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1[[quoteright:329:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ic-map.gif]]
2[[caption-width-right:329:Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, land vors guð!]]
3
4->''So "Cold" from all the "Ice"''
5-->-- Iceland's heading from Website/{{The Onion}}'s ''Literature/OurDumbWorld''
6
7It's an island. [[NonIndicativeName With less ice than you would expect]].
8
9Iceland ('''Icelandic:''' ''Ísland'') is a Northern European country and island in UsefulNotes/TheArctic and North Atlantic Oceans. It's notable for having a population more or less on par with a mid-sized European city (380,000 inhabitants), which wouldn't have been notable if not for the fact that they live in 103,000 square kilometers of area, making it not only the smallest Nordic country population-wise, but also the least densely-populated country in Europe.
10
11Situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a geological faultline, Iceland has a lot of volcanoes and new islands pop up from time to time (e.g. see the isle of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surtsey Surtsey]], a classic study in ecology). On account of its placement on the Ridge, it is therefore technically both in Europe and UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica (or rather the Eurasian and North American geological plates), with the capital Reykjavik being on the North American side. One particular volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, erupted in the summer of 2010, causing a massive ash cloud that essentially closed most of Europe's airspace. In the 1780s, it nearly suffered a Class Zero ApocalypseHow, when [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki it suffered a Phreatic Eruption]].
12
13The country, as with the rest of Northern Europe, is highly developed; it topped the list of the world's most developed in 2007. Despite not having an army, Iceland is a member of UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}, but not of UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion (it has EFTA membership, the next closest thing). Iceland is also a member of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area Schengen Area]] which in practice means that if you fly from - say - UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} to Iceland you'll have to pass through customs, but not immigration.
14
15Medieval Iceland was renowned for its storytelling culture, and most of the famous [[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas Norse sagas]] (including the Eddas, our best source of Myth/NorseMythology) were written there in the forms we know them today. For that reason (along with the remarkable linguistic conservatism of Icelandic) most recitations of text from the Eddas use modern Icelandic pronunciation rather than reconstructed Old Norse pronunciation. The reason behind this is that we can be 100% certain what modern Icelandic sounds like (so no squabbling over minor details), and it is a bit easier to learn. Jackson Crawford (of Website/YouTube fame) notably uses reconstructed Old Norse pronunciation, which he usually informs his audience of whenever he recites Old Norse texts.
16
17The island was [[UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge first settled]] in 874.[[note]]By the ancestors of the current population, anyway - there are hints that Scots-Irish monks known in Icelandic Sagas as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papar Papar]] may have lived there semi-permanently, but they obviously left no descendants[[/note]]. The world's oldest parliament, the Althing, was founded in Iceland in 930. It ended up as part of UsefulNotes/{{Norway}} in the mid 13th century, which later merged with UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} and UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} to form the Kalmar Union. Following the dissolution of the Kalmar Union in the 16th century, Iceland remained intertwined with Norway until the 1814 [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars Treaty of Kiel]], in which Denmark gave Norway away to Sweden, in return for keeping its overseas territories, including Iceland, the UsefulNotes/FaroeIslands, and UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}}.
18
19When Denmark fell to UsefulNotes/NaziGermany in 1940, the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom invaded Iceland, believing that it would stop the Germans going after it (the Germans weren't planning to do so). The Icelandic government protested, but resigned itself to cooperating after the British promised compensation and a withdrawal after the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. As British forces were needed elsewhere, occupation was handed over to the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates. There were more U.S. forces (40,000) than adult male locals, and many of the former married the local women. Iceland declared independence from Denmark in 1944 and became a republic. U.S. forces left in 1946, before returning in 1951, two years after Iceland joined NATO.
20
21Iceland was of vital strategic and economic importance to NATO. A stopping point for shorter-ranged aircraft travelling the Atlantic (it is also a divert point for transatlantic flights), Iceland lacked the capacity to defend itself--the British invasion had been done with fewer than 1,000 men. If the UsefulNotes/WarsawPact took over the place, it would provide them with Tu-22M "Backfire" coverage of a good part of the North Atlantic, causing major problems for convoys bringing supplies and troops across the Atlantic. The United States set up a Naval Air Station at Keflavík Airport, which was a base for U.S. interceptors, like the F-15. The civilian terminal was in the middle of the airbase, meaning that travellers had to go through military checkpoints, until the terminal was re-sited in 1987. This base stayed open until 2006. Keflavík is now a solely civilian-run airport, but military flights do use it. The other NATO air forces now provide air defence on Iceland on a rotational basis. The airport can take the Space Shuttle.
