Downtown Reykjavík
1000 AD: Conversion to Christianity, discovery of America Until the 10th century, the predominant religion in Iceland was Ásatrú, the worship of the Norse gods: Óðinn, Þór, and the like. In the 980s, Christian missionaries started spreading the faith, leading to violent confrontations. The two factions asked Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði Þorkelsson to mediate. He lay under a bear hide for a day and a night, eventually coming to the conclusion that Iceland should be a Christian country; however, worshipping the old gods was allowed as long as you didn’t do it in public! Iceland remained Roman Catholic until 1540, when it converted to Lutheran Protestantism. The Catholic Bishops Jón Arason and Ögmundur Pálsson violently opposed the Reformation. That opposition came to an abrupt end with the beheading of Jón Arason in 1550. The year 1000 is also when Leif “The Lucky” Eiríksson discovered America, or “Wine Land” as he called it. He was planning on sailing to Greenland, but was blown off course to the west, where he saw land. Leifur settled for a winter in Leifsbúðir, in Newfoundland, in modern-day Canada, along with his crew.
Later, in the 14th century, the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden became one kingdom, and when they split up again, Iceland somehow wound up under Danish rule. Even today, Icelanders are confused and even a little sore about the whole situation. 1602: Monopoly (not the fun kind) In the 1500s, English and German fishermen and traders set up posts in Iceland and traded with the Icelanders. Seeing a mutually beneficial situation that brought prosperity to his subjects, Christian IV, King of Denmark naturally decided he wasn’t having it. He granted exclusive rights to trade in Iceland to certain merchants. It is hard to overstate how devastating this decision was. The prices were fixed and the system led to economic stagnation in Iceland until the monopoly was abolished in 1786.
These and other stories are written down in the Sagas of the Icelanders, an extensive body of 13th century writings.
The 1750s: The Enlightenment and the birth of Reykjavík Until the middle of the 1750s, Reykjavík was just a single farm, and Iceland had no towns or villages of any kind. Sheriff Skúli Magnússon was a man of the Enlightenment. He picked Reykjavík to become the centre of modernisation, and pioneered the building of wool workshops, one of which still stands, at Aðalstræti 10. This marked the beginning of Iceland’s rise out of the Dark Ages.
1262 AD: Iceland submits to Norway In the years leading up to 1262, the Icelandic chieftains gradually became more and more powerful, until the whole country was embroiled in a state of constant civil war, waged by seven powerful clans. To end the war, the leaders submitted peacefully to Haakon IV, King of Norway. The story is preserved in the Sturlunga Saga, written down as the events were taking place, or shortly after.
1845 AD: The reestablishment of the parliament and the independence movement The Enlightenment came to Iceland, and with it, nationalism. Chief among the Icelandic independence campaigners was Jón Sigurðsson, whose birthday, June 17, was later chosen as Iceland's Independence Day. The movement led to the re-establishment of the Icelandic Parliament as an advisory body
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Ingólfur Aarnarson
to the King in 1845. This was followed by home rule in 1905, sovereignty in 1918, and independence in 1944, when Denmark was too busy being invaded by Germany to do much about it. 20th century: The world wars and modernisation Industry and urbanisation were growing, but Iceland had quite a lot of catching up to do. The years between 1900-1910 saw such novelties as electricity, the first car, and the first trawler, which marked the beginning of the modernisation of the fishing industry. In the World Wars, selling products to the Allies and servicing the American occupying force brought about an economic boom (as well as cultural influence, such as TV and jazz). This catapulted Iceland into the 20th century. To this day, Icelandic culture remains fascinated with new and foreign things, technology, and culture. 21st century: Crash and miraculous recovery Since the 1950s, Iceland’s economy was characterised by rather high inflation. In the late 1990s, the commercial banking system was privatised and the law was changed to ease restrictions on trade. Following incredible growth in all things financial, the bubble finally burst in a spectacular manner, in October 2008. The currency of Iceland, the króna, fell by 50% overnight. People lost their jobs, their houses, and their livelihood and finally, to top it all off, McDonald's left the country. Since then, Iceland has caught the attention of the international community because of how quickly the economy recovered.