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Iceland is an island located between the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.   It was first inhabited by Nordic and Celtic settlers who arrived in the late 9th and early 10th centuries A.D.  To govern themselves, they set up the Althing, the oldest functioning legislative assembly in the world.  Iceland was independent for centuries, but was later ruled by Norway and, more recently, Denmark.  Iceland is a land of volcanoes, with very high levels of geologic activity.  A particularly deadly eruption caused widespread famine and economic collapse in 1875.  The Icelandic economy, however, has had a strong resurgence in the second half of the 20th century.  Granted full independence from Denmark in 1944, the country has largely relied on fishing as its source of income, although the economy has somewhat diversified, especially following Iceland’s admission to the European Economic Area in 1994.  Icelandic admission to the European Union (a stronger bond than the EEA) is a highly debated topic.  There are obvious trade benefits associated with joining the EU, but Iceland has been reluctant to join because of fears that EU membership would limit Icelandic sovereignty in regulating its fishing industry. 

Because of its importance to the Icelandic economy, Iceland has been very defensive of its fishing rights even going so far as to fight a series of “Cod Wars” with the United Kingdom.  Although none of these militarized conflicts reached the thresholds by which we usually define war, Iceland did threaten to withdraw its NATO membership and expel the U.S. military presence in Iceland.  Iceland was victorious in all of these conflicts, reaching agreements which upheld or expanded Iceland’s fishing territory.  The American military presence did eventually leave Iceland, but it was on good terms by both countries.  Iceland was in a strategic position during WWII and the Cold War, but North Atlantic sea and airspace simply isn’t contested anymore.  Post 9/11, the American military has refocused its efforts in the Middle East, and its former infrastructure in Iceland has been converted for civilian purposes such as universities.

My group of cross country runners stopped in Iceland on our way home from Sweden and Denmark.  We flew into the capitol city of Reykjavik, and spent one night just outside the city limits.  We visited Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran cathedral in Reykjavik.  The church is in the expressionist style and somewhat resembles a pipe organ.  The establishment of the Christianity in Iceland has an interesting history.  Vikings were among there first settlers of Iceland, and with them came their pagan religion.  Due to Iceland’s remoteness and strong pagan tradition, Christianity reached the island later than in continental Europe and Britain.  Icelanders’ thought that having a partially pagan, partially Christian population would be problematic.  Accordingly, around 1000 AD they convened a council to decide which religion the country would follow.  Christianity won out, the pagans were baptized, and Iceland has been Christian ever since.  Like the other Nordic countries, Iceland accepted the reformation and is now predominantly Lutheran.  Outside of Hallgrímskirkja stands a statue of Leif Erikson.  Iceland was the launching point for Erikson’s explorations of the New World.  Leif Erikson is revered as a hero in the Icelandic sagas, and because of his explorations in America, the statue was commissioned by the U.S. government as a gift to Iceland.

Iceland is slightly smaller than Pennsylvania, but is far less populated.  Iceland has a population of 331,918 (July 2015 est.).  By comparison, Pennsylvania has a population of around 13 million. Iceland’s population is only about twice that of Centre County (State College and the surrounding areas) and is about 200,000 less than my home county of Lancaster, PA.   Iceland’s low population makes a lot of sense considering its geography.  Iceland is appropriately named, consisting mainly of barren plateaus interspersed with mountain peaks and icefields.  Only 1.3% of the land is arable.  Iceland sits along the fault line between the North American and Eurasian continental plates.  The plates are drifting apart, sometimes leaving chasms on the surface.  My cross country team visited one of these areas.  It was full of loose volcanic rock.  The interactions of these plates are responsible for Iceland’s high volcanic activity and abundant geothermal energy.  We took a bus tour of the Reykjavik area, and our tour guide had been an engineer at a geothermal plant before the 2008 economic crisis.  Accordingly, he was able to give us a good explanation of the geology and technology that makes geothermal energy possible.

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Our bus tour ended at a place called the Blue Lagoon.  The Blue Lagoon is a pool of mineral rich water which has a light blue color to it.  It has been developed as a spa area, and its water and mineral rich mud are said to be good for the skin.  As our guide explained, Blue Lagoon hasn’t always been like this.  It started as a waste water pool for a geothermal power plant.  Bathers started trespassing in the pool because of how it helped their skin.  After dealing with these people for a while, the owners changed their policy and developed the pool as medical spa and tourist attraction.  Natural or not, bathing in the geothermal spa was an extremely relaxing experience and a pleasant end to what had been a physically exhausting trip.  That afternoon we boarded our plane and headed back to the States.

Here’s a video produced by Keflavik International Airport with some stunning views of Icelandic nature.  I would recommend going full screen for this one: