Icelandic History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Norse

The ancient Norse people, from what are now the countries of Norway and Sweden, first permanently colonized in Iceland in 874 AD. Within sixty years, almost all of the habitable land on the island was settled by the Norse.

Answer: Reykjavík

Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland, and is also the largest city with well over 100,000 inhabitants. Ingólfur Arnarson named his settlement Reykjavík, which translates as "Bay of Smokes," because of the geothermal steam he saw rising from the ground.

Answer: Icelandic Commonwealth

The Icelandic Commonwealth was one of the oldest parliamentary states in the world and lasted from 930 to 1262 AD. Its capital was Þingvellir; this city is still a popular tourist destination, and has become home to a national park.

Answer: 1000 AD

The efforts to Christianize Iceland started in the 10th century AD, when missionaries sent from the Christan king of Norway came to Iceland. The country became officially Christian in 1000 AD, and even today more that 95 percent of the population consider themselves to be Christians.

Answer: Haakon IV

Under Haakon IV, the medieval Norwegian kingdom reached what is considered to be its "golden age" of peace and prosperity. Gaining Iceland was part of an effort by Haakon IV to expand the Norwegian kingdom.

Answer: A deficit in Iceland's trading economy

Iceland had traded fish and wool with Norway when Iceland was under Norwegian rule, leading to a sizable Icelandic economy, which enabled Iceland to send explorers to places such as Greenland. The Danes, however, did not need to trade these things with Iceland; thus, exploration expeditions from Iceland slowed after this time because Iceland did not have enough money to build the neceassary ships for such expeditions.

Answer: Laki

The 1783 eruption of Laki was devastating for Iceland, and affected much of Europe and even North America as well. The Laki volcano is in the south of Iceland. Herðubreið is a volcano in the north of Iceland, Strokkur is a geyser in Iceland, and Olavtoppen is a volcano in Norway.

Answer: Jón Sigurðsson

Jón Sigurðsson was the leader of the Icelandic independence movement, and his birthday, June 17, is celebrated as Iceland's National Holiday. Gissur Ísleifsson was a bishop, Eggert Ólafsson was an explorer, and Viktor Jensen is a racecar driver.

Answer: none; Iceland was neutral

At the beginning of the war, Iceland declared itself neutral and would not allow more than three warships from any country in Icelandic waters at any time. The British made an offer to protect Iceland from invasion if the Icelandic government would allow Allied troops to use Iceland as a military base; the government of Iceland refused. Eventually the British decided that the possibility of Axis troops invading Iceland and gaining an important strategic base was too great, and invaded Iceland on May 10, 1940. Later in the war the British turned over control of their military bases in Iceland to America, and after the war ended the Americans signed an agreement with Iceland stating that American troops would leave Iceland within six months.

In 1951, however, a treaty was signed through NATO stating that the United States was responsible for the defense of Iceland for an unspecified period of time. Thus, the United States had a military base in Iceland until 2006, when American troops finally left the base in Keflavík.

Answer: The world's first female president was elected

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir narrowly won the presidency against four opponents in 1980; she was one of Iceland's most popular presidents, and remained in office until 1996. She later became a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and a member of the Club of Madrid and is active in promoting world peace and democracy.