Iceland is a Nordic island country between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is linked culturally and politically with Europe and is the region's most sparsely populated country. Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which is home to about 36% of the country's roughly 380,000 residents. The official language of the country is Icelandic.
Iceland is an island country at the confluence of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, east of Greenland and immediately south of the Arctic Circle, atop the constructive boundary of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The island country is the world's 18th largest in area and one of the most sparsely populated. It is the westernmost European country when not including Greenland and has more land covered by glaciers than continental Europe. Its total size is 103,125 km2 (39,817 sq mi) and possesses an exclusive economic zone of 751,345 km2 (290,096 sq mi).
Iceland took control of its foreign affairs in 1918 when it became a sovereign country, the Kingdom of Iceland, in a personal union with the King of Denmark. As a fully independent state, Iceland could have joined the League of Nations in 1918, but chose not to do so for cost reasons. It negotiated with Denmark to initially carry out most of its foreign relations, while maintaining full control. Denmark appointed a diplomatic envoy (Ambassador) to Iceland in 1919 and Iceland reciprocated in 1920, opening an Embassy in Copenhagen. Iceland established its own Foreign Service in April 1940 when Denmark became occupied by Nazi Germany and ties between the two countries were severed. The Republic of Iceland was founded in 1944. The Icelandic foreign service grew slowly in the post-WWII period, but increased rapidly after the mid-1990s. Iceland's closest relations are with the Nordic states, the European Union and the United States. Iceland has been a member of the United Nations since 1946. Iceland was a founding member of the World Bank in 1946 and NATO in 1949. In terms of European integration, Iceland was a founding member of the OEEC in 1948 and the Nordic Council in 1952, it joined EFTA in 1970, was a founding member of the CSCE in 1973 and the EEA in 1992 and joined Schengen in 1996.
The Progressive Party is an agrarian political party in Iceland.
Hvannadalshnjúkur or HvannadalshnúkurIcelandic pronunciation:[-ˌn̥uːkʏr̥] is a pyramidal peak on the northwestern rim of the summit crater of the Öræfajökull volcano in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. Its summit is the highest point in the country.
The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Iceland since the mid-1800s.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cyprus:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Faroe Islands:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Finland.
The Minister of Infrastructure in Iceland is the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure and forms a part of the Cabinet of Iceland. The ministry was formed in 2017 and the current minister is Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson.
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 2009 to 2013.
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is an Icelandic politician who was the prime minister of Iceland from May 2013 until April 2016. He was also chairman of the Progressive Party from 2009 to October 2016. He was elected to the Althing as the 8th member for the Reykjavík North Constituency on 25 April 2009. He has represented the Northeast Constituency as its 1st member since 27 April 2013. Taking office at 38, he was the youngest Icelander to become prime minister.
Katrín Jakobsdóttir is an Icelandic politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Iceland since 2017 and a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency since 2007.
Bjarni Benediktsson, known colloquially as Bjarni Ben, is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from January to November 2017. He has been the leader of the Icelandic Independence Party since 2009, and served as Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs from 2013 to 2017, a post he later retained under Katrín Jakobsdóttir and held until his resignation in October 2023. He is the current Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Reykjavík North is one of the six multi-member constituencies of the Althing, the national legislature of Iceland. The constituency was established in 2003 when the existing Reykjavík constituency was split into two. The constituency currently elects nine of the 63 members of the Althing using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2021 parliamentary election it had 45,361 registered electors.
South is one of the six multi-member constituencies of the Althing, the national legislature of Iceland. The constituency was established as Southern in 1959 following the nationwide extension of proportional representation for elections to the Althing. It was renamed South in 2003 when parts of Eastern and Reykjanes constituencies were merged into the Southern constituency following the re-organisation of constituencies across Iceland. South consists of the Southern and Southern Peninsula regions. The constituency currently elects nine of the 63 members of the Althing using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2021 parliamentary election it had 38,424 registered electors.
Sigrún Magnúsdóttir is an Icelandic politician. She represented the Reykjavík North Constituency in the Althingi from 2013 until 2016.
Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 29 October 2016. They were due to be held on or before 27 April 2017, but following the 2016 Icelandic anti-government protests, the ruling coalition announced that early elections would be held "in autumn".
Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir is an Icelander art curator. She specializes in contemporary art, photography, history of photography and fashion. She is associate professor of art history and art theory at the University of Iceland.
The 2016 Icelandic anti-government protests were a series of protests against the Icelandic government following the release of the Panama Papers.
