Country of ICELAND

8/12/2019 Country of ICELAND

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ICELAND

Iceland ofers a wide choice o experiences or the traveller, regardless owhen you visit the country Every season has its own uni!ue char" and thereare always opportunities to experience new things, discover #eauty and #e"es"eri$ed #y the reshness and colours o nature Every season will leaveyou with a host o unorgetta#le "e"ories

ABOUT USEsta#lished in 1%&&, the 'epu#lic o Iceland (oined the European )ree *radeAssociation +E)*A in 1%-. and signed a #ilateral )ree *rade Agree"ent withthe European Co""unities in 1%-/ In 1%%&, Iceland #eca"e ully integratedinto the European single "ar0et when it (oined the European Econo"ic Area

+EEA

*hrough the EEA Agree"ent, Iceland has already ta0en on a large part o theE2s single "ar0et legislation In act, // o the 34 chapters o all Elegislation has "ore or less #een incorporated into Icelandic legislation, andIceland participates in various E progra""es

Retrieve from http://www.iceland.is/iceland-abroad/

Iceland i56a7 s l8 n d5+ Icelandic9 sland, I:A9 ;6istlant


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ntil the /.th century, the Icelandersrelied largely on shing andagriculture, and the country was one o the least developed in the regionIndustrialisation o the sheries and aid through the nited Htates ?arshall:lanollowingJorld Jar II#rought prosperity and, #y the 1%%.s, Iceland haddeveloped as one o the wealthiest and "ost developed nations in the world

In 1%%&, Iceland #eca"e party to the European Econo"ic Area, whichsupported diversication o the econo"y into econo"ic and nancialservices

Iceland has a ree@"ar0et econo"y with relatively low corporatetaxesco"pared to other >ECDcountries ;%


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According to #oth LandnM"a#0and slendinga#0, Celtic "on0s 0nown asthe :aparlived in Iceland #eore the Norse settlers arrived, possi#ly"e"#ers o a Ki#erno@Hcottish "ission 'ecent archaeologicalexcavationshave revealed the ruins o a ca#in in Kaniron the 'ey0(anespeninsula Car#on datingindicates that it was a#andoned so"ewhere

#etween --. and ., suggesting that Iceland was populated well #eore-& *his archaeological nd "ay also indicate that the "on0s let Iceland#eore the Norse arrived;1&uter Ke#rides, #otha#out -&. 0" +&B. "i= and the Hcottish "ainland and >r0ney, #oth a#out-4. 0" +&-. "i *he "ainland o Norway is a#out %-. 0" +B.. "i away

A sa"ple o three typical Icelandic landscapes

Iceland is the worlds 1th largest island, and Europes second largest islandater Great Rritain *he "ain island is 1.1,/B 0"/+3%,314 s! "i, #ut theentire country is 1.3,... 0"/+3%,-B4 s! "i in si$e, o which B/-Tistundra *here are thirty "inor islands in Iceland, including the lightlypopulated Gr"sey and the Oest"annaey(ararchipelago La0es and glacierscover 1&3T o its surace= only /3T is vegetated;3-


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&ee also: #celand pl*me

*he erupting Geysirin Kau0adalurvalley, the oldest 0nown geyserin theworld

A geologically young land, Iceland is located on #oth the Iceland hotspotandthe ?id@Atlantic 'idge, which runs right through it *his location "eans thatthe island is highly geologically active with "any volcanoes,nota#ly Ke0la, Eldg(M,KerPu#reiPand Eldell;&/n /1 ?arch /.1., a volcano in Ey(a(alla(Z0ullin the south o Icelanderupted or the rst ti"e since 1/1, orcing B.. people to Fee their ho"es;&-


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limate;editECDcountries and a potential i"pedi"ent to structural change Also, healthcare and education spending have relatively poor returns #y >ECD"easures, though i"prove"ents have #een "ade in #oth areas *he>ECD .conomic &*rve! o" #celand 2008had highlighted Icelands

challenges in currency and "acroecono"ic policy;1..cto#ertrading in Icelands #an0s was suspended as the govern"ent #attled tosave the econo"y;1.1


