Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Yet a decade later, a referendum found ninety percent of voters approved of the idea,
and in December 1918, Iceland entered into the
Act of Union
with Denmark, where it
received recognition as an independent state while still accepting the Danish king as
monarch.
World War I itself bypassed Iceland, though during the war the country profited from
the high export prices paid for fish, meat, and
wool
(in great demand in Europe for
military uniforms). As
World War II
loomed, however, Iceland - dependent on trade
with both Britain and Germany - decided to stay neutral, but after the outbreak of
hostilities in 1939, the country's strategic North Atlantic location meant that, neutral
or not, it was simply a matter of time before either Germany or Britain invaded. The
British
were first, landing unopposed in May 1940, so gaining a vital supply point for
the Allies' North Atlantic operations. The following year
US forces
replaced the British
with the approval of the Alþing, on condition that they respected Icelandic sovereignty
and left once hostilities were over.
Though fighting never came to Iceland itself, World War II was to trigger the end of
foreign rule. When Germany invaded Denmark in 1940 the Alþing decided that, as
the king could no longer govern, the Act of Union should be dissolved and therefore
that Iceland should declare its full
independence
. The formal ratification took some
time, however, as the government was in disarray, with none of the four political
parties holding a parliamentary majority. In the end, acting regent
Sveinn Björnsson
founded an apolitical government, which finally proclaimed independence from
Denmark on June 17, 1944, with Björnsson elected as the first president of the
Icelandic Republic
.
The Republic: from 1944 onwards
One of the biggest challenges for the new republic came immediately after the war. The
US troops departed in 1946 as requested, but as the
Cold War
between the Soviet and
Western powers began to take shape Iceland felt uncertain about its lack of defence.
With neither the population nor desire to form its own military, in 1949 the Alþing
voted that Iceland should instead join the US, Britain and others as part of
NATO
, the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and in 1951 agreed to have US forces operate an
airforce base at
Keflavík
, using facilities the US had already built during World War II.
Though the need for defence was widely accepted, the idea of having foreign influence
back in Iceland after having only just got rid of it for the first time in seven hundred
years was not popular, and the decision to join NATO caused a
riot
in Reykjavík.
Domestically, Iceland has become predominantly urban since 1944, with around
two-thirds of the population living in the Greater Reykjavík area, and just 24,000
remaining on the land as farmers. Standards of living are now equal to any European
country - in fact, with little industry and low pollution levels, Icelanders are in some
ways better off. Virtually all Icelanders are literate and well educated, and
communications are as good as they can be given the natural conditions - the Ringroad
around the country was completed in 1974, and Iceland's per-capita usage of
computers
and the internet is one of the world's highest.
New technologies, such as the
harnessing of
hydro
and
geothermal energy
for electricity, heating and growing
hothouse
foods, have also been enthusiastically embraced.
1973
1944
1949
1951
1958
Volcano on
Heimaey erupts
Iceland becomes
an independent
state
Iceland joins
NATO
A US airbase is
established at
Keflavík
Start of the first cod
war with Britain
