænlendinga saga'', speak of the settlers' exploits.
A reproduction of a statue from the 10th century of
Thor, the Norse god of thunder, found in Iceland.
Adoption of Christianity
The settlers of Iceland were dominantly
pagans and worshipped, among others,
Odin,
Thor and
Freyja — but in the
10th century political pressure from Europe to convert to
Christianity mounted. As the end of the millennium grew near many prominent Icelanders had accepted the new faith. In the year
1000, as a civil war between the religious groups seemed possible, the Alþing appointed one of the chieftains,
Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði, to decide the issue of religion by arbitration. He decided that the country should convert to Christianity as a whole — but pagans were allowed to worship secretly.
The first Icelandic bishop,
Ísleifr Gizurarson, was consecrated by bishop
Adalbert of Bremen in 1056.
Civil War and the End of the Commonwealth
As the
11th and
12th centuries passed, the centralization of power had worn down the institutions of the Commonwealth, as the former, notable independence of local farmers and chieftains gave way to the growing power of a handful of families and their leaders. The period from ca.
1200 -
1262 is generally known as ''
Sturlungaöld'' - The Age of the
Sturlungs. This refers to
Sturla Þórðarson and his sons:
Þórður,
Sighvatur and
Snorri. They were one of two main clans fighting for power over Iceland, causing havoc in a land comprised almost entirely of farmers who could ill afford being away from their farms to travel across the land, fighting for their leader's cause. In 1220
Snorri Sturluson became a vassal of
Hákon, King of Norway, and subsequently his nephew
Sturla Sighvatsson also became a vassal in 1235. Sturla used the power and influence of the
Sturlungar family to wage war against the other clans in Iceland. After decades of conflict, the Icelandic chieftains agreed to accept the sovereignty of Norway and signed the ''
Gamli sáttmáli'' (Old Covenant), establishing a union with the Norwegian monarchy.
Iceland under Norwegian and Danish kings (1262-1944)
Little changed in the decades following the treaty. Norway's consolidation of power in Iceland was slow, and the
Althing intended to hold onto its legislative and judicial power. Nonetheless, the Christian clergy had unique opportunities to accumulate wealth via the
tithe, and power gradually shifted to ecclesiastical authorities as Iceland's two bishops in
Skálholt and
Hólar acquired land at the expense of the old chieftains.
Danish rule
Iceland remained under Norwegian kingship until
1380, when the
Royal House of Norway died out. Iceland and Norway came under the control of the
Danish Crown. Unlike Norway, Denmark did not need Iceland's fish and homespun wool. This created a dramatic deficit in Iceland's trade, and as a result, no new ships for continental trading were built. The small
Greenland colony, established in the late 10th century, died out completely before 1500, perhaps due to a lack of resources that were normally provided by Iceland.
With the introduction of absolute monarchy in Denmark in
1660, the Icelanders relinquished their autonomy to the crown, including the right to initiate and consent to legislation.
Reformation
By the middle of the 16th century,
Christian III of Denmark began to impose
Lutheranism on his subjects.
Jón Arason and
Ögmundur Pálsson, the Catholic bishops of Skálholt and Hólar respectively, opposed the King's religious reformation. Ögmundur was deported by Danish officials in
1541, but Jón Arason put up a fight. Opposition to the reformation ended in
1550 when agents of the Danish king captured and beheaded Jón and his two sons in Skálholt. After that, Iceland became Lutheran and remains largely so to this day.
In
1602 Iceland was forbidden to trade with other countries than Denmark, by order of the Danish Government. The Danish trade monopoly would remain in effect until
1854.
An Independence Movement arises
In the
18th century, climatic conditions in Iceland reached an all-time low since the original settlement. On top of this, the
Laki volcano in Iceland erupted in
1783, spitting out three cubic miles (12.5 km³) of lava. Floods, ash, and fumes wiped out 9,000 people and 80 percent of the livestock. The ensuing starvation killed a quarter of Iceland's population.
[1] This period is known as the Mist Hardship (Icelandic: ''
Móðuharðindin'').
When the two kingdoms of Denmark and Norway were separated by the
Treaty of Kiel in
1814, following the
Napoleonic Wars, Denmark kept Iceland as a dependency.
Throughout the
19th century, the country's climate continued to grow worse, resulting in mass emigration to the
New World, particularly
Manitoba,
Canada. However, a new national consciousness was revived in Iceland, inspired by
romantic and
nationalist ideologies from mainland Europe. An independence movement developed under
Jón Sigurðsson. The
Althing had remained for centuries as a judicial body but was finally abolished in
1800. In
1843 a new body by the same name was founded as a consultative assembly and claimed continuity with the Althing of the
Icelandic Commonwealth.
