Simple directory > Regional > Iceland

Official name: Lyoveldio Island (Republic of Iceland) Head of State: President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (since 1996; re-elected 26 Jun 2004) Head of government: Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson (FSF) (from 15 Sep 2004) Ruling party: Coalition of Sjálfstaeðisflokkurinn (SSF) (Independence Party) and Framsóknarflokkurinn (FSF) (Progressive Party) Area: 103,100 square km Population: 298,400 (2004) Capital: Reykjavík Official language: Icelandic Currency: Icelandic krona (Ikr) = 100 aurar Exchange rate: Ikr67.35 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$33,317 (2003) GDP real growth: 1.90% (2003) Labour force: 163,000 (2003) Unemployment: 3.30% (2003) Inflation: 2.00% (2003) Balance of trade: US$200.00 million (2003) Foreign debt: US$2.60 billion (2003) Visitor numbers: 300,000 (2003)* * estimated figure

 

Historical profile
Settled by Norwegians and Celtic (Scottish and Irish) immigrants during the late ninth and tenth centuries, Iceland boasts the world's oldest parliament, the Althingi. Iceland was under Norwegian, then Danish, rule from the thirteenth century. The severity of Iceland's terrain was frequently compounded by natural disasters leading, in the nineteenth century, to large-scale emigration to the USA and Canada. The island was granted its own constitution in the 1840s.

1903 Iceland was granted Home rule from Denmark.

1918 Iceland became a sovereign state in union with Denmark.

1940 Germany invaded Denmark. British troops were stationed in Iceland.

1944 Iceland terminated the convention linking it with Denmark and declared itself a republic.

1948 Iceland joined the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

1949 Iceland joined NATO and the Council of Europe. A large US airbase was established at Keflavík.

1953 Iceland became a founding member of the Nordic Council.

1959–71 The Coalition of Independence and Social Democratic Parties remained in power.

1960s–70s Iceland's unilateral extensions of its territorial waters to protect its fishing grounds led to the 'Cod Wars' with the UK, and in 1976, caused a temporary break in diplomatic relations, the first such break between NATO members.

1980 Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected president, the world's first popularly elected female head of state.

1985 Iceland was declared a nuclear-free zone, barring entry to all nuclear weapons.

1987 Thorsteinn Pálsson was appointed prime minister.

1991 Davíd Oddsson became prime minister of the coalition government. In the same year, Iceland quit the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after the organisation refused to consider Icelandic proposals for moderate catch quotas.

1995 Oddsson was re-elected prime minister.

1996 Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, a left-wing former finance minister, was elected president, replacing Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who stepped down after 16 years in office.

1999 The elections again returned a centre-right coalition of Sjálfstaeðisflokkurinn (SSF) (Independence Party) and Framsóknarflokkurinn (FSF) (Progressive Party) under the leadership of Prime Minister Davíd Oddsson.

2000 Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was unopposed in the presidential elections.

2002 Iceland's bid to rejoin the IWC, without signing up to the moratorium on commercial whaling, was rejected.

2003 Prime Minister Davíd Oddsson's SSF won the May parliamentary elections.

2004 Incumbent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was re-elected in the 26 June presidential elections. On 15 September, Foreign Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson (FSF) took office as prime minister, exchanging jobs with Davíd Oddsson (SSF), who stepped down after 13 years of leading governments. The transition will bring no change in government policies, which were agreed in 2003 between the two parties in the coalition government.

 

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