iceland is a nordic island country in the north atlantic ocean and the most sparsely populated
country in europe iceland's capital and largest city is reykjavik which along with its surrounding
areas is home to over 65 of the population iceland is the only part of the mid-atlantic
ridge that rises above sea level and its central volcanic plateau is erupting almost constantly
the interior consists of a plateau characterized by sand and lava fields mountains and glaciers
and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands iceland is warmed by the gulf stream
and has a temper climate despite a high latitude just outside the arctic circle its high latitude
and marine influence keep summer's chilly and most of its islands have a polar climate
iceland is at the juncture of the north atlantic and arctic oceans the main island is entirely
south of the arctic circle which passes through the small icelandic island of crimson off the main
island's northern coast the country lies between latitude 63 and 68 degrees and and longitudes 25
and 13 degrees w iceland is closer to continental europe than to mainland north america although
it is closest to greenland an island of north america iceland is generally included in europe
for geographical historical political cultural linguistic and practical reasons geologically the
island includes parts of both continental plates geologically iceland is part of the mid-atlantic
ridge a ridge along which the oceanic crust spreads and forms a new oceanic crust this part
of the mid-ocean ridge is located above a mantle plume causing iceland to be so burial above the
surface of the sea the ridge marks the boundary between the eurasian and north american plates
and iceland was created by rifting an accretion through volcanism along the ridge according to
the ancient manuscript landnambok the settlement of iceland began in 874 a.d when the norwegian
chieftain ingle for arnerson became the first permanent settler on the island in the following
centuries norwegians and to a lesser extent other scandinavians emigrated to iceland bringing with
them thralls of gaelic origin the ellen was governed as an independent commonwealth under
the native parliament the el thing one of the world's oldest functioning legislative assemblies
following a period of civil strife iceland exceeded to norwegian rule in the 13th century
the establishment of the kalmar union in 1397 united the kingdoms of norway denmark and sweden
iceland thus followed norway's integration into that union coming under danish rule after sweden's
secession from the union in 1523 the danish kingdom forcibly introduced lutheranism to iceland
in 1550. in the wake of the french revolution and the Napoleonic wars Iceland's struggle for
independence formed and culminated in independence in 1918 with the establishment of the kingdom of
Iceland sharing through a personal union with the incumbent monarch of Denmark during the
occupation of Denmark and world war ii, Iceland voted overwhelmingly to become a republic in 1944
thus ending the remaining formal ties with Denmark although the acting was suspended from 1799 to
1845 the island republic has been credited with sustaining the world's oldest and longest-running
parliament until the 20th century Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture
industrialization of the fisheries in marshall planate fall in world war ii brought prosperity
and Iceland became one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world it became a part of
the European economic area in 1994. this further diversified the economy into sectors such as
finance biotechnology and manufacturing iceland has a market economy with relatively low taxes
compared to other oecd countries as well as the highest rate union membership in the world
it maintains a nordic social welfare system that provides universal healthcare and tertiary
education for its citizens iceland ranks high in economic democratic and social stability as
well as equality ranking third in the world by meeting wealth per adult in 2020 it was ranked
as the fourth most developed country in the world by the united nations human development
and it ranks first on the global peace index iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy
icelandic culture is founded upon the nation's scandinavian heritage most icelanders are
descendants of norse and gaelic settlers icelandic and north germanic language is descended from old
west norse and is closely related to feroce the country's cultural heritage includes traditional
icelandic cuisine icelandic literature and medieval sagas iceland has the smallest population
of any nato member and is the only one with no standing army with a lightly armed coast guard
iceland belongs to the archer province of the sycamore region within the boreal kingdom
plant life consists mainly of grassland which is regularly crazed by livestock the most common tree
native to iceland is the northern birch which formerly formed forests over much of iceland
along with aspens roans common junipers and other smaller trees mainly willows when the island was
first settled it was extensively forested with around 30 percent of the land covered in trees
in the late 12th century ari the wise described it in the icelandic debacas forested from mountain to
seashore permanent human settlement greatly disturbed the isolated ecosystem of thin
volcanic soils and limited species diversity the forests were heavily exploited over the centuries
for firewood and timber deforestation climatic deterioration during the little ice age and
overgrazing by sheep imported by settlers caused a loss of critical topsoil due to erosion today
many farms have been abandoned three-quarters of iceland's 100 000 square kilometers is affected
by soil erosion 18 000 kilometers is affected to a degree serious enough to make the land useless
only a few small birch's stands now exist in isolated reserves the planting of new forests
has increased the number of trees but the result does not compare to the original forests some of
the planted forests include introduced species the tallest three in iceland is a syca spruce
planted in 1949. it was measured at 25.2 meters in 2013. algae such as chandra's crispus fell for a
truncate in phyla for crispr and others have been recorded from iceland the only native land mammal
when humans arrived was the arctic fox which came to the island at the end of the ice age
looking over the frozen sea on rare occasions bats have been carried to the island with the
winds but they are not able to breed there no native or free-living reptiles or amphibians are
on the island the animals of iceland include the icelandic sheep cattle chickens goats the sturdy
iceland of course and the icelandic sheepdog all descendants of animals imported by europeans
wild mammals include the arctic fox mink mice rats rapus and reindeer polar bears occasionally visit
the island traveling from greenland on icebergs but no icelandic populations exist in june 2008
two polar bears arrived in the same month murray enamels include the gray seal and harbor seal
many species of fish live in the ocean waters surrounding iceland and the fishing industry
is a major part of iceland's economy accounting for roughly half of the country's total exports
birds especially seabirds are an important part of iceland's animal life atlanta puffins schools and
blacklegged ketuix nest on a sea cliffs commercial whaling is practiced intermittently along with
scientific whale hunts whale watching has become an important part of iceland's economy since 1997.
around 1 300 species of insects are known in Iceland this is low compared with other
countries over one million species have been described worldwide Iceland is essentially
free of mosquitoes much of Iceland's cuisine is based on fish lamb and dairy products with little
to no use of herbs or spices due to the island's climate fruits and vegetables are not generally
a component of traditional dishes although the use of greenhouses has made them more common in
contemporary food variometer is a selection of traditional cuisine consisting of many dishes
and is usually consumed around the month of thorny which begins on the first Friday after 19 January
you