Nothing quilty

I have nothing to show you now so I decided to tell you a little (read: much) about Iceland. I promise to have something in my next blog to show you.

Total area: 103,000 km² (39,756 square.miles); vegetation: 23.1%, lakes: 2.7%, glaciers: 11.6%, wasteland: 62.6%.

Population a little over 300.000.

Over 90% of housing in Iceland is heated by natural geothermal heat

Calendar of Historical Events in Iceland

874 - 930	Settlement of Iceland, mainly from the West coast of Norway and the Viking settlements in Ireland and Scotland.
930	Establishment of Althingi - the world's oldest existing parliament - at Thingvellir.
985 - 986	Discovery and colonization of Greenland from Iceland by Eiríkur the Red, father of Leifur (the Lucky) Eiríksson.
1000	Icelander Leifur Eiríksson becomes the first European to set foot in America. Christianity is adopted peacefully by the Althingi at Thingvellir.
13th Century	Saga Era, the golden age of Saga writing. The Sagas include some of the classics of medieval literature, written in Icelandic, the ancient language of the Vikings which is still spoken in Iceland today.
1178 - 1241	Snorri Sturluson, chieftain and historian. Author of "Heimskringla", history of the Kings of Norway.
1220 -1262	Age of the Sturlungs, a period of civil war between the leading chieftain families that vied for power in Iceland.
1262/1264	The "Old Covenant" adopted between Icelandic chieftains and King Hakon the Old of Norway. Iceland comes under the rule of the Norwegian Crown, but the Althingi retains its legislative powers.
1380	Union of the Danish and Norwegian kingdom. Iceland and Norway come under Denmark.
1402	The Black Death reaches Iceland.
15th Century	The English Century. Close contact between Iceland and England. The English regularly sail to Iceland for fishing and trade.
1537	Norway is dissolved as a state (until 1814) and becomes part of Denmark. Iceland comes directly under Danish crown.
1550	The Reformation. After strong opposition Lutheranism becomes the state religion. Danish royal power is strengthened in Iceland.
1627	Pirates from North Africa raid certain coastal areas ("Turkish raid").
1662	Absolutism is introduced in Iceland. Danish monarchs become hereditary rulers of Iceland. Legislative powers of the Althingi greatly reduced.
1783 - 1785	Volcanic eruption (Skaftáreldar) causes widespread devastation in Iceland.
1874	Millennial anniversary of the settlement of Iceland celebrated at Thingvellir. A constitution is adopted giving legislative powers to the Althingi and granting limited self-government in domestic affairs.
1904	Home rule. Appointment of the first Icelandic government minister resident in Iceland and responsible to the Althingi.
1918	Act of Union. Iceland becomes a sovereign and independent state, the Kingdom of Iceland. It shares the same monarch with Denmark. For the most part foreign affairs continued to be handled by the Danish foreign service, as decided by Iceland. Iceland declares perpetual neutrality.
1940	British forces occupy Iceland.
1941	By agreement US troops arrive in Iceland (six months before Pearl Harbour), replacing British forces. US forces remain until the end of World War II.
1944	The modern Republic of Iceland is established at Thingvellir on 17 June, birthday of Jón Sigurðsson.
1955	Icelander Halldór Laxness receives Nobel Prize for literature.
1963	Volcanic eruption in ocean south of Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey.
1971	Denmark begins to return ancient Saga manuscripts to Iceland.
1973	Volcanic eruption in Heimaey, the only inhabited island of the Westman Islands group off the south coast of Iceland. Five thousand inhabitants are relocated to the mainland of Iceland.
1980	Ms. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President, the first woman in the world to be elected as a head of state.
1986	Meeting of Reagan and Gorbachev in Reykjavik marks the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Reykjavik celebrates its bicentenary.

Source: Iceland.is