Why is iceland named iceland

Erik the Red who was previously exiled from Iceland named the land in hopes of attracting more people and building a community. Did you know Eismitte, Greenland is the second coldest place on earth? Despite the incredibly cold environment, approximately 56, people reside there. It is also home to some of the most beautiful species on the planet including musk oxen, walruses, humpback whales and more.

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Videos Beyond Hollywood Hungerlust Pioneers of love. Evidently not everyone believed him as within 50 years around 20, people left Norway to live in Iceland — but the name stuck! Historically, Icelanders have met adversity full on, confronting natural disasters, famine, isolation and colonial domination. In Iceland, family ties are strong and families, friends and associates rally around to help one another.

Iceland is also a very peaceful nation with a high level of trust in society. It is an egalitarian society, without aristocracy or underclass, largely free of stigma and low on prejudice, where everyone is on first name terms and the crime rate is the lowest in Europe. There is also an underlying optimism in Icelandic people, as they find it easy and acceptable to try out different things, and not feel like they are stuck on one particular path.

Iceland has an abundance of clean, renewable energy thanks to its remarkable geography and geology that provides both hydro- and geothermal resources. They are world leaders and true pioneers when it comes to sustainable energy production. If Halldor were to father a son, he would be named Eirikur Halldorsson. This effectively means that there could be several different second names in the same family.

Not having surnames means that titles are not used either, which creates an informal atmosphere in the workplace and at school. Icelanders are also listed alphabetically in the phone book, but by first name. Iceland has an unusually rich folklore and thanks to 19th century scholars Jon Arnason and Magnus Grimsson, we know quite a lot about it.

They visited every farm on the island, collecting enough short stories to fill six volumes, each numbering around pages! A large number of these stories are anecdotes about elves and trolls.

All around the island are rocks, cliffs and hillocks, which are known elf sites, and where not even the Public Roads Authority would dare to bulldoze in case they disturb them. In contrast, trolls are giant cave-dwelling beings with a vicious temper and an appetite for human flesh. The thirteen Christmas Lads are the sons of the troll-wife Gryla and her husband Leppaludi. Children leave a sock on the window-ledge — the well-behaved hoping for a gift.

Another mainstay of the Icelandic diet is lamb. It is no surprise, then, that sheep outnumber people in Iceland about three to one. In terms of religion, Christianity is the dominant religion in Iceland, specifically Lutheranism. Most Icelanders are members of the Lutheran State Church. Other Icelanders belong to other Christian denominations such as Roman Catholicism. Icelanders take pride in the fact that their economy does not expose them to a lot of harmful substances as it does in other advanced, industrialized countries.

Another important aspect of the Icelandic economy is that compared to other advanced countries, there is much less income inequality. Iceland also has a strong welfare state. Iceland is a parliamentary democracy. It was established in CE. There is also a judicial branch that runs independently of the executive and legislative branches.

According to this book, the first people to settle in Iceland were Irish monks. The number of settlers grew rapidly in subsequent years, and by , an assembly, the Althing, was created to govern the rapidly-growing Icelandic society. In the mid th century, the Icelanders recognized the King of Norway as their ruler. In , however, Norway and Iceland entered a union under the rule of the Danish crown. Hence, Iceland became Danish territory.

Under Danish rule, Lutheranism was imposed on Iceland.