History of Iceland

The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from Western Europe, particularly in modern-day Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest of Western Europe had been settled. Recorded settlement has conventionally been dated back to 874, although place names and storytellings indicate Gaelic monks from Ireland, known as papar from sagas, may have settled Iceland earlier.

The land was settled quickly, mainly by Norsemen who may have been fleeing conflict or seeking new land to farm. By 930, the chieftains had established a form of governance, the Althing, making it one of the world's oldest parliaments. Towards the end of the tenth century, Christianity came to Iceland through the influence of the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason. During this time, Iceland remained independent, a period known as the Old Commonwealth, and Icelandic historians began to document the nation's history in books referred to as sagas of Icelanders. In the early thirteenth century, the internal conflict known as the age of the Sturlungs weakened Iceland, which eventually became subjugated to Norway over the 13th century. The Old Covenant (1262–1264), and the adoption of Jónsbók (1281) effectively ended the Icelandic Commonwealth. Norway, in turn, was united with Sweden (1319) and then Denmark (1376). Eventually all of the Nordic states were united in one alliance, the Kalmar Union (1397–1523), but on its dissolution, Iceland fell under Danish rule. The subsequent strict Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was detrimental to the economy. Iceland's resultant poverty was aggravated by severe natural disasters like the Móðuharðindin or "Mist Hardships". During this time, the population declined.

Iceland remained part of Denmark, but in keeping with the rise of nationalism around Europe in the nineteenth century, an independence movement emerged. The Althing, which had been suspended in 1799, was restored in 1844, and Iceland gained sovereignty after World War I, becoming the Kingdom of Iceland on 1 December 1918. However, Iceland shared the Danish Monarchy until World War II. Iceland was neutral in the Second World War. Nazi Germany had begun Operation Weserübung (Denmark was overrun by the German Wehrmacht) and won the Norwegian campaign (also because the British retreated the Day when Nazi Germany began the Battle of France by invading the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. On 10 May, the United Kingdom invaded and peacefully occupied it in 1940 to forestall a Nazi occupation. Due to the island's strategic position in the North Atlantic, the Allies occupied the island until the end of the war, with the United States taking over occupation duties from the British in 1941. In 1944, Iceland severed its remaining ties with Denmark (then still under Nazi occupation) and declared itself a republic. Following the Second World War, Iceland was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and joined the United Nations one year after its establishment. Its economy grew rapidly, largely through fishing, although this was marred by disputes with other nations.

After the 1980 Icelandic presidential election, Vigdis Finnbogadottir assumed Iceland's presidency on August 1, 1980, the first elected female head of state in the world.

Following rapid financial growth, the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis occurred. Iceland continues to remain outside the European Union.

Iceland is very remote, and so has been spared the ravages of European wars but has been affected by other external events, such as the Black Death and the Protestant Reformation imposed by Denmark. Iceland's history has also been marked by a number of natural disasters.

Iceland is a relatively young island in the geological sense, being formed about 20 million years ago by a series of volcanic eruptions in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is still growing from fresh volcanic eruptions. The oldest stone specimens found in Iceland date back to c. 16 million years ago.^{[citation needed]}

In geological terms, Iceland is a young island. It started to form in the Miocene era about 20 million years ago from a series of volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where it lies between the North American Plate and Eurasian Plate. These plates spread at a rate of approximately 2.5 centimeters per year. This elevated portion of the ridge is known as the Reykjanes Ridge. The volcanic activity is attributed to a hotspot, the Iceland hotspot, which in turn lies over a mantle plume (the Iceland Plume), a column of anomalously hot rock in the Earth's mantle which is likely to be partly responsible for the island's creation and continued existence. For comparison, it is estimated that other volcanic islands, such as the Faroe Islands have existed for about 55 million years, the Azores (on the same ridge) about 8 million years, and Hawaii less than a million years. The younger rock strata in the southwest of Iceland and the central highlands are only about 700,000 years old. The Geological history of the Earth is divided into ice ages, based on temperature and climate. The last glacial period, commonly referred to as The Ice Age is thought to have begun about 110,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago. While covered in ice, Iceland's icefalls, fjords and valleys were formed.