Iceland

Iceland is an island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, located between Greenland and Norway and just south of the Arctic Circle. Reykjavík is both its capital and largest city, and Icelandic is the official language. Created by volcanic activity along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the country has a dramatic landscape of volcanoes, lava fields, glaciers, mountains, waterfalls, and geothermal springs. Much of its population lives along the coast.

Iceland was settled primarily by Norse people during the late ninth century. In 930, its settlers established the Althing, one of the world’s oldest surviving parliaments. Iceland later came under Norwegian and then Danish rule. It became a sovereign kingdom united with Denmark under the same monarch in 1918 and declared itself an independent republic in 1944. Iceland’s abundant geothermal and hydroelectric resources have played an important role in its modern development.