Home Rule and Sovereignty
In
1874, a thousand years after the first acknowledged settlement, Denmark granted Iceland home rule, which again was expanded in
1904. The constitution, written in 1874, was revised in
1903, and a minister for Icelandic affairs, residing in
Reykjavík, was made responsible to the Althing. The Act of Union, a
December 1,
1918, agreement with Denmark, recognized Iceland as a fully sovereign state united with Denmark under a common king (see
Kingdom of Iceland). Iceland established its own flag and asked that Denmark represent its foreign affairs and defense interests. The Act would be up for revision in
1940 and could be revoked three years later, if an agreement wasn't reached.
World War II and the Establishment of the Republic
Sveinn Björnsson, the first president of Iceland
German
occupation of Denmark on
April 9,
1940, severed communications between Iceland and Denmark. As a result, on
April 10, the Parliament of Iceland, Alþingi, elected to take control of foreign affairs, electing a provisional governor,
Sveinn Björnsson, who later became the republic's first president. During the first year of
World War II, Iceland strictly enforced a position of neutrality, taking action against both
British and
German forces violating the laws of neutrality. On
May 10,
1940, ''
Operation Fork'' was launched and British military forces began an
invasion of Iceland by sailing into
Reykjavík harbour. The government of Iceland issued a protest against what it called a "flagrant violation" of Icelandic neutrality. On the day of the invasion, prime minister
Hermann Jónasson read a radio announcement telling Icelanders to treat the British troops with the politeness due to guests. The
Allied occupation of Iceland would last throughout the war.
At the peak of their occupation of Iceland, the British had around 25,000 troops stationed in Iceland, all but eliminating unemployment in the
Reykjavík area and other strategically important places. In July
1941, responsibility for Iceland's defence passed to the
United States under a U.S.-Icelandic defence agreement. The British needed all the forces they could muster closer to home and, thus, coerced the Alþingi into agreeing to an American occupation force. Up to 40,000 soldiers were stationed on the island, outnumbering all grown Icelandic men. (At the time, Iceland had a population of around 120,000.)
Following a
plebiscite, Iceland formally became an independent republic on
June 17,
1944. Since Denmark was still occupied by
Nazi Germany, many Danes felt offended that the step should have been taken at this time. Despite this, the Danish king,
Christian X, sent a message of congratulations to the Icelandic people.
Independent Iceland (1944-present)
Iceland had prospered during the course of the war, amassing considerable currency reserves in foreign banks. The government, led by an unlikely three-party majority cabinet made up of conservatives (
Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), social democrats (
Alþýðuflokkurinn) and socialists (
Sósíalistaflokkurinn), decided to put the funds into a general renovation of the fishing fleet, the building of fish processing facilities, and a general modernization of agriculture. These actions were aimed at keeping Icelanders' standard of living as high as it had become during the prosperous war years.
The government's fiscal policies were strictly
Keynesian, and their aim was to create the necessary industrial infrastructure for a prosperous industrialized country. It was considered essential to keep unemployment down to an absolute minimum and to protect the export industry, i.e. the fishing industry, by manipulation of the currency and other means. Due to the country's dependence both on unreliable fish catches and foreign demand for fish products, Iceland's economy remained very unstable well into the 1990s, when the country's economy was greatly diversified.
NATO membership
In October
1946, the Icelandic and United States' governments agreed to terminate U.S. responsibility for the defence of Iceland, but the United States retained certain rights at
Keflavík, such as the right to re-establish a military presence there, should war threaten.
Amidst
domestic controversy and riots in front of the house of parliament, Iceland became a charter member of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on
March 30,
1949, with the reservation that it would never take part in offensive action against another nation. After the outbreak of hostilities in
Korea in
1950, and pursuant to the request of NATO military authorities, the United States and Alþingi agreed that the United States should again take responsibility for Iceland's defence. This agreement, signed on
May 5,
1951, was the authority for the controversial U.S. military presence in Iceland, which remained until 2006.
The Cod Wars
''Main article:
Cod Wars''
The Cod Wars were a series of conflicts beetween Iceland and the
United Kingdom from the late 1950's to the mid-1970's. The first Cod War took place in
1958 when Britain was unable to prevent Iceland from extending its fishing limits from 4 to 12
miles (7 to 22 km) off the
coast of Iceland. The second Cod War lasted from
1972 to
1973, when Iceland extended the limit to 50 miles (93 km). The third Cod War began in
November 1975, when Iceland extended its zone of control over fishing from 50 miles to 200 miles (370 km). Great Britain did not recognize Iceland's authority in the matter and continued to fish inside the disputed area, marking the third time that Iceland and
Great Britain had clashed over fishing rights. Iceland deployed a total of eight ships: six
Coast Guard vessels and two
Polish-built stern
trawlers, to enforce her control over fishing rights. In response, Great Britain deployed a total of twenty-two
frigates, seven
supply ships, nine
tug-boats and three
auxiliary ships to protect its 40 fishing trawlers. While few shots were fired during the seven-month conflict, several ships were rammed on both sides, causing damage to the vessels and a few injuries to the crews.
