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Travels of the first Scandinavians in Iceland during the ninth century Landnámabók claims that the first Norseman to rest his feet on Icelandic soil was a viking by the name of Naddoddr . Naddoddr stayed for only a short period of time, but gave the country a name: Snæland (Land of Snow).
Iceland became an independent republic on 17 June 1944, with Sveinn Björnsson as its first president. Denmark was still occupied by Germany at the time. Danish King Christian X sent a message of congratulations to the Icelandic people. Iceland had prospered during the course of the war, amassing considerable currency reserves in foreign
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 ...
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.
Hjörleifr was the blood brother of Ingólfr Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland in the late 9th century. While raiding in Ireland, he found an underground passage and killed a man to take his sword. From this event his original name Leifr was lengthened to Hjǫrleifr (Old Norse hjǫrr: 'sword').
The famous statue by Einar Jónsson, up on Arnarhóll in Reykjavík Monument at Ingólfshöfði, the site where Ingólfr is said to have passed his first winter in Iceland Ingólfr Arnarson , in some sources named Bjǫrnólfsson , [ a ] ( c. 849 – c. 910 ) is commonly recognized as the first permanent Norse settler of Iceland , together with ...
The first Bishop of Skalholt was Ísleifur Gissurarson, who was elected by the Althing in 1056. After his son Gissur was installed as bishop, the power and wealth of the church quickly grew due to the introduction of tithing, the first tax introduced in Iceland. The church became the second unifying institution in the country after the Althing.
In 1905 came the first motorised fishing vessel, which marked an important step in the development of a specialised fishing industry in Iceland. Iceland exported fresh fish to Britain and salted cod to southern Europe, with Portugal an important export market. Fishing replaced agriculture as the country’s main industry.