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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 70 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Iceland
Icelandic. Icelandic comes from old Norse, with a few added characters of their own.
| Supposedly what two European countries did the Iceland settlers first come from? | Incredible Iceland
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Norway and Ireland. This is where they got their old Norse from. Also, the Icelanders adopted the Norse way of last names: taking the first name of your father and putting either son or daughter respectively after it. For example: Erikson (Erik's son)
Folk lore says that the Irish came to Iceland, but there is no actual evidence.
9th. Iceland has some of the best kept accounts of the Viking sagas from around that time period.
103,000 sq km. Iceland may be fairly large, but there are only three people (on average) per square km.
Reykjavik. Vatnajokull is a glacier and Breidamerkurjokull is a southern outlet.
Smoky Bay. Reykjavik has a population of approximately 108,000 people.
| At the beginning of the 21st century what was the approximate population of Iceland? | Incredible Iceland
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295,000. Most of the inhabitants of Iceland live along the southern parts of their country.
11.5. Vatnajokull is Iceland's largest glacier.
| What season causes Iceland to be referred to as 'the land of the midnight sun'? | Incredible Iceland
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summer. Due to the tilt of the earth's axis, the sun shines almost directly on the upper part of the planet, causing 20 hours of sunlight in summer.
the Althing. It was established in 930 and is called the oldest surviving legislative assembly in the world.
constitutional republic. Its constitution was signed June 16, 1944 when it achieved independence from Denmark.
the sea. The flag is blue with a red cross extending to the flag's ends, with the vertical section of the cross shifted to the left. The red cross is outlined in white. Also, the white is snow and the red stands for volcanoes.
almost 300,000. About 93% of these people live in urban areas of the country.
90. That would be about 252,000 people.
$7,700,000,000. Just a side note, the current unemployment rate is around 2% in Iceland.
Hydroelectric. Hydroelectricity forms about 82.5% of their energy.
f. Iceland's currency is the kronur.
1000. 1000 marked a big year for Iceland, because not only did they adopt Christianity, but they did it peacefully, without a big fight.
70%. Due to the warm Gulf Stream that rises up towards Iceland, there are places that make for great feeding grounds for fish, so fish is a really big part of their economy.
Tomsson. In Iceland, they use the traditional way of their people, they take their father's first name and place 'son' or 'dottir' after the name.
| Iceland boasts the oldest functioning parliament, the Althingi. How many members, though, does it hold? | More Incredible Iceland
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63. The Althingi was formed in 930 A.D.
| Iceland has a literacy rate of 99.9%. This is due greatly to the fact that school is mandatory for all children between the ages of 7-16. In what year was this made obligatory? | More Incredible Iceland
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1946. In 1907, the Icelandic government made school mandatory for all children aged 10-14. However, in 1946, they changed that rule, because before then, most children were taught in their homes before they turned 10.
| Iceland has a traditional kind of food known as 'thorramatur'. What months are they most often eaten? | More Incredible Iceland
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January to March. 'Thorramatur' is a variety of foods including: smoked and salted lamb, singed sheep heads, dried fish, smoked and pickled salmon, cured shark and many other interesting munchies.
1918. This happened on December 1, 1918. In 1944, Iceland was declared a republic on June 17th.
t. This is true, for a period from the late 1700's until 1843, the Althingi was overruled. I hope you enjoyed this quiz! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to tell me.
| We begin our trip by landing in the Leifur Eriksson International Airport. Where is it located? | Amazing Iceland
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Keflavik. All the towns have airports. Jets can land in Reykjavik and Akureyri but only small airplanes can land in Fludir. Keflavik is however home to the (soon to close down, 2006) US airbase and the Leifur Eiriksson International Airport.
| We continue east and after having passed the geothermal power plant of Nesjavallavirkjun we encounter the largest lake in Iceland. This lake is named after the most sacred place in the country. What is it called? | Amazing Iceland
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Thingvallavatn. This is where the continental plates of Europe and Northern America are splitting. It is the birthplace of Althing, the oldest parliament in the world. Thingvallavatn is also a great fishing lake and 90MW of power are generated from the flow of the Sogid River.
| We continue eastward, past Mt. Hekla, Skógafoss, Dyrhólaey and Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Soon we start to see the white cover of the biggest glacier in Europe. What's its name? | Amazing Iceland
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Vatnajokull. Vatnajokull was originally named Klofajokull. The reasons for this are not known but a popular theory suggests that 1000 years ago the glacier was actually split and the glacier drew its name from that. (Ad klyfja = to split)
| We continue, first to the east but the slowly but surely start moving north. This area is called Austfirdir (Eastern fjords) and is an area of many fjords and small towns. By taking a slight detour we drive down into a narrow but beautiful fjord. It's the place where the Smyrill Line ferry arrives to Iceland. What is the name of this town (and fjord)? | Amazing Iceland
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Seidisfjordur. Seidisfjordur is a beautiful town with a history centre. It hasn't grown much for the last 50 years but was an important town in the past, especially as the telephone line that connected Iceland with Europe came up in it.
| We now start moving west. We cross a deserted area called Öræfi and marvel at the sight of the queen of mountains in Iceland, namely Herdubreid. We take a right turn when we reach Jokulsa a Fjollum river. This is a small detour, just so we can see the most powerful waterfall in Europe. What's its name? | Amazing Iceland
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Dettifoss. Dettifoss is the biggest and most powerful waterfall in Europe. It's unlikely that its power will ever be used for electricity generation because it's situated inside the Jokulsargljufur national park.
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