From the Althingi to the European Parliament

After 20 turbulent centuries of history, Iceland - an island that came into being just 20 million years ago by virtue of a whim of nature - straddling the rift between the American and Eurasian continental plates - is expected to join the European Union within the next two years. That’s provided its population, shaken by the 2008 financial crisis, gives its approval.

The country’s history goes back to the first century AD. Irish monks in search of solitude are believed to have been the first to set foot on Icelandic soil followed by the arrival of the Vikings not long after. These Norwegian colonisers fleeing the conflicts in the Kingdom of Norway gradually settled on the island’s coastline, and particularly in Reykjavik, a natural harbour and today capital of the Republic of Iceland.  

In 930 AD, the Viking tribal leaders decided to create an assembly: the Althingi. This was to be the world’s very first parliament. Even today its creation is affectionately marked by all Icelanders who make the pilgrimage to the vast plain of Thingvellir, where the ancient free men of Iceland used to gather in June of each year for 15 days of deliberations: an event that also saw popular celebrations, including poetry recitals and storytelling. During this period, the Vikings quietly converted from paganism to Christianity. The Vikings might, or might not, have been aware of the fact that, a 30 km long fault in Thingvellir also marks the boundary between the two continental plates,  

The single chamber Althingi continued when the country came under the authority of Norway in 1262, and also under the country’s Danish domination, from1536 to 1799. Denmark imposed its Protestant reforms and took total control of all of the island’s trade. Poverty resulted. The 18th century was a bleak period for Icelanders, during which time Laki, one of its most fearsome volcanoes, spewed its ash for more than nine months, destroying all crops and suffocating both farmers and their animals. Less than a quarter of the population survived the ensuing famine.  
 
In the 18th century, inspired by the July revolution in France, the Icelanders fought for their independence. The Althingi was restored – but in 1844 was relocated to Reykjavik – and the country acquired a relative independence. It was not until the end of the Second World War, in 1944, that Iceland gained full independence and proclaimed itself a republic. The main task of the succession of coalition governments that followed was to make independence effective. After 1950, Iceland’s political life was dominated by the Independence Party, which entered into various coalitions with the Social Democratic Party, the Progressive Party or the Liberal Party.   

The 2008 financial crisis caused political unrest, resulting in a crushing defeat for the Independence Party and the first government of the Left, led by Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. As Iceland’s first woman prime minister, she has made no secret of her homosexuality and in 2002 entered into a civil union with her partner, the writer and journalist Jónína Leósdóttir: which was accepted by the people of Iceland without any controversy.   

In July 2009, the Icelandic Government filed its official request to become a member of the European Union.

M.M.B.