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#an0 through changes in law DavP was re"oved on /B )e#ruary /..% inthe wa0e o protests outside the Central Ran0;1.%ECD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menntask%C3%B3linn_%C3%AD_Reykjav%C3%ADkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(school)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Education,_Science_and_Culture_(Iceland)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschoolinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#cite_note-132http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#cite_note-Jonathan_Fox-133http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(school)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reykjav%C3%ADk_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reykjav%C3%ADk_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Akureyrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifr%C3%B6st_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menntask%C3%B3linn_%C3%AD_Reykjav%C3%ADkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(school)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Education,_Science_and_Culture_(Iceland)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschoolinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#cite_note-132http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#cite_note-Jonathan_Fox-133http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(school)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reykjav%C3%ADk_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reykjav%C3%ADk_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Akureyrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_University_of_Icelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifr%C3%B6st_University


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average o -3T A"ong /4S3& year@olds, only B%T have earned thee!uivalent o a high@school degree, signicantly lower than the >ECDaverage o .T;-1ne such genetics study has indicated that the "a(ority o the "alesettlers were o Nordic origin while the "a(ority o the wo"en wereoGaelicorigin ;13BDE geneticshasunded the creation o a genealogydata#ase which atte"pts to cover allo Icelands 0nown inha#itants It views the data#ase,called slendin)abk, as a valua#le tool or conducting research on

genetic diseases, given the relative isolation o Icelands population*he population o the island is #elieved to have varied ro" &.,...SB.,... in the period ranging ro" initial settle"ent until the "id@1%thcentury During that ti"e, cold winters, ash all ro" volcanic eruptions,and #u#onic plaguesadversely afected the population several ti"es;


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revealed that the population was then 4.,34 Ater the destructivevolcanic eruptions o the La0i volcano during 1-3S&, the populationreached a low o a#out &.,...;13


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In Dece"#er /..-, 33,B- people +134T o the total population living inIceland had #een #orn a#road, including children o Icelandic parentsliving a#road Around 1%,... people +BT o the population held oreignciti$enship :olishpeople "a0e up the largest "inority group #y aconsidera#le "argin, and still or" the #ul0 o the oreign wor0orceA#out ,... :oles now live in Iceland, 1,4.. o the"in 'eyPar(ZrPurwhere they "a0e up -4T o the wor0orce who areconstructing the )(arParMl alu"iniu" plant;1&/


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peoples E"igration to the nited Htates and Canada #egan in the 1-.s*oday, Canada has over ,... people o Icelandicdescent, ;1&Bld Norse than the other Nordiclanguages= Icelandic has preserved "ore ver# and noun inFection, andhas to a considera#le extent developed new voca#ulary #ased on native

roots rather than #orrowings ro" other languages *he puristic tendencyin the develop"ent o Icelandic voca#ulary is to a large degree a result oconscious language planning, in addition to centuries o isolationIcelandic is the only living language to retain the use othe runicletter Vin Latin script *he closest living relative o the Icelandiclanguage is )aroese

Icelandic Hign Languagewas oYcially recognised as a "inority languagein /.11 In education, its use or Icelands dea co""unity is regulated#ythe ational '*rric*l*m G*ide

English and Danishare co"pulsory su#(ects in the school curriculu"

Roth languages are widely understood and spo0en

;1&ther co""onlyspo0en languages areHwedish, Norwegian, Ger"anand )rench Danish is"ostly spo0en in a way largely co"prehensi#le to Hwedes andNorwegians[it is oten reerred to asskandinav@ska+i e &candinavian inIceland;1&%ECD ;-1ECD surveyound that %T #elieve they 0now so"eone they could rely on in a ti"eo need, higher than in any other industriali$ed country Hi"ilarly, only BTreported rarely or never sociali$ing with others;-1


