I have a brother-in-law who has visited Iceland a lot and calls it the world's largest trailer park, but he is a disreputable individual and so we will go with some info from Wikipedia, which probably is only slightly more reliable than my brother-in-law (who is scum):
The Republic of Iceland . . . is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi), making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe.[7] The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate.Monks might have been the first to settle Iceland, and Vikings or some other Scandinavians apparently followed. The first settlers apparently arrived before 800 AD,
The period of these early settlements coincided with the Medieval Warm Period, when temperatures were similar to those of the early 20th century.[23] At this time, about 25% of Iceland was covered with forest, compared to 1% in the present day.[24]Those motherfucking SUV's were heating up the climate even then.
Anyway, the island was Danish for a long time, then became independent in 1944, which seems like a weird time to go rogue, what with World War II going on and all, but what the fuck do I know. I invite my European correspondent to chime in on this.
Because Iceland is a patronymic society, which last names based on the gender of the individual combined with the name of the father of that individual -- for instance, a man named August could father a son and a daughter, and the son's last name would be Augustson, while the daughter's last name would be Augustdottir -- it is impossible to tell whether a child is a product of a marriage or not.
Hence, the society really never has had any stigma attached to illegitimate birth, meaning they fuck like bunnies, hence the "world's largest trailer park" appellation. Hope I'm not offending any Icelanders, but hey, y'all are the ones fucking like bunnies.
Anyway, welcome to Eff You nation, and come back soon. Bring your friends!
1 comment:
I am by no means an expert in Icelandic history. You probably know more of it, as you're read a Wikipedia entry, and I haven't...
This is how I think it went: (Your Icelandic reader can probably explain it better.)
The Icelanders were always quite nationalistic, and did not like to be ruled by southern poofters. So, the Icelanders made a bit of stink about it for a couple hundred years.
Denmark recognised Iceland as a sovereign country in 1918, but the two countries still had the same King as their heads of State. This was, of course, the Danish king. This was a temporary arrangement, and when the time was up, the Icelanders just severed the ties to Denmark. This happened to be in 1944.
/Your reader in Denmark, who just happens not to be a southern poofter.
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