Iceland

From Encyclopediak

Iceland, a large island about the size of the State of Ohio, in the North Atlantic Ocean, a dependency of Denmark. It is situated about 250 m. from Greenland and 600 m. from Norway its northerly points are touched by the Arctic Circle. Of its area of 40,456 sq. m., only a small part is inhabited. It is estimated that plateaus and highlands are unfit for cultivation and an area of 5200 sq. m. is covered by glaciers. There are immense craters filled with water, but no large lakes. The snowfields give rise to large rivers, the longest of which are them Jokulsa, Thjorsa and Oelfusa. The climate is not unduly severe, as the latitude might suggest, but snow falls on the interior highlands even in summer. The summers are short and cool the winters, long and damp. The vegetation is confined principally to the low-lands, and even the grass grows only within restricted limits. Heather is abundant. Few trees attain other than stunted growth and no fodder is yielded for the cattle until the end of July. The fox is the most familiar animal, though reindeer, cattle, horses, sheep and and dogs are common. The sea and seashore are dense with cod, flounders, herring and eider duck. The down of the latter is of great commercial value.

The Icelanders originally of Scandanavian stock, in their struggle for existence against nature, have developed sturdiness and endurance, and a quiet earnestness touched with melancholy is their prevailing characteristic. They are highly intellectual, and illiteracy is practically unknown, as the children are early taught to read the old Sagas, with which Icelandic literature is so richly endowed See LITERATURE, subhead Scandinavian Literature EDDA.

It is estimated that in no other country are there so many books and newspapers published and sold in proportion to population as in Iceland. The island was discovered by norsemen in about 870. One of the early settlements was Reykjavik, the present capital. The country was converted to Christianity in 1000, under King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway. In the 12th and 13th centuries, intercourse with other countries was extensive. Iceland was joined to Norway in 1262 and in 1380 came under the rule of Denmark, becoming a sovereign state in 1918. The king of Denmark rules Iceland. Pop in 1910, 85,089.