BASIC
INFORMATION
Full
Name: ICELAND
Capital
Reykjavík
Largest city Reykjavík
Official language
Icelandic
Government
Const. republic
Area 103,000 km²
Population
300,000
Currency Icelandic
króna (ISK)
Time
zone (UTC 0)
Internet
TLD .is
Calling
code +354
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GEOGRAPHY
& BACKGROUND
Iceland,
officially the Republic of Iceland (Icelandic:
Ísland or Lýðveldið
Ísland IPA: ['lið?v?ld?ð?
'island]) is a volcanic island nation in
the northern Atlantic Ocean between Greenland,
Norway, the islands of Great Britain &
Ireland, and the Faroe Islands.
Iceland
is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just
south of the Arctic Circle, which passes
through the small island of Grímsey
off Iceland's northern coast, but not through
mainland Iceland. Unlike neighbouring Greenland,
Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe,
not a part of North America. Due to cultural,
economic and linguistic similarities, Iceland
in many contexts is also included in Scandinavia.
It is the world's 18th largest island, and
Europe's 2nd largest island following Great
Britain.
Approximately
10 percent of the island is glaciated. Many
fjords punctuate its 3,088 miles (4,970
km) long coastline, which is also where
most towns are situated because the island's
interior, the Highlands of Iceland, is a
cold and uninhabitable combination of sands
and mountains. The major towns are the capital
Reykjavík, Keflavík, where
the national airport is situated, and Akureyri.
The island of Grímsey on the Arctic
Circle contains the northernmost habitation
of Iceland.
The
only native land mammal when humans arrived
was the arctic fox. It came to the island
at the end of the ice age, walking over
the frozen sea. There are no native reptiles
or amphibians on the island. There are around
1,300 known species of insects in Iceland
(ca. 1,100 of them endemic), which is rather
low compared with other countries (there
are about 925,000 known species in the world).
During the last Ice Age almost all of the
country was covered by permanent snow and
glacier ice. This explains the low number
of living species in Iceland.
When
humans arrived, birch forest and woodland
probably covered 25-40% of Iceland’s
land area. But soon the settlers started
to remove the trees and forests to create
fields and grazing land. During the early
20th century the forests were at their minimum
and were almost wiped out of existence.
The planting of new forests has increased
the number of trees since, but this can
not be compared with the original forests.
Some of those planted forests have included
new foreign species.
Iceland
has four national parks: Jökulsárgljúfur
National Park, Skaftafell National Park,
Snæfellsjökull National Park,
and Þingvellir National Park.
Area
Whole country: 103,000 km² (39,768.5
mi²)
Vegetation: 23,805 km² (9,191 mi²)
Lakes: 2,757 km² (1,065 mi²)
Glaciers: 11,922 km² (4,603 mi²)
Wasteland: 64,538 km² (24,918 mi²)
Geological and volcanic activity
The volcanic lake of Grímsvötn
on the glacier of Vatnajökull.
Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in
Europe, is located in northeastern Iceland.Iceland
is located on both a geological hot spot,
thought to be caused by a mantle plume,
and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This combined
location means that the island is extremely
geologically active, having many volcanoes,
notably Hekla, Eldgjá, and Eldfell.
The volcanic eruption of Laki in 1783-1784
caused a famine that killed nearly a quarter
of the island's population; the eruption
caused dust clouds and haze to appear over
most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa
for several months after the eruption. There
are also geysers (a word derived from the
name of one in Iceland, Geysir). With this
widespread availability of geothermal power,
and also because of the numerous rivers
and waterfalls that are harnessed for hydropower,
residents of most towns have hot water and
home heat for a low price. The island itself
is composed primarily of basalt, or cooled
lava.
Iceland
controls Surtsey, one of the youngest islands
in the world. It rose above the ocean in
a series of volcanic eruptions between November
8, 1963 and June 5, 1967.
Largest
lakes
Þórisvatn (Reservoir): 83-88
km² (32-34 mi²)
Þingvallavatn: 82 km² (31.7 mi²)
Lögurinn: 53 km² (20.5 mi²)
Mývatn: 37 km² (14.3 mi²)
Hvítárvatn: 30 km² (11.6
mi²)
Hóp: 30 km² (11.6 mi²)
Langisjór: 11.6 km² (10 mi²)
Deepest lakes
Öskjuvatn: 220 m (722 ft)
Hvalvatn: 160 m (525 ft)
Jökulsárlón: 150 m (492
ft)
Þingvallavatn: 114 m (374 ft)
Þórisvatn (Reservoir): 113
m (371 ft)
Lögurinn: 112 m (367 ft)
Kleifarvatn: 97 m (318 ft)
Hvítárvatn: 84 m (276 ft)
Langisjór: 75 m (246 ft)
Distance to nearest countries and
islands
Greenland: 287 km (178 mi)
Faroe Islands: 420 km (261 mi)
Jan Mayen (Norway): 550 km (342 mi)
Scotland: 798 km (496 mi)
Norway (mainland): 970 km (603 mi)
