History of Iceland

Origin

In 825, in De Mensura Orbis Terrae , the Irish monk-geographer Dicuil mentions the island where the hermits had already their practices. The Iceland was initially colonized by Norwegian immigrants and Celtes (Écossais and Irish) at the end of the IX {{E}} (874) and at the 10th century. The first colonizer, the Viking Ingólfr Arnarson settles close to the current site of Reykjavík. In a half century, nearly 400 primarily Norwegian families are established on the island with their slaves. The colonists, eager to acquire their autonomy, created one of the first Parliaments in the world, the Alþing (“ Alþingi ”). Installation in 930 at Þingvellir, this institution met once per annum, in spite of a few periods of interruption (in particular of 1800 with 1845). Under the pressure of the king of Norway, the Alþing adopted the Christianisme like official religion of the Icelandic community towards the end of the 10th century, which resulted in the creation of two évêchés (in 1056 and 1106) placed under the authority of the archbishop of Trondheim. The christianization of the island opened the way with the assertion of the Icelandic Langue and at a remarkable literary golden age, marked by large the sagas.

The Norwegian and Danish influence

Act of union with Denmark

Starting from the middle of the 19th century, independence movements transfer the day. The Althing (Parliament unicaméral of Iceland) was restored in 1844. At the time of the Large national gathering ( Þjóðfundur ) of 1851, Jón Sigurðsson guided the Icelanders in their resistance to the adoption of the Danish Constitution of 1849 (in Danish: Danmarks Riges Grundlov ). The Constitution was never formally adopted in Iceland, and after years of fights, the Danish government granted Iceland, in 1874, a limited constitution, guaranteeing a broad autonomy in the interior matters to him, with the granting of a legislative power in Althing.

In 1918, following the behavior of a referendum, the mode of the personal union was issued between Denmark and Iceland, which meant that the king of Denmark remained the king of Iceland, but that the two kingdoms formally became distinct.

The autonomy of Iceland compared to the crown of the Denmark had been devoted by an Act of Union the November 30th 1918. Iceland was autonomous but recognized the king of Denmark like his sovereign. The act of Union stipulated that the Denmark preserved sovereignty on the businesses of defense and the foreign affairs of Iceland. It was envisaged to re-examine this Act of Union 25 years after, in 1943.

The second world war

The April 9th 1940, the Denmark is invaded and fall under control from the Nazi Germany. This invasion was felt in the United Kingdom like a main risk of control of the Northern Atlantique by the German . Indeed, if the German submarines were supplied in the Danish possessions, the Faroe Islands, the Iceland, or the Greenland, they could acquire a particularly frightening superiority in the naval operations and would have become even more threatening for the convoys of supply on the way towards the Soviet Union.

To mitigate this danger, one month after the German invasion of the Denmark, the British troops invade the Iceland (however neutral) and are installed authority on the airport of Keflavik, with 45 kilometers in the south of the capital Reykjavik, and in the fjord of Hvalfjördhur, a harbor site with 50 kilometers in the north of the city. They will be 25.000 men, for a population of approximately 120.000 Icelanders. The first elements of the American Armée arrived in Iceland in August 1941. They settled in the camps of the British Armée. Althing was led to appoint a regent before pronouncing in May 1942 total political separation between Iceland and Denmark.

Officially neutral, the Iceland played a strategic part in the conflict while making it possible the British and American forces to operate since bases located on its national territory and to thus ensure the control of the North Atlantic by the allies.

Secession with Denmark

The treaty of Union between Iceland and the Denmark was to be renegotiated in 1943, but Denmark was in impossibility of intervening. The Icelanders decided to act unilaterally. They organized a referendum at the beginning of 1944, to know if the population approved the secession. There was 98,6% voters, and 97,3% of them decided for yes. The June 17th 1944, day of the 133e birthday of the birth of the Icelandic nationalist Jón Sigurðsson (1811 - 1879), the Icelandic Parliament proclaimed the Republic with Thingvellir. Sveinn Björnsson was the first President. The new Republic was recognized by the Alliées powers and the Soviet Union. The king Christian X, sovereign of Denmark occupied by the German , sent a telegram to wish the maintenance of the Union, but also to incline himself in front of the accomplished fact.

Contemporary time

Iceland free, but was always occupied by the American troops. Contrary to the contractual obligations, the government of the United States, indicator to come the Cold war and benefitting from the strategic position of Iceland, did not want to repatriate its troops at the end of the war, and claimed even permanent bases in the country. The Icelandic government refused. A compromise was signed in 1946: the United States would keep the control of the airport of Keflavik during 6 years and half. In 1951, during the War of Korea, the United States obtained the permission to make station troops in Iceland, but this time under the banner of NATO. In 1985, the Icelandic Parliament prohibited any passage of atomic weapon on its ground. Until the end of the years 1980, the United States had dispatched 3000 men to take care of the safety of Iceland, they were not more that 1900 in 2006, when the US president decided to withdraw them. The American base of Keflavik, is indeed since September 30th, 2006 empty, the 1900 men whom the latter counted, the United States reinstated. The Icelandic sky was protected by 4 F15 hunters, which were supplied by a tanker KC 135. Only operational residence a radar tracking station and this until August 15th, 2007, negotiations must take place to know its to become. Nevertheless, within the framework of the bilateral agreement of 1951, the United States, commits itself intervening in Iceland if need be.

Questions of national sovereignty

Another question of national sovereignty agitated the first decades of the République Icelander: it is the right to manage fish stocks around the island. In 1964, to fight against surpêche of the British boats, the Icelandic government extends its limiting territorial from 4 to 12 miles around its coasts. Then, in 1972, it extends its limits to 50 miles nautical. The the United Kingdom sent warships to protect its trawlers. In 1975, Iceland repeats and extends its territorial limits to 200 miles, causing the third “ war of the cod ”. In 1976, after the diplomatic rupture between the two countries (the first case between two countries of NATO), then the return to the table of the negotiations, the Great Britain accepted the new limits.

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