Iceland is a Nordic island country located between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is the westernmost and most sparsely populated country in Europe, with Reykjavík as its capital, home to about 36% of its 380,000 residents. The official language is Icelandic, and the country experiences significant geologic activity due to its location on a rift between tectonic plates.
Settlement began in 874 AD with chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson as the first permanent settler. After several centuries of governance as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, Iceland came under Norwegian rule in the 13th century and was later ceded to Denmark in 1814. The push for independence culminated in the establishment of the Kingdom of Iceland in 1918, and it became a republic in 1944.
Historically reliant on subsistence fishing and agriculture, Iceland industrialized post-World War II, becoming one of the wealthiest nations. It joined the Council of Europe in 1950 and became part of the European Economic Area in 1994. Today, Iceland has a market economy, a robust Nordic welfare system, and ranks highly in quality of life and civil liberties, with the smallest population of any NATO member and no standing army.
Image Credit | By Ninrouter – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