22
23Iceland is by far the largest nation on Earth which has no standing army (the next ones being UsefulNotes/{{Panama}} and UsefulNotes/CostaRica). However, it has some special police forces and a capable coast guard with a small air unit [[ClosestThingWeGot that can act as]] [[MildlyMilitary an impromptu defence force]]. Other than that, most of the defence in a time of crisis would be up to Norway and other NATO countries. During a short period of the 19th century, there was also a small Icelandic garrison of the Danish royal army.
24
25The majority of the electricity in Iceland is generated through Hydro Power, with the rest being geothermal. Iceland is one of the leading nations in the usage of renewable power. It plans to completely phase out carbon fuels by 2050. Or so the politicos claim...
26
27Got into a few disagreements with the UK in 1958, 1972-1973 and 1975-1976 about exactly where its territorial waters were - this was important, as said waters are rich in cod. The UK claimed that the waters were international, so it could fish there. Iceland said it couldn't, because it was its territorial waters. The Royal Navy was sent in to protect the British trawlers and the whole fracas was dignified with the name "The Cod Wars". One shot - possibly a blank - was fired during the three Cod Wars. Of course Iceland [[UnderdogsNeverLose won]]... by threatening to close the NATO base at Keflavík unless the British backed down. It was also noted that in one confrontation, a Royal Navy frigate had to limp home with significant damage caused in a confrontation with an Icelandic coastguard vessel less than half its size. Although this was more by accident than design, it was not lost on observers that Iceland had effectively defeated the Royal Navy in a showdown.
28
29Also, Reykjavík's where UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev met in October 1986 to continue ultimately failed discussions (although it did cement Reagan and Gorbachev's nascent friendship) about scaling down their European missile arsenals. You might get extra points on your UsefulNotes/ColdWar quizzes if you mention that.
30
31Suffered a large scale banking collapse and a drop in the value of its currency in 2008. This led to an odd situation where money and junk earned in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' was worth more than their real currency (CCP Games is based in Iceland and the game's currency has the same code, ISK, as Iceland's krónur). The collapse was sufficiently bad that Iceland applied to the IMF for currency stabilization (something that rich countries haven't done on a large scale in quite some time) and applied to the EU for membership (before, Icelanders hadn't decided they needed it). However, the EU membership bid seems doomed since only one party supports it (and not whole-heartedly at that) and also because the question will have to be decided in a referendum, and polls show that as of now, about 70% of the population is against it. It doesn't help that Icelanders were left pretty [[StealthPun cold]] by what happened to some countries that received the EU's "help", like UsefulNotes/{{Greece}}. The banking collapse affected the UK, where a lot of councils had banked with Icelandic banks.
32
33In 2013, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson was elected prime minister on the promise that he would crack down on Iceland's foreign creditors. Three years later, the leaked "Panama Papers" revealed that Sigmundur's wife possessed millions in an offshore bank account, money which was housed by the same shell corporation which was a creditor for the collapsed Icelandic banks. In other words, Sigmundur's wife was one of the very creditors he promised to go after. Sigmundur resigned soon after the leaks. Elections were held in October 2016. His then fellow party member, Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson bridged the gap as PM 2016-2017 and Bjarni Benediktsson (minister of finance since 2013) became PM in January 2017. That government burst in late 2017, there was yet another election in October 2017 and Katrín Jakobsdóttir became PM. The next elections are to be held in autumn 2021.
34
35Also notable is the language. North Germanic languages are already known for their conservative tendencies among the Germanic languages, but Icelandic takes it up to eleven by practically being a carbon-copy of Old Norse, the language of the Vikings when they first settled the island in the 9th century. Icelanders can read the works of Creator/SnorriSturluson (helps that he's also an Icelandic Viking) without any prior learning of Old Norse at all; though the works might feel a bit archaic at times, it's still perfectly understandable for them than it is to, say, the Danes. Icelandic orthography also preserves many archaic letters that have been long lost in other modern Germanic languages, like the Þ. Faroese, the language of Iceland's closest neighbor, the Faroe Islands, is closely related to Icelandic and also famously conservative.