[1]
Events took a more serious turn occurred when Iceland threatened closure of the
U.S.-manned
NATO base at
Keflavík, which, in the military perception of the time, would have severely impaired NATO's ability to defend the
Atlantic Ocean from the
Soviet Union. As a result, the British government agreed to have its fishermen stay outside of Iceland's 200 mile (370 km) exclusion zone without a specific agreement.
[2]
EEA membership and economic reform
In 1991, the
Independence party, led by
Davíð Oddsson, formed a coalition government with the
Social Democrats. This government set in motion market liberalisation policies, privatising a number of small and large companies. At the same time economic stability increased and previously chronic inflation was drastically reduced. Iceland became a member of the
European Economic Area in 1994
In 1995, the Independence Party formed a coalition government with the
Progressive Party. This government continued with the free market policies, privatising two commercial banks and the state-owned
Siminn. Corporate incomes tax was reduced to 18% (from around 50% at the beginning of the decade), inheritance tax was greatly reduced and the net wealth tax abolished. A system of individual transferable quotas in the Icelandic fisheries, first introduced in the late 1970s, was further developed. The coalition government held on to power after relatively successful elections in 1999 and 2003. In 2004, Davíð Oddsson stepped down as Prime Minister after 13 years in office.
Halldór Ásgrímsson, leader of the Progressive Party, took over as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2006, followed by
Geir H. Haarde, Davíð Oddsson’s successor as leader of the Independence Party.
After a temporary recession in the early 1990s, economic growth has been considerable, about 4% per year on average from 1994, and Iceland is now one of the wealthiest countries in the world according to
OECD statistics. The governments of the 1990s and 2000s have adhered to a controversial but staunch pro-U.S. foreign policy, lending nominal support to the
NATO action in the
Kosovo War and signing up as a member of the
Coalition of the willing during the
2003 invasion of Iraq.
In March 2006, the United States announced that it intended to withdraw the greater part of the
Icelandic Defence Force. On the 12th of August 2006, the last four
F-15s left Icelandic airspace. The United States closed the Keflavík base in September 2006.
Following elections in May 2007, the
Independence Party headed by
Geir H. Haarde remained in government, albeit in a new coalition with the
Social Democratic Alliance.
See also
★
Icelandic History Timeline
★
Sturlungaöld
★
Icelandic Military History
★
Cod War
★
Alþingi
★
Politics of Iceland
★
Kingdom of Iceland
References
1. http://www.american.edu/TED/icefish.htm
2. "Now, the Cod Peace", Time, June 14, 1976. p. 37
★ Axel Kristinsson. ''"Is there any tangible proof that there were Irish monks in Iceland before the time of the Viking settlements?"'' (2005)
in English in Icelandic
★ Bergsteinn Jónsson and Björn Þorsteinsson. ''"Íslandssaga til okkar daga"'' Sögufélag.
[2] Reykjavík. (1991) (in Icelandic) ISBN 9979-9064-4-8
★ Byock, Jesse
[3]; ''"Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas and Power"'' University of California Press (1988) ISBN 0-520-06954-4 ISBN 0-226-52680-1
★ Guðmundur Hálfdanarson
[4]; ''"Historical Dictionary of Iceland"'' Scarecrow Press.
[5] Maryland, USA. (1997) ISBN 0-8108-3352-2
★ Gunnar Karlsson. ''"History of Iceland"'' Univ. of Minneapolis. (2000) ISBN 0-8166-3588-9
[6]
★ Gunnar Karlsson. ''"Iceland's 1100 Years: History of a Marginal Society"''. Hurst.
[7] London. (2000) ISBN 1-85065-420-4.
★ Helgi Skúli Kjartansson
[8]; ''"Ísland á 20. öld"''. Reykjavík. (2002) ISBN 9979-9059-7-2
★ Miller, William Ian
[9]; ''"Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland"''
[10] University Of Chicago Press.
[11] (1997) ISBN 0-226-52680-1
★ http://www.iceland.or.jp/Files/iceland/his.htm History of Iceland from the Icelandic embassy in Japan
★ http://www.state.gov/www/background%5Fnotes/iceland%5F9910%5Fbgn.html U.S. Government text (public domain).
External links
★
History of Iceland: Primary Documents
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