Iceland

Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic, lying on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge just south of the Arctic Circle. Reykjavík is the capital and largest city, and Icelandic is the official language.

The island sits on the rift between two tectonic plates, so geysers and volcanic eruptions are common, and its interior is a plateau of lava fields, sand, mountains and glaciers. The Gulf Stream keeps the climate milder than its latitude suggests. According to the Landnámabók, the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler in 874, and Norwegians and other Scandinavians followed with Gaelic thralls. By 930 most farmland was taken, and the Althing was founded to govern the Icelandic Commonwealth, giving Iceland a claim to one of the oldest parliaments in the world.

After years of civil strife, Iceland accepted Norwegian rule in the 13th century, entered the Kalmar Union with Norway in 1397 and came under Danish rule after 1523. Denmark imposed Lutheranism in 1550, and the Treaty of Kiel gave Iceland formally to Denmark in 1814. A growing national movement won the Act of Union of 1 December 1918, which made Iceland a sovereign kingdom sharing the Danish king, and while Denmark was occupied in World War II, Icelanders voted for a republic, founded on 17 June 1944 with Sveinn Björnsson as president.

Fishing industrialized after the war, and in the 1970s the Cod Wars with Britain followed Iceland's extension of its fishing limits to 200 nautical miles. Iceland joined the European Economic Area in 1994, and tourism later grew fast. Geothermal and hydroelectric power give most homes cheap heat and electricity, and Iceland is the only NATO member with no standing army.