36
37----
38!!Famous Icelanders
39
40When looking at this list, note that Iceland is one of the few cultures today to still use a strict UsefulNotes/{{Patronymic}} (or Matronymic) naming system rather than using family names. A person's last name is their parent's name suffixed with ''-sson'' (for men) or ''-dóttir'' (for women). This sometimes causes problems for Icelandic families travelling internationally, where children who have a different second name to any adult travelling with them tend to flag up abduction alerts.
41
42* Egill Skallagrímsson, 10th century [[WarriorPoet Viking and poet]] immortalized in [[Literature/EgilsSaga a Saga named after him]].
43* Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former president (1980-1996), the first democratically elected female head of state (also a single mother and cancer survivor).
44* Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the world's first openly gay head of government.
45* The 80's AlternativeRock band The Sugarcubes.
46** Their [[BreakupBreakout lead singer]], [[Music/{{Bjork}} Björk]] has subsequently had a very successful career as an experimental singer and musician, and is the best selling Icelandic artist of all time.
47* Ethereal post-rock band [[Music/SigurRos Sigur Rós]]
48* Hera Hjartardóttir, known more commonly as Hera, a singer-songwriter who was born in Reykjavik but moved to New Zealand when she was 13
49* Music/OfMonstersAndMen
50* Creator/SnorriSturluson, medieval chieftain, poet and historian who composed the ''Literature/ProseEdda'', ''Literature/PoeticEdda'' and ''Literature/{{Heimskringla}}''.
51* Eythora Thorsdóttir, senior international elite artistic gymnast (b. 1998), who currently competes for the Netherlands.
52* Halldór Laxness, novelist, poet, playwright and the winner of the 1955 UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature.
53* Magnus Magnusson, who emigrated to Great Britain and became a Creator/{{BBC}} household name, mainly for the intellectual general knowledge quiz ''Series/{{Mastermind}}'' which he presided over for twenty-five years (1972-1997). He also presented historical, arts and science documentaries.
54* Magnús Ver Magnússon, a famous strongman who won the WorldsStrongestMan competition 4 times during the 90s.
55* Creator/HafthorJuliusBjornsson, another strongman (inspired to become one by the aforementioned Magnús Ver Magnússon, after [[CareerEndingInjury a knee injury ended his budding basketball career]]), best known for playing [[TheBrute The Mountain]] in ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
56* Music/HildurGudnadottir, a composer and musician known for scoring films and TV series such as ''{{Series/Chernobyl}}'' and ''{{Film/Joker}}'', for which she won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for the Best Original Score in 2020.
57
58!!Iceland in fiction
59* ''Literature/RedStormRising''
60* ''Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'' starts in Iceland, following the writings of an Icelandic explorer.
61* Film/JamesBond:
62** ''Film/AViewToAKill'': The ActionPrologue in Siberia was [[CaliforniaDoubling actually filmed]] in Iceland for the water and iceberg scenery (the ski sequences were shot at Piz Palu in Switerland).
63** ''Film/DieAnotherDay'': [[BigBad Gustav Graves]] has built a giant ice palace in Iceland to receive guests. The Palace was built and filmed at Creator/PinewoodStudios.
64* ''Series/LazyTown''
65* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' personifies Iceland as having a SugarAndIcePersonality with white hair and a puffin. His older brother is Norway though he vehemently refuses to call him that.
66* ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'' personifies Iceland as a PrettyBoy with a disturbing mind and a love of extreme sports. Oh, and [[BishieSparkle he sparkles]]. He's also the least [[HeavyMetal metal]] country among the Nordics.
67* Literature/TheIcelandicSagas, natch.
68* Appears in a chapter or two of ''Literature/ProtectAndSurviveATimeline''.
69* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance 2'':The final level takes place in Iceland, where the heroes need to take over one of the Fold towers.
70* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' has a mission set in Iceland, where the invading Soviets destroy a major Allied air base.
71** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'', Director Redmond Boyle turns out to be [[DirtyCoward hiding in an underground bunker]] in Reykjavik when he orders you to use the Liquid Tiberium Bomb in the final GDI campaign mission.
72* The final arc of ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisMilosReturn'' takes place on Iceland.
73* The first level of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'' takes place in Iceland, near Akureyri.