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ran0ed a"ong the top three countries in the world or wo"en to live in;1-/riginating in the 1&th century, r@m*rwere popularinto the 1%th century, when the develop"ent o new literary or"s wasprovo0ed #y the inFuential, National@'o"anticwriter Xnas Kallgr"ssonIn recent ti"es, Iceland has produced "any great writers, the #est@0nowno who" is argua#ly Kalldr Laxness, who received the No#el :ri$e inLiteraturein 1%44 +the only Icelander to win a No#el :ri$e thus ar HteinnHteinarrwas an inFuential "odernist poet during the early /.th century

who re"ains popularIcelanders are avid consu"ers o literature, with the highest nu"#er o#oo0stores per capita in the world )or its si$e, Iceland i"ports andtranslates "ore international literature than any other nation;1-1


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at 'oyal Danish Acade"y o )ine Artsat that ti"e, including sgr"urXnsson, who together with Vrarinn created a distinctive portrayal oIcelands landscape in a ro"antic naturalistic style >ther landscapeartists !uic0ly ollowed in the ootsteps o Vrarinn and sgr"ur *heseincludedXhannes W(arvalandXQlana Hveinsdttir W(arval in particular is

noted or the distinct techni!ues in the application o paint that hedeveloped in a concerted efort to render the characteristicvolcanicroc0that do"inates the Icelandic environ"ent Einar KM0onarsonis anexpressionistic and gurative painter who #y so"e is considered to have#rought the gure #ac0 into Icelandic painting In the 1%.s, "anyIcelandic artists wor0ed with the su#(ect o the new painting in their wor0

In the recent years artistic practice has "ultiplied, and the Icelandic artscene has #eco"e a setting or "any large scale pro(ects and exhi#itions*he artist run gallery space Wling og Rang, "e"#ers o which later ranthe studio co"plex and exhi#ition venue Wlin0 og Ran0, has #een asignicant part o the trend o sel@organised spaces, exhi#itions and

pro(ects;1--


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>arliamentar+ proposal on withdrawal of IcelandCs *U application

/4//.1&

A proposal has #een put orward in :arlia"ent on the withdrawal oIcelands application or accession to the European nion and onentrusting the Govern"ent with strengthening cooperation with the Eand the European states At the sa"e ti"e, it is proposed that a newapplication or "e"#ership to the E will not #e su#"itted without aprior reerendu" on whether the people o Iceland ai" to (oin thenion *he proposal is in line with the Govern"ents policy that it is inIcelands #est interest to re"ain outside the E

Hince the Govern"ent ca"e to power in ?ay /.13, it hasi"ple"ented its European policy, which was stated as ollows in the

Govern"ental plator"9

jAccession negotiations with the E will #e put on hold and the statuso the negotiations and develop"ents within the E will #e assessed*he assess"ent will #e su#"itted to Althingi or de#ate and presentedto the nation Accession negotiations will not #e continued without aprior reerendu"k

Negotiations with the E were put on hold in Xune /.13 and theIcelandic negotiating co""ittee and negotiating tea"s dissolved An

assess"ent #y the niversity o Icelands Institute o Econo"ic Htudieso the status o the accession negotiations and the develop"entswithin the nion was presented in :arlia"ent on 1% )e#ruary

Co""ents to the proposal state, that in light o all o the a#ove, thegovern"ent considers it necessary that there should #e no dou#t as tothe status o the "e"#ership application It is thereore #est,considering the governing parties policy and with regard to theInstitute o Econo"ic Htudies report, to withdraw the "e"#ershipapplication At the sa"e ti"e, the proposal stresses the i"portance ostrengthening the cooperation with the E and the European Htates,

who are, and continue to #e, Icelands pri"ary partners in "any areas,#ased on the Agree"ent on the European Econo"ic Area

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Country of ICELAND