7 interesting facts about Iceland

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Knowledge is power. And a life hacker needs knowledge doubly. In this series of articles, we collect fascinating and sometimes unexpected facts about the world around us. We hope that you will find them not only interesting, but also practically useful.

For many, Iceland is a deserted island state lost somewhere in the northern latitudes, a kingdom of ice and silence. It is unlikely that any other country can compete with Iceland in the degree of remoteness from the world's centers of civilization. However, this does not mean at all that life there froze in place. No, it is boiling with might and main and in some ways even more interesting than on the mainland.

Weather

The word Ísland is translated as "land of ice", which hints at the harsh Arctic climate. However, in fact, it is moderately cool here, with strong winds, humid and very changeable. An Icelandic proverb says, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it gets worse." The average temperature, even in winter, does not drop below -4 ° C, and in the warmest months - July and August - it can reach +20 ° C.

Nature

The local nature is so unusual that Iceland boasts many wonders, the description of which begins with the word "most". Iceland is the largest volcanic island with the largest glacier (Vatnajökull) and the most powerful waterfall (Dettifoss) in Europe. At the same time, Iceland is practically devoid of forests, they occupy only about 1% of the entire area of the island. But in the rivers of the country, the water is so clean that it is supplied to houses without any preliminary purification or filtration.

Population

Iceland is inhabited by about 330 thousand people, 80 thousand horses, 460 thousand sheep and 4 million puffins. If anyone does not know, the puffin is such a funny seabird, which is a kind of symbol of Iceland.

On the streets, you will not find a lot of foreigners or people of different races here. The state pursues such a strict immigration policy that it is almost impossible to get here for permanent residence. Therefore, the national composition is extremely homogeneous: 98, 99% are Icelanders - descendants of the Vikings, speaking the Icelandic language. The life expectancy of Icelanders is one of the highest in the world: 81.3 years for women and 76.4 years for men.

Almost no one in Iceland has a surname. People here have a name and patronymic formed on behalf of their father or mother. This is quite enough for the identification of every resident of the country. For example, the name of the Icelandic singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir literally means “Bjork, daughter of Gudmund”, and the name of the head of the Icelandic government, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, can be deciphered as “Sigurðardóttir's daughter.”

Language

In Iceland, they are very jealous of the purity of their language and do not let borrowed words into it. Therefore, the Icelandic language has remained virtually unchanged over the past 1,000 years.

There is a special language commission in the country that deals with protection from foreign influence. When a foreign concept or definition comes into use in Iceland, the commission comes up with or finds a local equivalent.

Politics

The head of state is the president, who, however, does not have too many powers. Therefore, no one wants to work as president in Iceland, and Olafur Ragnar Grímsson has to serve his fifth term in office. Moreover, twice he simply automatically remained in his place due to the lack of other candidates.

But the parliament of Iceland (althing) is considered the oldest existing in the world. Johanna Sigurdardottir, Prime Minister of Iceland, is the first head of government in world history to be officially gay.

Of the interesting political facts, one can also single out the fact that in the summer of 2009, Iceland applied to join the EU, and on March 12, 2014, it withdrew. Have changed your mind.

Army and police

Crime in Iceland is practically zero. The police here do not carry weapons, and in general there are few of them. There is no regular military force. Therefore, government spending on defense is symbolic, and this money is spent mainly on the coast guard - the only structure where men can play with weapons.

According to Forbes magazine, Iceland is ranked first in the world for peacefulness (2011).

Energy

A large number of volcanoes and geothermal waters have made Icelandic energy almost independent of oil and gas. About 85% of Iceland's energy comes from renewable resources, more than half of the energy comes from geothermal. The vast majority of Icelandic homes do not need artificial heating, but use heat from nearby natural hot springs.

According to statistics from various international organizations, Iceland regularly ranks among the top ten most favorable countries to live in the world.