74* Riley Blue (née Gunnarsdóttir), one of the main characters of ''Series/{{Sense8}}'', is an Icelandic DJ and sensate living in London, though she later returns home to Reykjavik. Yrsa is another Icelandic sensate, and she serves as a protector to Riley.
75* The webcomic ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'' is set in a post-apocalyptic world where Iceland is the largest "safe area". Of the main characters, stowaway Reynir Arnason is Icelandic, and Icelandic lore and language sneaks in among the other Nordic-country elements.
76* Indiana Jones travels to Iceland in ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'', to the site of one of his earliest digs, to look for clues to the location of Atlantis. Later on Indy learns that one of Atlantis' three colonies was in Iceland.
77* Early 11th century Iceland is depicted in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' as Thorfinn's birthplace [[spoiler: which he eventually returns to after being freed from slavery]]
78* WesternAnimation/TotallySpies: Iceland appears twice:
79** Once in Passion Patties, when Dr. Bittersweet plans to go to her warehouse in Reykjavik and hopefully get the Icelandic people hooked on her cookies.
80** In The Getaway, the girls go to Iceland to get help from Jerry's friend Dr. Sorenson, who they ask about all the volcanoes errupting aound the world at the same time. It is also the only Nordic country they've been to.
81* ''VideoGame/NancyDrew Sea of Darkness'' takes place in Iceland during January.
82* ''Literature/AmericanGods'' ends in Iceland, and mentions that the language has changed very little, which probably accounts for [[spoiler:the original Odin still being there.]]
83* Reykjavik is one of the cities where your band can perform in the ''VideoGame/RockBand'' series.
84* In ''Film/TheSecretLifeOfWalterMitty'', the eponymous character ends up on Iceland. Scenes set in Greenland and Afghanistan were also shot there.
85* ''VideoGame/SpiritOfTheNorth'' follows a fox traveling through Icelandic landscapes.
86* ''Film/TheMightyDucks'': Team Iceland are the [[OpposingSportsTeam bad guys]] of the second movie, infamously (and [[ArtisticLicenseSports inaccurately]]) portrayed as possibly the best in the world.
87* ''Film/EurovisionSongContestTheStoryOfFireSaga'' stars Creator/WillFerrell and Creator/RachelMcAdams as a pair of Icelandic musicians who compete in the titular Series/EurovisionSongContest. Part of the film was actually filmed in Húsavík (where the characters are from) and its AwardBaitSong ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjuphuG3ndw "Húsavík"]]) is named for it.
88** Iceland's real-life history with the competition is infamously spotty; as of the most recent edition in 2019, they are currently the country with the longest gap between their debut (1986) and first win (0) [[note]](they assumed this record from UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}, who finally won with their forty-ninth attempt in 2017)[[/note]] but they ''have'' placed second on two occasions in 1999 and 2009. They were actually hotly tipped to win the 2020 edition with Music/DadiFreyr, but their hopes were dashed by the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic causing Eurovision's first-ever cancelation.
89* ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' and ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' have a scene in which [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] goes to a remote village in Iceland where ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} helps feeding the locals during harsh winters, in order to recruit him in the Justice League.
90* ''Series/{{Katla}}'', an Icelandic TV series, makes full use of the place's scenery, and includes references to its folklore.
91* ''Running Blind'', a Cold War spy thriller by Desmond Bagley is set there.
92* In ''The Survivialist'' series by Jerry Ahern, Iceland is the only country that survives TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt after World War 3.
93* ''Film/{{Bokeh}}'', a [[AfterTheEnd Post-apocalyptic]] drama starring Creator/MaikaMonroe and Creator/MattOLeary which is about an American couple on holiday in Iceland who wake up one morning and discover that every other human on earth has disappeared.
94
95!! See also:
96[[index]]
97* IcelandicMedia
98[[/index]]
99
100----
101[[AC:The Icelandic flag]]
102[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flag_of_iceland_8.png]]
103->Like all other Nordic countries, the flag reuses the ''Dannebrog'' flag of Denmark, while adding unique touches. Blue, white and red symbolize the mountains, ice caps and volcanoes, respectively. Not to be confused with the flag of USefulNotes/{{Norway}}, in which red and blue are reversed.
