History of Iceland

Friday, May 30, 2014

We are leaving tonight for Iceland! Here is a brief history of Iceland for any history buffs out there:

Irish monks were probably the first to settle in Iceland in the 8^th century, but they were driven out by the Vikings.

A Norwegian by the name of Floki Vilgeroason tried to settle in Iceland @ 860, but a harsh winter decimated his domestic animals and he went back to Norway. But he did give Iceland its name.

Legend says the island was first permanently inhabited in 874 AD by a Norwegian named Ingolfr Arnarson. When he spotted Iceland from his boat, he supposedly dedicated his wooden posts to his gods and threw them overboard, vowing to settle wherever they washed up. He found his posts and founded Reykjavik, which means Smokey Bay (the smoke he saw came from natural geysers and geothermal springs). He was followed by many other Vikings.

Icelandic land was free to own to anyone who wanted it. Men could claim as much land as they could light fires around in one day. Women could claim as much land as they could lead a heifer around in one day. The people fished and raised sheep.

There were chiefs called Godar who ruled the people, but circa 930 AD an assembly called the Althing was created. This makes it the oldest parliament in the world.

When the Norwegians converted to Catholic Christianity in the 11^th century, the Norwegian kings sent missionaries to Iceland to convert them. Some converted and some did not, which posed the risk of civil war until a man named Thorgeir proposed that Christianity become the legal religion but people could still worship their pagan gods in private if they wished. However, people were required to pay tithes to the church which became wealthy and powerful. The church built monasteries and eventually extinguished paganism.

During the 12^th century, Iceland fell on hard times due to soil erosion, which was brought on by overgrazing of sheep and the cutting down of all the trees. They had to rely on Norwegian merchants. There was also feuding between clans, which got so bad that the only way peace could be reached was to submit to the Norwegian king. In 1262 the Althing (Icelandic parliament) approved an agreement in which the king of Norway maintained peace and order in Iceland in return for woolen pelts. The country became wealthy from cod fishing.

In 1397 Norway united with Denmark, so Iceland was now ruled by the Danish. Denmark was swept by Protestantism, and in 1539 the king of Denmark ordered church land in Iceland confiscated. The bishops of Iceland resisted and the last Catholic bishop Jón Arason was executed with his sons. The country gradually converted to Protestantism. The Bible was translated to Icelandic in 1584.

The king of Denmark made a trade agreement which stated that Iceland could only trade with certain merchants. The Danish merchants paid low prices for goods and demanded high prices for their supplies. The economy of Iceland suffered. The monopoly of the merchants did not end until 1787.

The Danish king declared himself an absolute monarchy in 1661 and removed the power of the Althing (parliament).

From 1707-1709 smallpox decimated the population of Iceland to only 38,000 (this is after the population had already been wiped out in the early 1400s by the Black Death). This was followed by severe volcanic eruptions in 1783.  In 1800 the Althing closed but was reopened in 1843.

Ties between Iceland and Denmark weakened in the 1800s and 1900s. In 1854 Icelandic trade became open to all nations. Iceland was granted home rule in 1904. Iceland was declared a sovereign state in 1918, making it independent, but it still shared a monarchy with Denmark.

Iceland imposed prohibition in 1915.  In 1921 it repealed prohibition for wine, but hard beer remained illegal until 1989.  The logic was that since beer was cheaper, it would more easily lead to depravity.

During WWII Denmark was occupied by Germany but Iceland was used as a military base by the British and then by the Americans in 1941 (the Americans did not leave Iceland until 2006).

In 1944, Iceland broke all ties with Denmark and its monarchy, and a republic was declared.