Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
followed the war encouraged
nationalism
throughout Europe and was championed in
Iceland by the romantic poet
Jónas Hallgrímsson
and historian
Jón Sigurðsson
, a
descendant of Snorri Sturluson, who pushed for free trade and autonomy from
Denmark. Bowing to popular demand, the Danish king reconstituted the Alþing at
Reykjavík in 1843, which met every other year and had twenty elected regional
members of parliament and six representatives of the king. Jón Sigurðsson was
amongst the first members elected.
Even greater changes were on the way, sparked by the French Revolution of 1789,
after which Europe's other royal families began to cede real power in order to avoid a
similar fate. Following uprisings in Denmark, the
monarchy
there became
constitutional in 1848, allowing Jón Sigurðsson to point out that Iceland's 1662 oath
of allegiance to the king as an absolute ruler was therefore no longer valid, and that the
Old Treaty was now back in force. This didn't make him popular with the king, a
situation exacerbated when he led the defeat of a bill at the Alþing, in 1851, that would
have legally incorporated Iceland into Denmark. Sigurðsson also managed to have
remaining trade restrictions finally lifted four years later, an act which did more than
anything else to improve life in Iceland by bringing in modern farm implements and
wood for boats at affordable prices, while allowing the profitable export of livestock,
wool and fish.
In 1871 Denmark politically
annexed
Iceland, an event that, though not accepted by
Icelanders, gave them a favourable
new
constitution
. Broadly speaking, this returned
full legislative powers to the Alþing and was ratified by King Christian IX himself,
while attending celebrations at Þingvellir in 1874 to mark a thousand years since
Settlement. Home control of lawmaking saw further benefits to living conditions: the
tithe system was abolished; infrastructure improved; schooling was made compulsory;
improvements in boats and fishing equipment caused the growth of port towns; and
farmers formed the first Icelandic co-operatives to deal directly with foreign suppliers.
There followed a sizeable population boom, despite heavy
emigration
to Canada and
the US during the late nineteenth century following another spate of harsh weather,
the eruption of Viti in the Askja caldera in northeastern Iceland (see p.314), disease
and livestock problems.
Home Rule, Union and Independence
The concept of total political autonomy from Denmark grew from ideas planted by Jón
Sigurðsson before his death in 1879. By 1900, differences in the way this could be
achieved led to the formation of
political parties
, who in 1904 pressured the king into
granting Home Rule under the
Home Rule Party
led by
Hannes Hafstein
. Hafstein's
decade in office saw the start of trends that were to continue throughout the century:
an emerging middle class led a gradual
population shift
from the land to towns,
communications picked up with the introduction of telephones in 1906, and new
technologies were adopted for farming and fishing, which boosted output. Workers
also founded the first unions, and women were granted rights to an equal education
and allowed to vote in 1915.
Hafstein's biggest defeat came in 1908 when the Alþing rejected the
Draft
Constitution
, a proposal to make Iceland an independent state under the Danish king.
1918
1940
1940
1941
Iceland becomes an
independent state
under the Danish king
British troops
occupy
Iceland
Iceland declares
independence as Denmark
is occupied by Nazis
British forces are replaced
by Americans, with
approval of parliament