104----
105[[AC:Coat of arms of Iceland]]
106[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coat_of_arms_of_iceland_6.png]]
107->The coat of arms displays the shield containing the flag of Iceland surrounded by the four protectors of Iceland. The bull (Griðungur) represents northwestern Iceland, the eagle or griffin (Gammur) represents northeastern Iceland, the dragon (Dreki) resprents southeastern Iceland and the rock-giant (Bergrisi) represents southwestern Iceland. They stand on a block of columnar basalt. It was adpoted on 1 July 1944 (weeks after Iceland became a republic on 17 June 1944).
108----
109[[AC:The Icelandic national anthem]]
110->Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð!
111->Vér lofum þitt heilaga, heilaga nafn!
112->Úr sólkerfum himnanna hnýta þér krans
113->þínir herskarar, tímanna safn.
114->Fyrir þér er einn dagur sem þúsund ár
115->og þúsund ár dagur, ei meir:
116->eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár,
117->sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr.
118->Íslands þúsund ár,
119->Íslands þúsund ár,
120->eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár,
121->sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr.
122
123->Ó guð, ó guð! Vér föllum fram
124->og fórnum þér brennandi, brennandi sál,
125->guð faðir, vor drottinn frá kyni til kyns,
126->og vér kvökum vort helgasta mál.
127->Vér kvökum og þökkum í þúsund ár,
128->því þú ert vort einasta skjól.
129->Vér kvökum og þökkum með titrandi tár,
130->því þú tilbjóst vort forlagahjól.
131->Íslands þúsund ár,
132->Íslands þúsund ár!
133->Voru morgunsins húmköldu, hrynjandi tár,
134->sem hitna við skínandi sól.
135
136->Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð!
137->Vér lifum sem blaktandi, blaktandi strá.
138->Vér deyjum, ef þú ert ei ljós það og líf,
139->sem að lyftir oss duftinu frá.
140->Ó, vert þú hvern morgun vort ljúfasta líf,
141->vor leiðtogi í daganna þraut
142->og á kvöldin vor himneska hvíld og vor hlíf
143->og vor hertogi á þjóðlífsins braut.
144->Íslands þúsund ár,
145->Íslands þúsund ár!
146->verði gróandi þjóðlíf með þverrandi tár,
147->sem þroskast á guðsríkis braut.
148--
149->Our country's God! Our country's God!
150->We worship Thy name in its wonder sublime.
151->The suns of the heavens are set in Thy crown
152->By Thy legions, the ages of time!
153->With Thee is each day as a thousand years,
154->Each thousand of years, but a day,
155->Eternity's flow'r, with its homage of tears,
156->That reverently passes away.
157->Iceland's thousand years,
158->Iceland's thousand years!
159->Eternity's flow'r, with its homage of tears,
160->That reverently passes away.
161
162->Our God, our God, we bow to Thee,
163->Our spirits most fervent we place in thy care.
164->Lord, God of our fathers from age unto age,
165->We are breathing our holiest prayer.
166->We pray and we thank Thee a thousand years
167->For safely protected we stand;
168->We pray and we bring Thee our homage of tears
169->Our destiny rest in Thy hand.
170->Iceland’s thousand years,
171->Iceland's thousand years!
172->The hoarfrost of morning which tinted those years,
173->Thy sun rising high, shall command!
174
175->Our country’s God! Our country’s God!
176->Our life is a feeble and quivering reed;
177->We perish, deprived of Thy spirit and light
178->To redeem and uphold in our need.
179->Inspire us at morn with Thy courage and love,
180->And lead through the days of our strife!
181->At evening send peace from Thy heaven above,
182->And safeguard our nation through life.
183->Iceland’s thousand years,
184->Iceland's thousand years!
185->O, prosper our people, diminish our tears
186->And guide, in Thy wisdom, through life!
187----
188[[AC:Government]]
189* Unitary parliamentary republic
190** President: Guðni Th. Jóhannesson
191** Prime Minister: Katrín Jakobsdóttir
192** President of Parliament: Birgir Ármannsson
193** President of Supreme Court: Benedikt Bogason
194----
195[[AC:Miscellaneous]]
196* '''Capital and largest city:''' Reykjavík
197* '''Population:''' 364,134
198* '''Area:''' 102,775 sq km (39,682 sq mi) (106th)
199* '''Currency:''' Icelandic króna (kr) (ISK)
200* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' IS
201* '''Country calling code:''' 354
202* '''Highest point:''' Hvannadalshnúkur (2110 m/6,921 ft) (120th)

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