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Mid-Atlantic Ridge and adjacent plates. Volcanoes indicated in red.. In geological terms, Iceland is a young island. It started to form in the Miocene era about 20 million years ago from a series of volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where it lies between the North American Plate and Eurasian Plate.
The oldest known source which mentions the name "Iceland" is an eleventh-century rune carving from Gotland. There is a possible early mention of Iceland in the book De mensura orbis terrae by the Irish monk Dicuil, dating to 825. [9] Dicuil claimed to have met some monks who had lived on the island of Thule. They said that darkness reigned ...
Southern Iceland is hit by two earthquakes, the first 6.6 M L and the second 6.5 M L. There were no fatalities but a few people were injured and there was some considerable damage to infrastructure. 2004: 2 June: The president of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, refuses to sign a bill from the parliament for the first time in the nation's ...
Bruno Icher of Libération wrote that the film exhibits the director's appreciation for "the paganistic charm of Iceland" and creates an impression of moving between fiction and investigation; the critic called it a "throbbing and delirious lullaby where discerning the true from the false does not have the slightest importance". [3]
Iceland's stock market, the Iceland Stock Exchange (ISE), was established in 1985. [147] Iceland is ranked 27th in the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, lower than in prior years but still among the freest in the world. [148] As of 2016, it ranks 29th in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitive Index, one place lower than in 2015. [149]
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. On 17 June 1944, Iceland became a republic.
The history of glaciation on Iceland began 3.3 million years ago, marking a dramatic change in environmental conditions. [17] Glaciers cover about 11% of Iceland; easily the largest of these is Vatnajökull. Icelandic glaciers have generally been retreating over the past 100 years.
The National Archives of Iceland (Icelandic: Þjóðskjalasafn Íslands [ˈθjouðˌscaːlaˌsapn ˈistlan(t)s]) is the national archive of Iceland, located in Reykjavík.The National Archives, holding materials on Icelandic history from the era of the sagas in the 12th century to present, contributes greatly to historical research on the rights and role of Icelandic society.