Origins

Iceland’s population of 270,000 makes it one of the smallest independent nation-states in the world. Located in the North Atlantic, its northern coast lies just below the Arctic Circle and the island itself straddles a volcanic tear on the ocean floor known as the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland’s climate is more moderate than that of prairie Canada, with mean temperatures in the capital Reykjavík ranging from -0.5°C in January to 10.6°C in July. The island’s historical past has continuing significance for Icelandic Canadians. For instance, when retelling the story of nineteenth-century migration to the “Republic of New Iceland” – the name given to the government reserve on Lake Winnipeg’s west shore – Icelandic-Canadian commentators frequently draw a parallel to Iceland’s original settlement during the ninth and tenth centuries.

Iceland was virtually uninhabited until Norse Vikings and their Celtic household members and slaves first arrived in the second half of the ninth century. Archaeological and written records document an earlier occupation by Irish anchorites, but its extent was likely brief and impermanent. Iceland’s settlement marked a stage in Viking expansion from Norway across the North Atlantic. After Iceland, the Norse Vikings sailed onward to Greenland and Newfoundland where they established additional colonies. As a result of conflict with indigenous populations, lack of supplies from home, failure to adapt to new circumstances, and climatic shifts, settlement west of Iceland did not endure. Nevertheless, archaeological reconstruction at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland does provide for the modern visitor a glimpse into the life of what was likely Europe’s oldest settlement in North America. It was small, with about sixty people, and was probably short-lived.

The settlement in Iceland did survive, and settlers there soon established a political system separate from Norwegian control. In 930, they established a hierarchical juridical structure, with four regional courts in each quarter of the island, primarily for settling disputes. The Althing, a yearly assembly at Thingvellir in the southwest, served as the island’s ultimate legal forum. When in the year 1000 Iceland was threatened with an invasion by King Harald of Norway, the Icelanders accepted Christianity rather than submit to foreign conquest. Two Christian bishoprics at Skalholt (1056) and Hólar (1106) soon became the island’s main centres of learning.

Following the introduction of literacy by the Christian church, the Icelanders created their own vernacular-based literary language which was used to record during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in sagas (prose narratives) and two Eddas (compendia of mythical and heroic lays) what is assumed to be the oral tradition of the time. The Old Norse speech brought by the original colonists was largely preserved because of the isolation of the island. Whatever foreign influences subsequently entered the language were purged by grammarians in the nineteenth century who, responding to the patriotic mood of the national renaissance, were concerned with Icelandic linguistic purity. The Icelandic language remains central to Icelandic identity, and great efforts are still undertaken to protect it from outside influences.

The period between 930 and 1262 is known as that of the Icelandic Commonwealth. For both Icelanders and Icelandic Canadians, knowledge of the Commonwealth era has contributed to a strong sense of cultural identity. This is largely the result of literary works from that time which portray Icelandic society as romantic, heroic, and often brutal, themes that proved to be far more interesting than the subsequent centuries of Norwegian and Danish rule.

Actually, the late Commonwealth era was characterized by several factors: worsening social conditions; environmental degradation from deforestation, soil erosion, and overgrazing; climatic cooling that effectively ended production of all crops except animal fodder; and increasingly violent disputes between the island’s leading families.

Demographic and socio-economic conditions did not improve under Norwegian rule, however, nor after 1380 when Norway’s union with Denmark brought Iceland under Danish authority. Indeed, Iceland’s population declined from about 70,000 in the year 1100 to just over 50,000 at the time of the first census in 1703. Moreover, 20 percent of the latter were classified as beggars or dependents. The eighteenth century brought famine, a smallpox epidemic, and natural disasters so that the population declined further to 47,000 by 1800. Aside from climatic fluctuations and natural catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions, social factors also contributed to Iceland’s decline. Even before the end of the Commonwealth in 1262, Icelanders had lost their ocean-going mobility and were forced to rely increasingly on foreign trade for basic supplies. An ineffective administrative and institutional structure favoured landowners who deliberately hindered any social change or technical innovation which might have led to earlier development of a fishing economy.

Icelanders suffered as well under a trade monopoly imposed by the Danish Crown that was in force for most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As an absolute monarchy after 1662, Denmark also increased its legislative control over Iceland. The nineteenth century saw the re-establishment of the Althing as a consultative body and the reinstitution of free trade (1854). Difficult social conditions nevertheless prevailed and were only exacerbated by a series of natural disasters. Virtually no trees grew on the island and the majority of inhabitants lived in stone and turf houses. In this marginal environment, most Icelanders until the twentieth century were an impoverished people who barely survived on a subsistence-level economy based largely on sheep raising, fodder growing, and fishing. It was such socio-economic conditions that made emigration seem an attractive alternative.

The nineteenth century was also marked by a renewed sense of a distinct national identity and a drive by Icelanders for control over their own affairs. First came a constitution in 1874, home rule in 1904, and finally the status of a quasi-sovereign state under the Danish Crown (1918). There were gradual economic improvements as well, with the establishment of the first bank (1885), the modernization and expansion of the fishing industry, and the rapid growth of urban areas. In 1880 only 5 percent of Icelanders lived in urban areas, but by 1920 that figure had increased to 46 percent and in 1980 to 89 percent. Today the country’s capital Reykjavík, alone accounts for 58 percent of the country’s entire population.

Following the German invasion of Denmark in 1940, British and American troops occupied Iceland. Towards the end of World War II, the break with Denmark became permanent with Iceland’s declaring itself an independent republic in 1944. Since that time, the Icelandic economy has been based primarily on the fishing industry which has enriched the country by providing its population with one of the highest standards of living throughout the world.

During Viking times, Scandinavians spoke a language shared in common with north and west Germany. After about 500 c.e. a separate Scandinavian dialect with regional variations emerged. Immigrants to Iceland spoke what is now known as Old Norse with a few Celtic loanwords indicating the original settlement pattern. Icelanders’ isolation and lengthy written practice prevented major linguistic change. However, present-day nationalists exaggerate the degree of continuity between languages of the medieval past and present: during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, grammarians motivated by ideals of language purity strove to rid Icelandic of foreign influences and normalize its spoken and written versions. Nonetheless, Icelandic has remained more stable than most languages because of the early adoption of writing. No notable dialect variations are known to have existed.

Since World War II, independent Iceland has often experienced full employment, inflation rates at times over 100 percent (although inflation stood at a more modest 2.5 percent in 1996), and one of the world’s highest standards of living. Currently, over 80 percent of adult women work outside the home, and for men and women together the average work week lasts 46 hours. Unemployment has increased somewhat over recent years: in 1988 it stood at 0.6 percent; by 1996 it had increased to 5 percent. The economy is based on fishing, with 75 percent of export revenues deriving from the fishing industry. Manufacturing accounts for 18 percent of revenues, primarily from aluminum smelting and ferro-silicone production.