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Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 CE when the Alþingi (parliament) met for the first time. Iceland came under the reign of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish kings but regained full sovereignty from the Danish monarchy on 1 December 1918, when the Kingdom of Iceland was established.
1,245 Icelanders, Icelandic Americans, and Icelandic Canadians were registered as soldiers during World War I. 989 fought for Canada, whereas 256 fought for the United States. 391 of the combatants were born in Iceland, the rest were of Icelandic descent. 10 women of Icelandic descent and 4 women born in Iceland served as nurses for the Allies ...
Norsemen landing in Iceland – a 19th-century depiction by Oscar Wergeland. The Sagas of Icelanders say that a Norwegian named Naddodd (or Naddador) was the first Norseman to reach Iceland; in the ninth century, he named it Snæland or "Snowland" because it was snowing.
Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, billionaire entrepreneur; Björgólfur Guðmundsson, former billionaire entrepreneur, father of Thor Björgólfsson (above); Eggert Magnússon, businessman and former chairman of the English Premiership football club West Ham United
Large numbers of Icelanders began to emigrate from Iceland in the 1850s. It has been estimated that 17,000 Icelanders migrated to North America in the period 1870–1914, and that 2,000 of them moved back to Iceland; this net loss, 15,000, was about 20% of the Icelandic population in 1887. [ 5 ]
While the written sources emphasise settlement from Norway, genetic evidence shows that the founder population of Iceland came from Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia: studies of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomes indicate that 62% of Icelanders' matrilineal ancestry derives from Scotland and Ireland (with most of the rest being from ...
Gaelic was the native language to many of the early Icelanders. Although the Icelandic or Norse language prevails, northern trade routes brought German, English, Dutch, French and Basque to Iceland. Some merchants and clergymen settled in Iceland throughout the centuries, leaving their mark on culture, but linguistically mainly trade, nautical ...
The Danes grant Icelanders free trade. [citation needed] 1871: The Danish Parliament passes the Stöðulög laws. [citation needed] First women's secondary school Kvennaskólinn í Reykjavík is founded by Thora Melsted. 1874: The King of Denmark visits Iceland and grants Icelanders a constitution. 1000 years of settlement celebrated throughout ...