Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Return to Independence
After five centuries of oppressive foreign rule and conscious of a growing sense of liberal-
isation across Europe, Icelandic nationalism flourished in the 19th century. By 1855 Jón
Sigurðsson, an Icelandic scholar, had successfully lobbied for restoration of free trade, and
by 1874 Iceland had drafted a constitution and regained control of its domestic affairs.
Iceland's first political parties were formed during this period, and urban development
began in this most rural of countries. Still, it wasn't enough to stave off the wave of emig-
ration that had started: between 1870 and 1914, some 16,000 Icelanders left seeking a bet-
ter life in North America. They emigrated for a number of reasons - in part because the
growing fishing industry could not employ all the workers who wished to escape the hard
labour of rural life and move to the new urban centres. Oh, and because of yet another vol-
canic eruption spewing livestock-poisoning ash (Askja, 1875).
By 1918 Iceland had signed the Act of Union, which effectively released the country
from Danish rule, making it an independent state within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Iceland prospered during WWI as wool, meat and fish exports gained high prices. When
WWII loomed, however, Iceland declared neutrality in the hope of maintaining its import-
ant trade links with both Britain and Germany.
On 9 April 1940 Denmark was occupied by Germany, prompting the Alþing to take
control of Iceland's foreign affairs once more. A year later, on 17 May 1941, the
Icelanders requested complete independence. The formal establishment of the Republic of
Iceland finally took place at Þingvellir on 17 June 1944 - now celebrated as Independence
Day.
Wasteland With Words: A Social History of Iceland
, by Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, draws
on the detailed diaries and letters of Icelanders in past centuries, with a particular focus
on on the years from 1850 to 1940.
WWII & the USA Moves In
As a result of Germany's occupation of Denmark in 1940, Iceland was in charge of its war-
time foreign affairs (and on the path to full independence, which was officially established
before the war's end). Wartime Iceland's complete lack of military force worried the Allied
powers and so in May 1940 Britain, most vulnerable to a German-controlled Iceland, sent
